THE BA VOLUNTEER PROJECT

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• THE BA VOLUNTEER PROJECT

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• How did we come up with the idea?
• - Increase the number of users.
• Pilot project in which we can learn lessons and
  then replicate in other countries.
• Measure the enthusiasm for an idea like this.

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• The Manual for neighborhood volunteers
• http//www.idealistas.org/es/promote/manual.html
• Step 1 Promotion of Idealistas.org
• Step 2 Identify possible community points and
  do a community mapping.
• Step 3 Take action

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Manual

• I. Introduction
• What is Idealist?
• The Invitation for practical dreamers project
• II. Objectives
• III. Activities
• A. Offline activities
• Outreach activities in the neighborhood
• High schools and elementary schools
• Colleges and universities
• Community organizations
• Building doormen
• Restaurants
• Religious services
• Cyber cafes
• Local newspapers
• Tabling at events
• Neighborhood organizations

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• C. Other activities in your neighborhood
• Identify possible community points.
• Community mapping
• IV. Materials and documents
• Word of mouth
• Everyone
• Schools
• Universities
• Communty organizations
• Flyer
• Poster
• Road map
• INDIVS
• Orgs
• Guide for community mapping
• Forms
• Desktop wallpaper of Idealistas.org
• Press release

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• The first meeting

• Number of volunteers who came 35
• How did we structure the meeting
• Welcome speech
• Tags and flags
• Background of the project and general info on
  Idealistas
• Why we think the project is important.
  Motivation.
• QA
• Hand out the material (printed version of guide,
  flyers, posters, etc).

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The Yahoo group

• It has helped to keep the volunteers motivated
  but the face to face contact is the most
  important thing to keep a group on the move
  (monthly meetings). In this interaction many new
  ideas show up, as well as the inspiration.

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• The second meeting

• Number of volunteers who came in the summer 9
  (theres still one more meeting left)
• How did we structure the meeting
• Welcome speech
• Feedback from each of them on how did it go.
• Answers
• Explanation of second step of the project
• Continue promoting, start community mapping and
  list posible community points.
• Lorenes presentation about the project at an
  international level, translations, etc.
• Hand out more material

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Lessons learned so far

• A lot of people are looking for a project like
  this. People have the need to connect with
  others but dont know how.
• The digital divide is a big obstacle for reaching
  more people. Therefore offline outreach is also
  necessary.
• Important to have different speeches according to
  the target group.
• Volunteers need more support
• People need a call (or other type of contact)
  from us once the volunteers reach them and when
  theyve shown interest in Idealistas tools.
  Staffs presence assures that it is a serious
  organization.