SANTA ANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT/ROP

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Training for mentors begins shortly after orientation. All mentors must attend a minimum of three hours of training before being matched with a student. The session identifies the need of the program, clearly defines who the students are, defines the goals of the mentor project, identifies the needs of the students and their stage in development, discusses problems that teenagers encounter including peer pressure, substance abuse, child abuse and family violence, and drugs. In addition, the training provides practical advice for the mentors; i.e., how to contact the students, their project coordinator, teacher or job developer. The training sessions include a manual that covers the necessary information to make the mentoring experience successful. The Career Beginnings evening begins with a hosted dinner (sponsors are regularly solicited) once a month at a school site, postsecondary campus or business which gives the participants and mentors an opportunity to come directly from school or the workplace without worrying about dinner. It is a great time for the mentor and mentee to socialize and relax as individual contact and recognition with the mentors is important for both the mentors and mentees. An end -of -the -year celebration will recognize the accomplishments of the mentees and mentors. Career Beginnings of Orange County, works with the school district to provide recognition of the mentors in the form of certificates, plaques, etc. and recognizes the students for their completion of the program. Scholarships are solicited from the community to be presented to the students. The evening is often the highlight of the year. The CBOC Board of Directors annually plans to award 20 $250 scholarships to students in their program (including Success Bound! participants). Follow-up ELEMENT #9: An efficient and effective delivery system for twelve months of follow-up services. Note: thefolbwhtgactivihmareakoappic"toptiorWlAparficip &ftmthe2007MProgtam Evaluation and its required data gathering activities will take place throughout the project year on an ongoing basis. As with prior Success Bound! programs, the process for the 12-month follow-up services will focus on accumulating data to assess "continuous improvement" to the Success Bound! program offerings. Data from this database plus individualized quarterly follow-up contacts will become an integral part of the proposed follow-up services activities. The Success Bound! staff will continue to monitor school and work attendance with students after they exit the program upon their graduation on a monthly basis at a minimum. The District staff has had extensive experience in annual follow-up reports. The specific design of the documents used for this process will be based on that experience and any requirements of the W/O/R/K Center or WIB staff. Summative evaluation of the project will be assessed by completion, postsecondary commitment and graduation rates and at the end of the school year. The major collection timeline for follow-up data will be in the late fall after high school graduation. This will be done to verify the former Success Bound! participant's postsecondary placement (higher education, military, part-time or full-time work). Success Bound! participants will be regularly contacted on an informal basis (mail, phone and e- mail —if available) to monitor their progress during this twelve-month basis. The purpose of the informal contacts will be to remind the participants of the availability of continuing follow-up services. These would include not only the standard supportive services available to WIA program participants, but also access to tutoring/study areas at the ROP Ritchey Center, Cal -WORKS programs, the W/O/R/K Center and ROP courses. The District's Career Development/ROP staff has close relationships with 22