Fast Pitching the Mission

Seedling Foundation recently participated in a novel fundraising event called “Philanthropitch.”  It was sponsored by BuildASign and was based on the high tech world’s practice of “fast pitch” funding.

Our Executive Director, Sari Waxler, was given the challenge of distilling our mission and the innovative things we do into a five minute speech.  This was a challenge, but she rose to the occasion.

She competed in the first round of competition, but as is the case sometimes in the high tech world, they threw an additional challenge at the competitors shortly before they began…they shortened the time to two minutes.

“That was just about the scariest moment in my professional life,” Sari said with a rueful grin.

But she focused the Seedling’s Promise message down to a two minute sound bite and went for it.

Seedling Foundation was named one of only six finalists that night, and the final competition was held May 29th at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.  The finalists competed in front of a sold out crowd.  Yes, they were given the full five minutes this time!

Seedling was the smallest nonprofit competing, but you would never have known it from the quality of Sari’s presentation to the knowledgeable and incisive questions from the judges.

We clapped our hands in glee as the results came in and Seedling Foundation was awarded a check for $6,000.

Thank you to BuildASign.com, the judges and sponsors that made this great evening possible.  We had a “fast pitch” blast, and hope that many philanthropic folks learned more about Seedling’s Promise and it may lead to unexpected benefits for all of our kids!

-Seedling Foundation

Ending the School Year

“I want to finish the year with a big bang!”

We applaud mentors who want to plan a special end-of-the-year gift for their mentees. We want to help by offering a list of great ideas that can be meaningful, age-appropriate, within program guidelines, and provide good resources and memories for your mentee’s summer and beyond.

Fun Activities:

• A large zip-lock bag with age-appropriate fun activities: coloring books, connect-the-dots, word search, crayons or markers, stickers, glue sticks, etc.
• Playing cards: Old Maid, Uno, Blink, or a regular deck (for Crazy 8, Battle, Go Fish, Solitaire)
• Sports equipment: basketball, Frisbee, or colorful all-purpose ball
• Reading Support and Encouragement
• “Bag o’ Books”: Half Price Books, Recycled Reads, Walmart, garage sales, etc. are good sources of affordable books. Inscribe one of them with a memorable message. Ask the school librarian for recommendations, or see http://library.austintexas.gov/youth.
• Encourage your mentee to visit his neighborhood library where there are exceptional summer programs available for no cost. http://www.austinlibrary.com/mapapp/gmap.cfm?zipcode=all

Writing Support and Encouragement:

Provide your mentee with a nice journal with a special note written inside. Suggest that he/she write in that journal anything special or interesting or important that happens over the summer. Let your mentee know that you will be very interested in reading any parts of the journal that the mentee might want to share when the two of you reconnect in late August.

Small, thoughtful gifts are a wonderful way to close the school year out and lay the foundation for the next year, and remember you can always arrange to trade postcards or emails over the summer.  August comes faster than you can imagine!

Happy Mentoring, and Thank You from Seedling’s Promise

-Seedling’s Promise Staff

Mentoring Children of Poverty

We become mentors for a variety of reasons, but at the core is the desire to reach out and connect with another human being, to provide support and give of self. Mentoring with authenticity means bringing ourselves to the mentoring relationship: our experiences, our culture, our education, our beliefs. In the same way, our mentees bring theirs, likely different from ours, as they are growing up in a different time with different experiences. For 99% of Seedling mentees, those experiences include all the realities and chronic stresses of generational poverty.

 

What does a child growing up in poverty need from a mentor?

Dr. Joyce Brothers has said, “You cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.” The multiple risk factors our mentees face may result in cognitive lags, lack of emotional and social resources, and negative health effects of chronic stress. These conditions can show up as everything from school tardiness to a need for immediate gratification, even eventually to a shortened lifespan.

Two important protective factors that can change outcomes for these youngsters are education (facilitated by support systems at school), and relationships.

That’s you!

While remaining nonjudgmental of a student’s present, a mentor can support a child in setting realistic goals, introduce the child to different points of view and opportunities, and invite the youngster to consider a future full of possibilities. The mirror image of unconditional positive regard that a mentor offers weekly means that a child can begin to see worth, specialness, and potential in himself that alters his previous self-image and opens his eyes to choices he can make to influence his future.

