Capacity Building Team Members, HALO Award Cohort 10
Cohort 10 officially kicked off its HALO Award year with the first quarterly Peer Learning Session. During the Session, the capacity building teams from Children’s Institute, Harvest Home, Defy Ventures, Pepperdine University’s Foster Grandparent Program, Japanese American National Museum, and Southern California Library introduced their respective volunteer programs to the cohort and described what they hope to address and accomplish during their HALO year. The six organizations are purposefully diverse in organization and volunteer program size, mission, and population(s) served to contribute to an environment for optimal cross-organizational learning.
You can meet the organizations of Cohort 10 here!
While Cohort 10 is still working through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, all also shared learnings and positive implications that have come with the necessary adjustments made to their volunteer programs during this unprecedented time. Of significance are the new-found opportunities from a swift transition to and reliance on technology. Through this shift, volunteer program staff have been able to expand their reach, provide easily accessible virtual training and recruitment opportunities, and streamline onboarding and communication with existing volunteers. Despite the promising opportunities, the cohort unequivocally agreed that they are looking forward to the day they can welcome and reactivate all their volunteers in person again!
The Foundation and our capacity building partners at Blue Garnet look forward to supporting the amazing work of Cohort 10 and anticipate a productive year ahead.