Team G.O.A.L has been working hard these past few weeks getting quite a few things straight, and planning for the future while also moving forward. That being said, a lot of it has been establishing what exactly our problem is, what we are doing to help, why it is important, and who we are helping.
When I say “team” I mean Angelica, Bunmi (me!), Melanie, and Truc. We have all agreed that while at first reorganizing pamphlets seemed helpful to our organization the Austin Pregnancy Center, we decided that their new mentorship program could impact the visiting mothers in a more powerful way. The mentorship program at the APRC exists because 80% of their visiting mothers are returning mothers that depend on the resource center for their needs. This is where the mentorship comes in! The mentors will be working with the mothers to help them move from depending on the APRC to managing themselves and children on their own.
Where do we come in? These mentors are likely to be volunteers, they may or may not be prepared for the questions different mothers have. To help these volunteers, G.O.A.L will be making a Menu of Resources! This menu will include relevant information on resources under the following categories: Employment, Education, Governmental Benefits, Citizenship, Nutrition, and Healthcare. Everyone was randomly assigned a category and I was assigned Education.
Where I come in: Education is very important in the world we live in. You need a certain education to get a job you want, and in general to solve problems ethically. That being said, a single mother, or one who is having difficulty providing for herself could be in high school, or going through college. Some may have never gone through either levels of education and want to start. With this in mind I thought about my mother who takes online classes to get her doctorate degree at Walden University. I decided to research one thing that is always comforting when thinking about college: scholarships! I found a variety that came in a spectrum of options. From mothers wanting to get back to school, to ones who are focused on science and math. I am now challenged to find colleges that are mother-friendly and child-friendly. At the moment I am disappointed to say that I only found two colleges that fit the two previously mentioned descriptions that reside in Texas. But I am determined to find more, and find other education-related resources to help our volunteer mentors effectively help our returning mothers.
This project all in all has been a ride, but I’m glad I have teacher who can challenge my team and I to look at things critically and realistically. As a member of team G.O.A.L I am extremely proud of our progress and our steps in the right direction! There’s nothing like a little turbulence to keep us all on our toes.
StarPathDesign 
I really like how your group wanted to seek for a solution that was better than a pamphlet since its something that has already been done many times to share information. I really love the idea of having a mentorship program for mothers since it would be a place where mothers would be able to ask their own personal questions that may be not be answered in a pamphlet. With that idea in mind, I also find that a menu for your volunteers involving the answers for the possible questions relating to employment, education, governmental benefits, citizenship, nutrition, and healthcare is key for mothers to have their questions properly answered. As you said many volunteers may not be experts on the subjects and should have the tools to really help someone. One thing that you may want to add in the beginning is a brief description of what you/your team is trying to achieve and what your organization is about for a reader who may not know what we are doing. Other than that, your blog post was really informative in what you are currently doing, good job and good luck(: