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The Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program
Editor’s Note: Each year through
the Rural Independent Leadership Mentoring Initiative (RILLMI),
the
University of Montana Rural Institute and the Association
for Programs in Independent Living (APRIL) offer two rural Centers
for Independent
Living the opportunity to participate in the Peer-to-Peer
Mentoring program. Below, are three articles about the program,
one from a
Center that received mentoring and two from mentors.
The Texans are Coming!! Peer-to-Peer Mentoring
in the Southwest
By Evelyn Tileston, Executive Director
Independent Life Center, Inc., Craig, Colorado
The cry went out around the office, whispered
from one person to another with great excitement. “Why does
it have to be Texans?” someone muttered, an expression of
Colorado ’s regional rivalry with our neighboring state.
In 2002 when I learned about the Peer-to-Peer Mentoring program,
offered through the Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring
Initiative (RILLMI), I knew right away that it was just what the
Independent Life Center needed. We were growing and I was beginning
to feel overwhelmed. What will happen when growth presents a problem
that The Great Evelyn doesn’t know how to solve, I wondered?
The Value of Peer Mentoring
After listening patiently, Linda Gonzales, the Director of APRIL,
suggested that Ron Rocha, Executive Director of the Austin Resource
Center for Independent Living (ARCIL) in Austin, Texas might be
able to help. Ron and I began to talk. He listened to my concerns
both as an executive director of a growing organization, and as
a blind person supervising sighted staff. He had been there.
We agreed that ARCIL mentoring our center would be helpful. Preparing
for the mentoring visit, Ron and Mary Ann Hernandez, ARCIL’s
Chief Financial Officer, asked us to send to them many things: our
Board minutes for the past six months, our budget, our policies
and procedures, our brochures as well as our informational materials.
We did it all and waited with some trepidation. By sending Ron and
Mary Ann this information before their visit, they had time to study
it and suggest changes and improvements.
When we finally set the dates for them to visit, the first wave
of panic hit. What are we going to do with them for two whole days?
We know they have to eat, so we’ll have a dinner in The
Barn (an historic building now used for social events). Anna Adams, Board
Secretary and one of our founders, brought out her collection of
glass dishes, her candles, and coordinating linen. We spent Sunday
afternoon sweeping, scrubbing, and setting up.
The next morning, Gordon (my husband) and I had breakfast with
Ron and Mary Ann. Then we went to our office. They reviewed our
financial practices with our treasurer and accountant. They met
with the staff. They met with me. In the evening, they met with
the Board. They listened quietly while Board members disputed a
provision of our by-laws: one member wanted to structure the organization
so that our Board, which is comprised of 51% people with disabilities,
could employ or appoint others to do such work as treasurer or secretary,
since those jobs might be too difficult for people with disabilities;
others argued that this was contrary to the IL philosophy of empowerment. “It
sure was hot in there,” Ron commented to me later. August
in Craig is hot, so I wasn’t sure if Ron was referring to
our weather or to our Board meeting.
The next day we talked some more about what would be necessary
for us to do if we got a large federal grant. Ron met with some
consumers while Mary Ann finally got a chance to see the town and
do a bit of shopping. We all had been working very hard.
Follow-Up Help
Since that time, Ron and his staff have continued to mentor us,
advising about grants, helping to design a logo, leaving us copies
of their forms, policies, and practices. We consult them often.
We value their advice.
Why did it have to be Texans to come to our rescue? We found that
Texas is not only a very big state, it also has a very big Independent
Living Center, full of people with very big ideas. We found Ron
and Mary Ann to be big on qualifications, which make them the best
people for the job. Ron and Mary Ann also extended us a big Texas
welcome to visit their center as well. One of these days we plan
to do that. Something tells me we will come back big on Texas, too.
The Board and staff of the Independent Life Center extend most
sincere thanks to The Rural Institute, APRIL, and to ARCIL for including
us in the Peer Mentoring Program. We will benefit for years from
it.
