Hello griffinjay-ga,
This turned out to be a tougher search than I expected. Surprisingly,
there is very little information available on the Web regarding local
and county government agency employee participation in community
volunteer or mentoring programs.
It seems that less than half of the states have laws granting special
leave benefits to state employees who participate in community service
volunteer programs. I was able to locate a few county and municipal
programs that mirror what is mandated for state employees. I also
found a few references to “volunteer leave” or “mentoring leave”
benefits in some labor contracts negotiated by state and municipal
employee unions.
I hope that the sample policies and practices I’ve collected will meet
your needs. In addition, I’ve also included some mentoring portal
sites to help you with further research.
Best wishes for implementing your mentoring program.
czh
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EXAMPLES OF LOCAL / COMMUNITY MENTORING PROGRAMS
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http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/newsroom/nations_cities_weekly/display.cfm?id=E2D4346E-FC36-4E0D-A974159EFF58C06F
Local Governments Granting Time Off to Give Back to Community
While many private sector companies have long promoted volunteerism
among employees, the public sector is a relative newcomer to granting
its employees leave and paid time off to participate in community
service.
***** This short 2001 article mentions a few municipal programs that
grant time off for volunteer work. It mentions the following cities:
“Employees of the City of Boynton Beach, Fla., Newport News, Va., and
Dallas, Tex., are allowed to spend one hour each week serving as
mentors and tutors in city schools; while public employees of Kansas
City, Mo., will be paid for 90 minutes of mentoring per week in area
schools.”
http://www.flcities.com/mentoring/
Florida League of Cities – Governor’s Municipal Mentoring Initiative
The Toolkit for Establishing a Mentoring Program is a 56 page document
that includes a large section on sample policies and forms that might
be helpful for your project.
The links to Florida Cities Involved with Mentoring Program will help
you identify localities that you might want to contact on your own.
The directory offers the following information for each program:
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City of Cape Canaveral
Contact: Susan Stills, City Clerk/Human Resources Director, 105 Polk
Ave., Cape Canaveral, FL 32920
Phone: (321) 868-1220/1221 Fax: (321) 868-1248
E-mail: still-cape@cfl.rr.com
Policy Summary: One hour per week of paid administrative leave.
Partner: Cape View Elementary School.
Description: Once a week volunteers see a student to work on the
student’s reading or basic concepts of computer literacy.
http://www.flamentoring.org/myflorida/governorsoffice/mentoring/
Florida Governor’s Mentoring Initiative
This site offers further information for Florida resources for
mentoring.
http://www.employeementors.com/index.htm
Stanislaus County Employee Mentor Program
The Stanislaus County Employee Mentor program was unanimously approved
by our Board of Supervisors in June of 1999. As a first year pilot
(implementation began January 2000), the program boasted over 50
employees mentoring primarily in one to one activities through year
one. In year two, with the onset of the team based programming
(project AIM), the employee support skyrocketed to over 100 county
employees. The program - both one on one and team based continues to
grow each year and is a true testimonial to the corporate citizenship
model that is embodied by Stanislaus County employees. Today (2003)
we are proud to declare that over 250 Stanislaus County employees have
actively participated, are currently mentoring or in the process of
being matched with a protégé!
***** See the link for A CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP MODEL.. This paper
summarizes the provisions of the program. Pages 6-7 explain the
“incentive pay provisions of the program.
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POLICIES ON STAFF TIME OFF FOR MENTORING
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http://ncosp.osp.state.nc.us/Secure/PMIS/168.html
http://www.osp.state.nc.us/manuals/2000/c-serve.pdf
COMMUNITY SERVICE LEAVE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES
In recognition of the State’s diverse needs for volunteers to support
schools, communities, citizens and non-profit organizations, and
recognizing the commitment of state employees to engage in volunteer
service to the State, the North Carolina Office of State Personnel
shall establish a program for awarding Community Service Leave to
state employees subject to the State Personnel Act.
***** This North Carolina document is a sample executive order that
establishes leave for state employees to serve as mentors. It gives
very detailed parameters for such leave. Many other states have
similar laws and policies for state government employees.
http://www.dpa.ca.gov/benefits/CompensationPlus/Leave5.shtm
State of California -- Mentoring Leave
Eligible excluded employees may receive up to 40 hours of paid
Mentoring Leave per calendar year to participate in mentoring
activities once they have used an equal amount of their personal time
for this activity. Mentoring Leave may only be used by an employee to
mentor. Mentoring activities include structured, one-to-one
relationships which are focused on the needs of at-risk children or
youth (Grades K-12) organized through a bonafide mentoring
organization.
http://laborproject.berkeley.edu/contracts/familyleave.html
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Local 2620
& State of California: AFSCME negotiated for Unit 19 members to
receive up to forty (40) hours of "mentoring leave" per calendar year
to participate in mentoring activities once they have used an equal
amount of their personal time for these activities. "Mentoring leave"
is paid leave time that may only by used by an employee to mentor. It
does not include travel to and from the "mentoring" location.
http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/
The National League of Cities
The National League of Cities is the oldest and largest national
organization representing municipal governments throughout the United
States. Its mission is to strengthen and promote cities as centers of
opportunity, leadership, and governance.
***** The NLC offers a variety of resources for anyone interested in
municipal government. It also offers special services to its members,
icluding: “CityNet is the password-protected section of the National
League of Cities home page and serves as an online community for
elected city officials, managers, and city staff.”
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MENTORING RESOURCES
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http://www.mentoring.org/about_us/about_us.adp
National Mentoring Partnership
Mentoring programs around the country can rely on MENTOR for
cutting-edge products and services to help them grow their programs.
Through our National Mentoring Institute, we offer solutions that are
both cost-effective and easy to access: from online training and
recruitment to e-mentoring standards and tool kits to counsel from
experts.
***** See especially the section on MentorWorks Research for
information about designing and evaluating mentoring programs. See
also the link to State Partnerships which will take you to the “State
and Local Mentoring Partnerships in 23 states and 15 urban centers.”
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/resources.html
The National Mentoring Center has collected a number of on-line
resources related to mentoring. They are arranged by topic, spanning
from general mentoring guides to more specific subjects.
http://www.bsr.org/BSRResources/WhitePaperDetail.cfm?DocumentID=158
Business for Social Responsibility -- White Paper on Volunteerism
***** See especially the section on sample policies.
http://www.afscme.org/
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
***** A search of this union’s web site doesn’t provide any
information about volunteer leave benefits for the employees they
represent.
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SEARCH STRATEGY
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Voluntary Services Leave
Community Service Leave
mentoring leave
municipal mentoring programs
laws "community service leave"
county employee volunteer mentor
mentoring programs leave benefits |