Susan Pennock and Christopher Capel have compiled these powerful ideas:
Q. How can a mentor use this knowledge to support cognitive development?
A. We must try to build capacity and not just make students “smarter” by giving more information. Great examples are:

• Physical activity can increase production of new brain cells.
• Playing chess can increase reading and math by increasing motivation, attention, and processing skills.
• Music and theater increase memory.
• The arts improve attention, processing, and motivation.

Q. What do students from generational poverty need from a mentor?
A. The child needs, through the mentor’s gentle guidance and smiling face…

• empathy but not pity
• high expectations
• help to see a different world view, such as careers and education after high
• school
• hope and a vision for the future
• consistency, honesty, advocacy
• academic support and direction
• help to realize they have a choice
• for us to keep reaching out even when it looks like it’s not working
• for us to allow them to test our sincerity by acting a bit worse in the short-term

All in all, the goal is to build resilience, the ability to cope with and bounce back in
the face of life’s challenges and demands. To review the “Six Steps to Building
Resilience” from the October, 2012 Seedling’s Promise Mentor Minute, click here.

~Seedling’s Promise Staff

 

Celebrating the Mentoring Relationship

A wonderful gift we can give to our mentees and to ourselves is having frequent acts of celebration – planned or spontaneous — in our mentor/mentee relationships.

Celebrating can look many different ways to complement the stage of mentoring you and your mentee are currently experiencing.

Celebration can be expressing thanks for what you share with one another, expressing pride in your friendship, and honoring the beginning, present and future. Integrating a celebratory atmosphere of joy and thanks strengthens your bond and allows your mentee to know that you are genuine and authentic.

The following ideas for celebrating your relationship through the mentor phases were suggested through literature on best practice as well as generated by our own Seedling mentors:

The Beginning: when you are getting to know each other.
Create a ritual. A mentor can help anchor a child through changes large and small by establishing age-appropriate rituals for the mentoring sessions.

At each session:

• Ask your mentee to thank his/her caregivers “for the care and love they are giving you” or “for allowing us to be friends.”
• Ask your mentee to share three good things about himself/herself.
• Share a hug, fist bump or high-five with your mentee when you say so long each week.
• Tell each other a joke and laugh together before you part ways,
• Create a secret handshake.
• Sing a song together.
• Share your sunshine and cloud with one another, or your rose and thorn.

Challenging and testing: Your mentee may act out or resist you, to see if you will stick around.

Celebrating your relationship with your mentee can look like consistency at this phase.

• Being present week after week, no matter what your mentee does or how he/she acts.
• Looking for teachable moments and note the positive in him/her.
• Sharing your own feelings and experiences (when appropriate) to continue to strengthen the bond.

“Real” Mentoring: when the mentee really shares with you his “real” life.

You understand one another, and your relationship has begun to feel less fragile and more comfortable. You see more and more signs of trust and can show them in return.

• Acknowledge the length of time you have been with your mentee. Celebrate your one year, or six month, or three-month anniversary in an agreed upon way. For example, bring your mentee’s favorite dessert just for that occasion.
• Listen to HIS/HER advice. Take your mentee’s suggestions and show them her input is important, too.
• Engage in an ongoing activity that interests your mentee, like writing, drawing, researching a special topic in-depth.

Coming to (mini) closure: saying “so long” for the summer.  

Coming to closure is a process, not a singular event. The end of the school year is a natural time to acknowledge and celebrate the journey you have taken this year with your mentee. You will not see the child for several months, so allow as much time as possible for the planning and managing the transition into the summer break in a positive way.

• Share your feelings about the match and about the summer break; encourage your mentee to share as well.
• Reminisce about things you have done during the year together.
• Create a project that helps you remember each other.

Ideas:

• Create a memory book
• Write a poem about your relationship
• Pick a song that characterizes your relationship
• Write a letter to your mentee and express positive and confident hopes for his/her future.

As you close for the year, create an expectation for the next year. Avoid making a promise that may not be kept. Tell your mentee that you are hopeful that the two of you will be together next year, but if it does not work out, that you treasure the time you have spent together.

Did you know… that Seedling supports summer communication with your mentee through U.S. Mail? Let your Mentor Director know if you are interested, and we will explain how the process works in a way that protects both you and your mentee.

