Recruiting mentors for at-risk and youth with disabilities in rural areas
Abstract
Recruiting volunteers for rural programs has historically been difficult. Add to this the nature of those needing mentoring — "at risk" and youth with disabilities — and finding mentors for this role might seem especially problematic. However, a program in a rural Texas town found success by creating a plan every three months and following through with a focused campaign. Using this strategy, quantity and quality of mentors has increased. Angie Delp of Goodwill Industries' YouthWorks! submitted this effective practice in March 2006.Issue
Mentor recruitment is especially difficult for YouthWorks! because of the program location in the rural south, and the nature of the students (at-risk and disabilities).Action
Successful recruitment strategies included the following:
Examine the eligibility requirements for mentors. In general, the mentors for this program must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Must be 21 years of age or older
- Pass an exhaustive criminal/driving background check
- Be willing to work with high school-aged students with disabilities
Evaluate the demographics of the youth in the program by asking the following questions:
- Is the population to be served overwhelmingly minority?
- Ratio of boys to girls?
- Type of population (youth with disabilities, adults with barriers to employment, Spanish-speaking immigrants)?
- Age range of the population to be served?
Examine the general public, so that the people targeted to become mentors are reflective of the current student population. Based on demographics in this particular case, mentors needed to be:
- Bi-lingual men and women
- African-American men and women
- More males than females
- Ages 21 and older
- A willingness to work with youth with learning disabilities
Flood the community with media: public service announcements, flyers, faxes, marquee exposure, press releases in various types of newspaper, and speaking engagements at local bureaus (such as Rotary Club, local fraternities/sororities, chamber of commerce events). The following strategies were employed by the YouthWorks! program:
- Public service announcements (PSAs) were recorded on several different stations (with very specific demographics such as "Christian radio," "country music," and "talk radio"). The PSAs were written by staff, and also adapted from the National Mentoring Partnerships' website.
- Four flyers were created in-house and targeted toward specific groups (college-aged men and women, churches, the general public, and one written in Spanish). All of the flyers had tabs at the bottom of the page so people could conveniently walk away with the program information. The most efficient way, for instance, to target the African-American community in this area was to place flyers in churches.
- The fax “flood” consisted of gathering every fax number of the Lufkin Chamber of Commerce members. Although it took considerable time, there was a great response from the local business community. This is not only a way for the local community to get involved with your program; it is much easier to fax the flyers rather than driving them to each business.
- The YouthWorks! staff also walked around shopping areas (the downtown district, the mall, and shopping centers) and posted the flyers. This reinforced one-on-one interaction with local business owners and created a sense of community involvement that had a personal touch.
- The marquee “flood” consisted of cold calling local businesses and requesting to post the program message and phone number on their business signs on the street front. The idea was that if the public did not see the program flyers or hear the PSA's they would possibly see the information on the street signs posted in front of businesses they frequented.
- The newspaper “flood” consisted of one general press release about the program that addressed the need for mentors in the community. The press release was then sent to all surrounding newspapers (including community, university and other organizations' newsletters) for publishing.
- An unorthodox recruitment strategy YouthWorks! created involved the youth directly. The program staff created half sheet tent cards with the program logo and contact information and then asked the youth to write a scripted message in the cards. Each student wrote about interests, age, preferences in a mentor, and their names on ten "mentor cards." The YouthWorks! staff then sent the cards to local agencies interested in posting them in their organizations (churches, police department, fire department and other community agencies).
Every three months the recruitment plan is updated and implemented once again to assure there is a pool of mentors/volunteers.
Other Recruitment Ideas
- A website has very specific demographics that are unique to its domain. It is much more convenient for the public to do a web search rather than look up a phone number in the phone book.
- A program newsletter has numerous functions. It gives board members, local agencies and partners a glimpse of what the program is doing, it educates the public about mentoring and volunteering opportunities, and promotes the program name and mission.
- Grants are central to any non-profit organization -- the program just needs to be aware of the many types of grants out there. Recently, a partnering organization of the YouthWorks! program called The Mentoring Coalition, secured state funding through which the Deep East Texas region will receive 40 half time AmeriCorps members (20 hours per week). These members will be paid mentors/volunteers for agencies involved with mentoring throughout the entire 12-county area.
Context
The YouthWorks! program is located in a very rural and poor area in the 12-county Deep East Texas region where poverty rates are above the state and national averages.
The youth in this program are high school-age, special education students referred from the high school in Lufkin, Texas. The YouthWorks! staff teaches students the skills needed to overcome barriers to employment, and match them with a mentor for one full year.
Mentors in this area are difficult to come by, yet mentoring is an integral component to the program and essential to what the youth program staff believe works to help students achieve success. Because of these factors, the YouthWorks! recruitment campaign had to be aggressive, targeted, and constant in the community.
By administering the recruitment plan every three months, YouthWorks! can ensure that mentoring/volunteering is fresh in the public mind, and the program name and information is being proliferated throughout the region. The original idea was that by focusing and targeting specific groups of people for a specified amount of time, YouthWorks! would be able to spread the need for mentors/volunteers in the area. The key is to create a plan every three months and do all of these things at once rather than sporadically.
Outcome
By "flooding" the market (heavily saturating the community at one time) with program information, people began to notice a need in their community and responded to that need.
Not only was there a quantitative response (the number of mentors/volunteers increased as well as the number of inquiries about the program) there was a qualitative benefit as well (a diverse pool of mentors/volunteers that better reflects the youth population). By implementing this plan, YouthWorks! gained more exposure in the community, and received a record high number of mentors/volunteers in one month that appropriately represents the student demographics.
Evidence
The clearest evidence that the recruitment plan worked is seen by the number and quality of mentors received as a direct result of implementing it.
Another indirect indication that the plan worked is the positive feedback and comments from other local agencies involved with mentoring.
Posted On
April 5, 2006For More Information
Angie DelpGoodwill Industries' YouthWorks! Program301 Hill StreetLufkin, TX 75904Phone: 1-800-364-0538Related Practices
Related sites
National Mentoring Partnership
Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
Topic Areas