Contact Information
Evelyn Tileston
Independent Life Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 612
Craig, CO 81626
Phone: 970-826-0833
Fax: 970-826-0832
TTY/TDD: (970) 826-0833
Teach a person to Fish . . .
Peer-to-Peer Mentoring
By Billy Altom, Delta Resource Center for Independent Living
I had the opportunity to spend July 31 and August 1, 2003 at the
West Central Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Lakeland, Florida
as the Peer-to-Peer mentor in the Rural Independent Living Leadership
Mentoring Initiative. Steve Andrews, the Site Director, had requested
the training due to staff turnover (including the Site Director)
and difficulty getting programs off the ground. West Central CIL
is a satellite office that received funding in October 2001 and
has aspirations of being a free standing CIL within a couple of
years.
I had asked Steve to provide me with a list of topics he would
like to address. As the new Site Director (ten months as of August
2003), Steve indicated it would be a challenge to list the items
he most wanted to learn. But, he did comprise the following list:
It is a challenge to list the items I most want to learn from
you while you are here, when I am not always certain that
I even know the right questions yet. However, I am fairly sure
I know the
general areas in which you might help me most. Let me see…
- Completing the 704 Report correctly
- Illustrations
and/or stories of the mistakes you have seen made
by small rural CIL’s
- Illustrations and/or stories
of the successes you have seen made by small rural
CIL’s
- A whole list of things for a satellite office
soon to become a stand-lone 501(c)(3), like setting
up the bank account, drawing down
funds, payroll, staff benefits, starting up new projects, which are most likely
grant funded, Board
development, and a whole host of things I haven’t
even thought of yet. (whew !)
- Opportunities and risks of
pitfalls you see in the near future for small
rural CIL’s
- Ten things a new site director should
always do
- Ten things a new site director should never
do
He went on to add that he felt there was no possible way for me
to teach him all he would like to learn in one trip. He thought
the best approach would be for me to teach him how to find the answers,
where to look who to contact, etc. This is an approach that is very
common in the IL field. It is modeled after the Chinese proverb, “Give
a man a fish and he eats for the day. Teach a man to fish and he
eats a lifetime.” With that in mind, I developed the following
agenda:
- IL History and Philosophy
- Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act
- Standards and Indicators
- Personnel Policies
- Board Development
- National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
Association of Programs in Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
Regional Rehabilitation Continuting Education Program
(RRCEP)
Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU), etc.
- Checklist/Review
- Questions and Answers
We spent the first couple of hours discussing the History and Philosophy
of the Independent Living movement. Remembering where we came from
helps us to plan for where we want to go. As Yogi Berra once said, “If
you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when
you get there?”
Next we reviewed Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act with a focus
on the Standards and Assurance for being a CIL and how this related
to the 704 reports. As a new Site Director, Steve found this very
helpful in correlating the two documents. We also looked at the
roles and responsibilities of the Statewide Independent Living Councils
(SILC). Again, this was very useful because of his lack of experience
with the SILC.
The second day of our journey, we started with Personnel Policies
and Procedures. The CIL in Lakeland uses the policies of the host
center in Winter Park. We reviewed these line-by-line for clarity.
I had brought policies from my center and two other non-profits
in Arkansas for comparison.
Next we discussed what will need to happen before they can become
a free-standing center. One of the things will be to establish a
Board of Directors. Lakeland currently has an Advisory Council.
I shared with Steve a couple of ILRU publications on developing
and responsibilities of Boards of Directors.
Next, I wanted to provide Steve with the tools he needed to “go
fishing.” We went to the internet. I wanted him to know where
to look for information. We went to the Rural Institute site, APRIL,
NCIL, and ILRU to name a few. Finally, I gave Steve the chance to
ask any final questions. We specifically discussed how to maintain
their accessible ramp project with limited money; we talked about
how to expand resources without the use of money; how to utilize
other agencies and getting the community involved.
I feel the most important thing accomplished with this visit was
the establishment of new friendship and professional relationship.
I told Steve that mentoring is not a one time event and that I would
be available to help find the answers to questions anytime. It is
always more fun to go fishing with a friend.
