Agenda
Monday, October 24th
11:30am - 1:15pm | Registration (7th Floor)
1:15pm - 2pm | Welcome Remarks (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Ken Olson, Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas Board Chair
Monique Diaz, Bexar County Judge
Tim Wills, Chief Impact Officer, MENTOR
2:10pm - 3:20pm | Workshops
Ready to Work: A City’s Model for Workforce Development for Young People (Rumba 2)
Mike Ramsey, Executive Director of Workforce Development, City of San Antonio
To inform the community about Ready to Work. Ready to Work is an educational and job placement program to help thousands of San Antonio residents improve their quality of life.
Tool Kit Strategies for Engaging Families & Volunteers (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Michael O’Teter, Chief Program Officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star
April Ford, Chief of Technology and Program Operations, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star
Melinda Jobe, Executive Director, HCK2 Brand Strategy
For the past two years Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, on behalf of all the BBBS agencies in Texas, has leveraged funds to create a tool kit of resources that could enhance our collective efforts to engage Amachi Texas-eligible children & their families, as well as to more effectively recruit the volunteers needed statewide to mentor them. HCK2, a North Texas marketing firm, was contracted to help drive this effort. During this presentation we will review the various “tools” that were created, such as a statewide online landing page, static & animated social media posts, Eblasts, a public relations guide, printed flyers and posters, and an enhanced “post-inquiry email campaign” designed to bring more volunteers from inquiry to match. The presenters will provide recommendations for each tool’s ongoing use and effectiveness, as well as what was learned from the campaign. The lingering impacts of COVID on marketing and recruitment will also be explored.
Creating a Safe Space and Language Matters (Bolero 2)
Gregory Casillas, Assistant Director, Thrive Youth Center
The goal of this workshop may be realized in many ways; assist staff and organizations reflect on their current programs and assess whether a SAFE environment exists for their clients and staff; help organizations identify ways to make their programs more inclusive to all, including adding images like the LGBTQ+ flag to flyers/websites and posters throughout offices; recognize how previous interactions impact their LGBTQ+ clients; answer clarifying questions about gender pronouns to ensure clients and staff are understood and respected; inclusion of supportive language that can be added or changed to support inclusiveness; language to avoid saying and identifying alternate ways to communicate. This workshop is committed to respectfulness, equality, honesty, and listening to learn from the onset of the presentation. Demonstrating a safe space during the training enables participants to engage in conversation, ask questions and the opportunity to be in a safe environment free of judgment which fosters meaningful awareness of the importance of LGBTQ+ safe spaces.
The Logic and Research behind the Model of Cross-Age Peer Mentoring: High School Bigs (Bolero 1)
Michael Karcher, ED.D., Ph.D., Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio
This workshop will briefly overview recent research on the effectiveness of cross-age peer mentoring, and share some tools developing, planning, and running cross-age peer mentoring programs. These include summaries of the Mentors Effective Elements Supplement for Peer Mentoring, links them to MENTOR's Logic Model (& Theory of Change)(both drafted by the presenter). Finally, their relevance to and use in the presenter's 10-year collaboration with BBBSA to strengthen their model of High School Bigs mentoring will be introduced.
Board Governance – What every Staff Should Know (Rumba 1)
Sandy Morander, President and CEO at YMCA of Greater San Antonio
| Board roles and responsibilities, Staff intersection and how to best leverage the volunteer talent. |
3:30pm - 4:40pm | Workshops
Recruiting and Supporting College Students as Mentors (Rumba 2)
Terry Dougherty, Branch Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Brazos Valley
How to tap into a network of volunteers eager to make a positive impact in the community where they attend school. How agency staff can mentor college students to increase volunteer learning and efficacy. Why engaging this age group to volunteer is important now and for the future.
Mental Health First Aid (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Bobbi Jo Ortiz, CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters El Paso
This workshop will provide a detailed overview of what mental health first aid course is and how you can sign up to complete the certification course. A Mental Health First Aid course teaches you how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. The training helps you identify, understand, and respond to signs of addictions and mental illnesses. Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.
Basics of Mindfulness (Rumba 1)
Shelly Bosse, Community Initiatives Manager, Communities in Schools San Antonio
Participants will learn and practice strategies to be present in everyday moments in a nonjudgmental way. Participants will learn how mindfulness benefits the brain, the body and promotes emotional regulation.
Scoring Your First or Next Million Dollar Gift (Bolero 2)
Jim Eskin, Founder, Eskin Fundraising Training LLC.
Learn the discovery, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship principles, strategies and best practices to compete for and secure transformational leadership gifts.
Your Storytelling Superpower (Bolero 1)
Tanya Sammis, Co-Owner, Sammis | Ochoa, Pubilc Relations & Digital Marketing
Your Storytelling Superpower will share the power that you have each and every day to cultivate a story to share with the world that creates value, meaning, and impact.
