My Nonprofit Reviews
YMTFpres
Review for Orange County Youth Motivation Task Force Inc, Anaheim, CA, USA
I've been associated with YMTF for 25 years. I know of no other program that so effectively informs high school students about the importance of education. We're a partnership with the schools, utilizing the experience of the schools to identify classes and schools that most need to hear our message. As a member of the board, our main goal is to line up schools for our visits and then to recruit volunteers to go into the classroom to talk about their jobs, their life styles, and, most importantly, the role that education has had on their life. We provide the volunteers with cost-of-living information. When shown these data the students are enthusiastic about our message. It's not uncommon to have a student tell us that they had not realized how expensive it was going to be living on their own. Some make a dramatic turn around in their academic career. Using funds from our volunteers and the corporations that they work for, we offer scholarships. Our scholarships are different from most others in that we seek out students that have made that dramatic turn around in their grades. Many who receive our scholarship would not be eligible for any scholarship for college. All-in-all the effort we and our volunteers put in is very rewarding and satisfying.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I visit classrooms and see the effect that the message our volunteers has upon the students. It is not uncommon that the impact is life-changing. Many volunteers initially think tha the students are not listening, because the students don't ask questions, or otherwise seem interested. But, when the volunteer reads the student and teacher evaluation forms we hand out at the end of class, they see that the students were paying attention. Teachers appreciate us too.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I'd like to add a new effort, working with students to help them in their academic careers. We fund a very limited number of scholarships each year. This year, we had 35 applications for 8 scholarships. We'd like to be able to fund all qualified applicants and to mentor all, even those that were not awarded a scholarship.
Will you volunteer or donate to this organization beyond what is required of board members?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you tell others about this organization?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
How did you learn about this organization?
Presentation at work.
What is this organization's top short-term priority?
We need to form a better relationship with the schools in order to schedule school visits. The schools are bombbarded with organizational requests and seldom return phone calls. One counselor told me that he receives 35 phone calls every week from organizations trying to get into their schools. It's difficult for the schools to identify which organizations have valuable programs.
What is its top priority in the long run?
We need to look to the long run in terms of maintaining the organization. Right now there are two key individuals that effectively run the organization. We need to form an organization that would not be so dependent upon one, or two, individuals and carry on with this work.