-Seedling’s Promise Staff

 

Seedling and Amplify Austin

Amplify Austin is coming…Save the Date: March 4th, 7pm!

Austin is known for being warm and friendly. for volunteering and participating in community efforts, and for being informed about issues that we care deeply about. However, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s How America Gives study Austin is ranked #32 among the 50 largest cities that give the most to charity.

To help make this ranking a mark of the past, I Live Here, I Give Here created Amplify Austin – a community-wide day of online philanthropy with the goal of raising $1 million in 24 hours from March 4 (7pm) until March 5 (7pm).

TAKE ACTION

Beginning  7 pm on March 4th, 2013, go to http://www.AmplifyATX.org to select the Seedling Foundation as your charity of choice. Every dollar donated will be matched by 16 percent! In addition, $1,000 is awarded each hour to the nonprofit that raises the most dollars for that hour throughout Amplify Austin.

DONOR PRIZES:
Random donors throughout the day will receive a surprise, in person performance from one of our beloved Austin musicians! Who doesn’t want to be serenaded?!

You support us in so many ways; thanks for considering us on March 4th!

Of Mentoring and Marathons

The thought of running a marathon to some feels overwhelming and impossible, while others are energized and excited about the possibility.  Like long distance running, mentoring a child takes proper preparation, agility, perseverance, perspective, and a healthy dose of humility.  In the October, 2012 issue of marathonrookie.com, Brad Boughman highlights the top 10 rookie mistakes in running a marathon.  These “mistakes” have implications for mentoring. too.

TOP TEN ROOKIE MENTORING MISTAKES:

#10- Underestimate Stretching- To feel successful in both a marathon and a mentoring relationship, you must be flexible and ready to roll with the changes. Having the consciousness to think on your feet and communicate from the heart keeps your ability to relate with your mentee strong and lays the ground work for a long running friendship.

When Children Have No Say

“The children of prisoners are guaranteed nothing. They have committed no crime, but the penalty they are required to pay is steep. They forfeit, too often, much of what matters to them: their homes, their safety, their public status and private self-image, their primary source of comfort and affection. Their lives and prospects are profoundly affected by the multiple institutions that lay claim to their parents—police, courts, jails and prisons, probation and parole—but they have no rights, explicit or implicit, within any of these jurisdictions.”
The text above is from the publication Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Bill of Rights, an initiative of the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership. The concepts it contains formed the basis of the November monthly mentor training, led by Seedling Foundation Executive Director Sari Waxler.

This 20-page booklet may be viewed at http://www.sfcipp.org/images/brochure.pdf. The back cover has a summary of the Bill of Rights and their explanation, but it is the facts and narratives within that create our understanding of the special world of the children we serve. The SFCIPP website has additional information about advocacy as well.

What happens in our community? The Austin Police Department has implemented a child endangerment/child-in-need-of-supervision checklist to ensure the safety of children during the arrest of a parent or caregiver. The checklist includes steps for the safe placement of the child, and consultation and follow-up with child protective series as necessary by APD. These processes put into place by our law enforcement safe guard against our most vulnerable children being marginalized and invisible during the arrest of a parent in their presence.

The Victims Services Unit of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office has created a brochure for caregivers on Child Sensitive Arrests that is provided to the family member at the time of arrest. We could not locate the pamphlet in electronic form, but your Mentor Director will place a few photocopies in the back of your Seedling sign-in binder. (Satellite mentors, contact fturner@seedlingfoundation.net to obtain a copy.) Some mentors were so impressed with this practice that they inquired how to thank the county department for this foresight. You may reach Sheriff Greg Hamilton at P.O. Box 1748 Austin, TX 78767.

We are fortunate to live in a community that has invested some progressive thought regarding the rights of children whose parents become involved in the justice system should have, but there is still work to be done. One local group is the Austin-Travis County Re-entry Roundtable www.reentryroundtable.net. Their mission is to be a robust, community-wide collaborative and catalyst for systemic change that educates, facilitates, and advocates to promote public safety through effective reentry and reintegration of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons. The participation of any community member is welcome.

A few lucky mentors at the November 14th event left with one of two door prizes, either the SFCIPP booklet or a copy of All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated by Nell Bernstein, a compelling book that unveils the lack of sensitivity and process for children whose families are torn apart by current incarceration policy. This book is available at amazon.com.

- Seedling’s Promise Staff