2011 Community Mentorship Program
The Community Mentorship Program (CMP) was a program offered to Rural Development Officers through FRL’s Learning Centre Programming for RDOs.
The goal of the CMP was to provide RDOs with the opportunity to connect with business professionals and community leaders in rural communities, expanding both their networks and those of their community partners. Through participating in the CMP, RDOs could move closer to achieving their employment and career goals.
Examples of CMP relationships in previous years:
- An RBC Mentor introduced his mentee and her Community Partner to a local business women’s group. This connection resulted in the women’s group establishing a new fundraiser in support of the Community Partner, serving to further engage and educate the community about their work as well as creating a new source of long-term sustainable funding.
- Other mentors have helped their mentees with resumes. One even forwarded his mentee’s resume to a contact skilled in resume development.
- One mentor took his mentee to Rotary Club meetings so that he could broaden his own connections as well as those of his community partner.
There were 2 streams to the Community Mentorship program: RBC Mentors and RDO Alumni.
RBC Mentors
Local RBC Staff participated as mentors through RBC Foundation’s partnership in the RDO Program. The mentor was an RBC staff person located in or near the community in which the RDO was placed. Because RBC staff are often very connected to the community, they were able to link RDO's with potential job opportunities and contacts.
The RBC Mentorship program also created a connection between the RBC Mentor,and the Community Partner organization. This may have resulted in increased opportunities for collaboration between the Community Partner organization and the RBC Foundation.
RDO Alumni
FRL has worked with more than 50 individuals in the past 2 years and wanted to give them the opportunity to remain connected with the RDO Program by engaging them as mentors for 2011 RDOs.
The RDO Alumni Mentorship Program paired 2011 RDO Program participants with alumni of the program working in a sector of interest to the RDO. RDO Alumni offered support in the form of sector-specific knowledge and advice, as well as help with resumes and cover letters, jobsearching, and networking. They also have first-hand knowledge of the program and offered unique insight into the challenges RDOs faced in their search for permanent employment.
