Families Forward Charlotte: Volunteers and Mobility Mentoring
Families Forward Charlotte in North Carolina is one of several members of the Economic Mobility Exchange™ implementing a Mobility Mentoring® informed approach with volunteer coaches and mentors. They have tapped into the local community to recruit volunteers to connect with the families that they support. The Family Success Program at the organization is informed by Mobility Mentoring® and pairs family liaisons (volunteers) with family partners (participants).
Once recruited, the organization has invested in a thorough screening of prospective volunteers that includes an interest session, interview, and a background check before proceeding with training. By setting the expectation from the beginning, the organization has been able to identify and recruit family liaisons who are in-line with the mission and purpose of the program.
To build capacity for their work, Families Forward Charlotte became a certified train-the-trainer organization within the Exchange network, letting them train their own staff on the Mobility Mentoring® model. This ability gives them the flexibility they need to train incoming volunteers on an as needed basis and continue to build of their foundation of community volunteers. On an ongoing basis, the organization also hosts quarterly training sessions and regularly check in with the family liaisons regarding goals and progress with family partners.
Once trained, volunteers are paired with families in the community who are seeking support, mentorship, and resources from Families Forward Charlotte. Often, the organization will try to match families and volunteers who have things in common like family size, structure, location, or general interests.
Since the founding of the organization in 2017, they have connected 100 families to family liaisons to boost their economic mobility. With their success thus far, the organization is continuing to grow and are looking to recruit 70 families and 25 more volunteers in the New Year.