Connecting Mentors or Peer-to-Peer Coaching

Session Convenor:

Lori Robinson

Saturday – St Andrews E – 10:30

Roger spoke of the Seattle JTM in January. Said there has been an integration of a half dozen community organizations and media. Recommended establishing a JTM discussion group. Recommended using the local planning committee as a resource to connect people with others who can support and provide support in necessary areas. Also mentioned the journalism institute—a social network for journalism entrepreneurs. Said 60 percent of participants are hyper-local media makers

Lori and Desiree mentioned needing help understanding how to more effectively use Twitter.

Cambrey, who is on her way to Columbia University’s J-school and has launched the Girls About DTown blog, recommended doing Tweet-ups to help people who need to learn more about Twitter.

Someone (I think Desiree) suggested using the online matchmaking platforms as a basis for creating a matchmaking site for journalism entrepreneurs and media makers seeking mentors or wanting to share expertise. (Roger seemed very interested in this idea.)

Someone suggested CityConnect Detroit to help connect grassroots community to funders.

Alicia mentioned needing a mentor regarding leadership in general. She has a new job in city government.

Michael mentioned that his wife is an IT person, but that he still wants to learn more about safety and privacy issues when it comes to social networking.

Kwan suggested several resources: moodl for online classroom training, wiredjournalist which is like a delicious for journalists, and digitalcrossroads, a google group that provides resource info.

Kwan said he is working on a new free project that will be up in about a month called CommunityMediaResources.com.

Someone (I think Dori) mentioned using the UNITY journalism of color organizations for connecting with mentors/mentees. She mentioned jackandjillpolitics as a model site to check out. She recommended some guidelines regarding establishing successful mentor-mentee relationships:

Be very specific about what you want and need. For example, how often do you want to talk? What do you want to talk about? What can you provide? How much time are you willing to give? Setting clear expectations on both sides will help ensure a positive, fruitful experience for both parties.

Desiree suggested creating a model that is being used in the community development world called Time Banking. A database is created and people input what they are willing to provide/share/help with and how many hours they are willing to give. Then people can trade or barter services based on equal amounts of time. A resource to check out is Alliance for Time Banks.

Tim mentioned needing guidance about how to make his online TV news site more interactive.

Someone mentioned the Foundation Center as a resource for nonprofits.

Someone (I think Linda) mentioned the Tides Center in San Francisco and New York as a resource for nonprofit projects. You go in as a fiscally sponsored project. Tides is especially interested in racial justice projects.

Someone mentioned the Matrix Foundation as a resource.

After the Session

I decided to collect names and contact info for people in need of mentors and people willing to mentor. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to everyone. But here is the info I was about to collect:

WILLING TO BE A MENTOR OR PEER-TO-PEER COACH

NEED A MENTOR OR PEER-TO-PEER COACH