Contact Information
Billy Altom
Executive Director
Delta Resource Center for Independent Living
400 Mail, Suite 118
Pinebluff, AR 71601
(501) 626-5235
A Teaching Opportunity—A Learning Experience: The RILLMI
Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program
By Sandra Meehan, Tri-County Independent Living Center
My mentoring project with the Rural
Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative (a Rural Institute and Association of Programs
in Rural Independent Living-APRIL project) began when I was chosen
by an Independent Living Center (ILC) that had requested a mentor
to help them with two programs. The Center program manager had informed
me that there were two areas that she felt they could benefit from
some outside help: the first was their local peer mentoring program
and the second was their outreach plan called “Outreach First.” I
requested a copy of their “704 Report,” the Independent
Living service report for last year. I also asked for a brief biography
of staff that would be involved in developing and implementing a
rural outreach and a peer mentoring plan.
In the 704 Report I learned the Center generates a large part of
their budget from fees-for-service. The Center is located in Southern
Minnesota and serves nine counties. They currently have three satellite
offices. Most of their service area is rural. There is not a large,
diverse ethnic population in this region of the state.
The mentoring process was also a learning experience for me. I
was pleased to work with a program coordinator who has done a remarkable
job of trying to balance the principles of the independent living
philosophy while meeting the needs of the Center and the consumers.
The executive director has done a good job of generating additional
funding from other agencies to help support the Center. She recently
wrote a grant to obtain funds to help operate and expand the new
drop-in center for persons with disabilities. The program would
provide recreation, computer skills training, IL-skills classes,
and the opportunity to be with peers. She has started this project
with some donations of a ping-pong table and a pool table and a
few other items. They are currently open only a limited number of
hours each week.
The drop-in Center seemed to be the perfect venue to develop a
more natural setting to increase the peer mentoring program. The
Center had peer counselors that were paid to do mentoring. We discussed
at great length the peer mentoring program; as one of the core services
required of Centers for Independent Living, a Center may lose the “heart” of
that service if the mentors are paid counselors. The new federal
Independent Living plan requires the peer mentors be volunteers.
The Center had tried that before and was not successful at recruiting
many mentors. We developed a plan that recruits mentors from among
the drop-in center consumers. One of the problems in the past with
the volunteer mentors was the amount of time and the length of time
they were working with a consumer. The peer counselors were teaching
IL skills, which required a long commitment. The peer mentors will
not be asked to do the IL skills training, but to be an example
and an advocate. The peer mentoring is one of the purest core services
IL Centers provide. The close, one-on-one relationship with someone
who has a similar disability and has already achieved independence,
is unique and very important for an individual who is struggling
with a new disability and feels lost and alone.
The outreach plan was developed using information from
several training and other resources. One of the main
elements was to look at hiring from the minority populations
within their service area. This will be a difficult task
as there are very few qualified minorities in this region.
The Center will encourage minorities to apply.
I discovered that the program coordinator has not attended any
out-of-state conferences. I felt that it might be just as beneficial
to have the option of the Center requesting peer-to-peer mentoring
to travel to the mentor’s Center. I would just like to see
this as an optional alternative in some situations. I think the
program coordinator I worked with would have gotten extra value
from traveling to my Center which would have provided me with an
opportunity to take her to a couple of other Centers in my region.
Contact Information
Sandra Meehan
Tri-County ILC
P. O. Box 3297
Ogden, UT 84409
(801) 612-3215
For more information about the University of Montana Rural Institute’s
and Association of Programs in Rural Independent Living-APRIL project
Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative, contact:
Mike Flaherty, Project Director
The Rural Institute
52 Corbin Hall
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-4619
mcf@ruralinstitute.umt.edu
Linda Gonzales, Executive Director
Assocation of Programs in Rural Independent Living (APRIL)
5903 Powdermill Road
Kent, OH 44240
(303) 678-7648
(303) 678-7658
april-linda@neo.rr.com
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