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Sustainability Course: Establishing a Mentoring Legacy

Welcome to TCAM’s Sustainability Course: Establishing a Mentoring Legacy

This is a four-session, online course for OJJDP-funded mentoring grantees. At the center of the course is the Sustainability Wheel, a model for sustainability planning based on research and best practices for community-based youth-serving programs. Each session includes a webinar or teleconference that focuses on one or more essential sustainability strategy, brief readings and background materials related to the strategies, and an activity that contributes to the development of a sustainability plan.

Over the four weeks of the course, participants can expect to spend about two hours per week engaged in course activities that are either scheduled for a particular date and time (e.g., webinars) or completed at the individual’s convenience. TCAM staff will be available for assistance throughout the course. To reap the maximum benefits from the course, TCAM recommends that grantees participate in all four sessions. Key elements of the course will be archived on the TCAM website for access in the future.

Getting Started:

  • Click on Session One below to learn about the Sustainability Wheel and access resources and a recording of the first webinar, which took place on October 19, 2011.

View the Sustainability Wheel

 

Course Overview:

SESSION ONE: Introduction to the Sustainability Wheel Model

  • Learn about six key strategies that can help to sustain your mentoring program (Capacity Building, Leadership, Partnership, Evaluation, Communication, and Finance)
  • Begin to prioritize program activities necessary to achieve positive outcomes, and learn how to maintain these key program activities
  • Decide who should be on your sustainability planning team


SESSION TWO: Optional Discussion Webinar on Building Organizational Capacity

  • Participate in a peer-to-peer discussion that goes deeper into the Sustainability Wheel strategy of Capacity Building
  • Ask questions and get feedback about activities and handouts completed on your own or with a team from your organization
  • Consider how the strategy of Capacity Building is contributing to your program’s sustainability efforts.

SESSION THREE: Promoting Sustainability Through Partnerships and Leadership

  • Hear from other grantees who have sustained their program by using Partnership and Leadership strategies
  • Consider the levels of collaboration in your community and how this may impact your sustainability planning
  • Discuss the roles of Evaluation and Communications in creating a sustainability action plan

SESSION FOUR: Sustainability and Strategic Funding

  • Learn about Finance strategies related to diversifying funding streams
  • Find out how to identify potential new sources of funding for your mentoring program
  • Get the tools to complete your own sustainability plan 
Groups: