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From Recruiting College Students: A Guide for Volunteer Recruitment and Management
Once you have developed a plan, you are ready to make that first contact with the school. BB/BSA agencies have taken a number of different approaches. Many have successfully persuaded colleges to donate in-kind services, or provide funding and transportation for newly developed BB/BSA programs. Some agencies have approached the students directly, while others have approached specific departments that could help them meet their needs. Listed below are some of the more common points of entry:
Administrative Offices
One option is to approach the university's student affairs office
or dean of students office. In this case, you should know exactly
what it is you want from the office, in addition to what your
agency can offer the institution to help it achieve its goals.
There is an increasing trend across the country for colleges
to establish volunteer community service offices on campus to
accommodate and encourage a variety of student interests in
community service.
BB/BS of Southeastern Connecticut has developed a mentor program where students from the Volunteer Community Service Office of Connecticut College help the agency in the recruitment and intake of volunteers, after being trained by BB/BSA agency personnel....
Specific Departments
Many BB/BSA agencies have used the
services of college departments such as Psychology, Marketing,
Sociology, Social Work, Art and others depending on agency needs.
Agencies have had most success with graduate departments, although
there are some areas where undergraduate programs are just as
effective. Some agencies recruit psychology administrators to
evaluate their 16-PF and other personality tests. Others have
drafted art students to do some of their advertising work. Many
universities have the facilities and talent to produce broadcast-quality
public service announcements and may be approached for such
assistance. College athletic and food service departments have
helped agencies with transportation and meals for special collaborative
programs. Agencies have also requested the use of space and
facilities as a first step in their relationship with the college
in their area.
Fraternal Organizations
Some agencies approach students individually and/or enlist
sororities and fraternities or groups such as the Pan-Hellenic
Council to help them recruit more students to serve as mentors
for youth.
For books on this topic in our bookstore, click the link(s) below:
Service-learning
Volunteers by Type (inlcudes youth)
________
Permission is granted for organizations to download and reprint this article. Reprints must provide full acknowledgment of source, as provided:
Excerpted from Recruiting College Students: A Guide for Volunteer Recruitment and Management, 1995, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.
Found in the Energize website library at: http://www.energizeinc.com/art.html
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