Last week the 2017 HALO Award awardees had their first peer learning session as Cohort 7 at the LA84 Foundation. This was the first of four peer learning sessions that will take place during the HALO Award program year. At these sessions, HALO Award awardees focus on relationship building amongst the cohort organizations, addressing specific volunteer program issues, participating in facilitated discussions by Blue Garnet, and hearing from guest speakers, including HALO Award program alumni.
The HALO Award is a capacity building effort to strengthen and sustain nonprofit organizations by supporting volunteer programs and recognizing and rewarding volunteer doing exemplary work in their communities. With that purpose in mind, this first peer learning session focused on reflecting on the role of volunteer programs in organizations, as well as, evaluating each organization’s current volunteer program and addressing their strengths and weaknesses. This activity allowed for cross-organizational discussion that revealed themes of common challenges and approaches from the organizations.
Katie Geyer & Keren Taylor, WriteGirl
Cohort 7 was also guided through an “Empathy Mapping” activity that tasked participants with putting themselves in the shoes of their volunteers so that they could understand the volunteer experience from a new perspective. This revealed areas of strength and potential improvement in their programs.
It was an exciting first peer learning session for Cohort 7 – stayed tuned for the upcoming release of the 2018 HALO Award Application for Cohort 8 this month!