5:30pm - 7:30pm | Awards Reception (Skyline Atrium)
Tuesday, October 25th
9:30am - 11:30am | Networking Topic Roundtables (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
11:30am -12:00pm | Break
12:00pm - 1:30pm | Lunch & Panel Discussion (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Keynote Speaker: Ron Nirenberg, Mayor of The City of San Antonio
Alumni Panel Facilitator: Steve Darling
1:30pm -1:45pm | Break
1:45pm - 2:55pm | Workshops
Group Mentoring-Collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club (Bolero 2)
Debbie Smith, Director of Special Programs, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona
Jared Byrd, Director of Community Outreach, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona (BBBSAZ) has launched a new Group Mentoring program at two Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley locations. The Bigs will meet regularly with a small group of Littles on-site at Boys & Girls Club where Bigs will provide homework assistance, friendship, and model positive behavior. Youth who grow up in poverty face numerous challenges that their peers with more resources do not. Some of the youth served by BBBSAZ and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley have multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) with home lives that can be unsafe. Without additional support and proper intervention, these youth are more likely to grow up and find themselves without an education or involved with crime or drug use. Having a caring adult role model is a key protective factor in helping youth build resiliency. Using a group mentorship model, volunteers will be able to serve multiple youth each time they meet. By partnering with our local Boys & Girls Clubs, BBBSAZ will be able to reach youth that will greatly benefit from a consistent role model. Volunteer mentors met with these littles on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month from 4:00-5:00 pm. A one-year commitment is required. This partnership with the Boys and Girls Club has been such a success that we are looking to expand by working with local police departments to partner at a Boys and Girls Club site in their service area to support the youth in the community that they patrol.
Successful Recruitment Equals Long Lasting Relationships (Rumba 2)
Ilsa Garcia, Community Initiatives Coordinator, Communities in Schools San Antonio
This workshop will cover training recruiters to understand the specific ways to create long lasting relationships with each volunteer.
40 Developmental Assets (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Margaret Judson, City Director, School Connect SA
Dosely Antogiorgi, Regional Director, STCH Ministries
This overview offers information about the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets a child needs to become a caring, successful, and thriving adult. The participant will learn how the Raising Highly Capable Kids curriculum can be taught in churches, non-profits and schools. Anyone interested in becoming a Raising Highly Capable Kids parenting facilitator can attend this overview. This presentation would be good for the community track.
Cyber Safety for Children (Rumba 1)
HSI Special Agent Heath Hardwich, Homeland Security Investigations
This presentation will inform parents and guardians of the common tactics used today by online predators to locate and solicit children online for sexual abuse. The presentation will also give the audience information on how to protect their child online as well.
Social Media Mission Control (Bolero 1)
Guillermo J. Guajardo, Social Media Strategist for JGW Digital, LLC
Social Media has evolved over the last decade are you using the right strategies that align with your mission and goals.
3:05pm - 4:15pm | Workshops
Building Your Sales Cookbook for Success (Bolero 1)
Angel Salinas, CEO and Sales Trainer, Sadler San Antonio
A sales cookbook is a proven list of activities and behaviors that you can do every day and every week to be successful. Defining a concrete set of actionable, measurable behaviors that you accept personal accountability for executing, day in and day out, week in and week out is critical to achieve success. What kind of leading indicators can you look at on a daily and a weekly basis that will ultimately lead to your success?
Youth Led Mentorship (Rumba 2)
Dolores Hernandez, IMPACTS 3.0 Mentor Coordinator, Youth Education & Career Service, Family Service
Creating a mentoring model where youth lead the relationships with their mentors.
Understanding ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) (Rumba 1)
Lauren Geraghty, Chief Strategy Officer, Communities In Schools San Antonio
During an interactive ACE Interface training attendees will receive information about the developmental neuroscience, epigenetics, and results of the ACE Study. Importantly, participants will come away with tactics and strategies to operationalize this knowledge in their respective communities. This ensures attendees can talk about how ACEs impact our individual and collective well-being as well as how they can create systems to prevent future ACEs while identifying and connecting those affected to resources for healing. Ultimately, we want to fully engage large numbers of people to develop common language and common understanding about how ACEs shape wellbeing, and to invite them to act to prevent ACEs and their effects.
How Your Zip Code Can Predict Your Long Term Health and Life Outcomes and How to Change the Narrative (Tango Ballroom 3 & 4)
Mary Garr, President & CEO, Family Services
Gain a better understanding of how social determinants of health create opportunities and barriers in one's life and what can be done to understand and change the dynamic to break intergenerational cycles of poverty, trauma, and other challenges.
Emerging Best Practice in Youth Protection: Highlights from Johns Hopkins University's Groundbreaking Research (Bolero 2)
Julie Novak, Chief Youth Protection Officer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Drawing on Novak’s three decades-long career in the violence prevention field, this workshop will highlight key findings from research released in late 2020 conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse focused on comprehensive strategies to promote children’s safety and well-being within the youth serving organization setting. She’ll also share a framework from the research that organizations can utilize to adapt the research findings and related best practice strategies to fit their own organization’s unique missions while providing safe environments and programming.