Collaborative Workshops for Multi-Stream Training
With contributions by Bob Torvestad, Arkansas Corporation Field Director
WINTER 1997 (archived information - please note the date of publication)
Since training workshops take considerable time and money to plan and execute, efficiency is the key to making them the most profitable for all concerned. To achieve this efficiency, the Corporation State Office (CSO) in Arkansas collaborated with its State Commission to design training workshops which were relevant to all streams of service. They also decided to use national training and technical assistance (T/TA) providers to conduct the workshops.
Cooperation was vital for the success of this endeavor. Corporation Field Director Bob Torvestad explains, "We have a great working relationship with the Commission. Their involvement was key to our success. First, their active participation ensured that this was a multi-stream event. Secondly, it was through the Commission that the various national T/TA providers were invited to Arkansas. They were involved from the beginning."
Planning the Workshops January 1996 marked this beginning, when the Arkansas CSO staff developed an initial plan for in-service training. It was decided that national T/TA providers should conduct the workshops because they were experienced at working with various streams of service, which was essential for a multi-stream event. the Corporation and Commission had also heard of the providers' reputation for high quality training. In addition, the providers contacted were willing to travel to Arkansas for the workshops, making the training much more affordable for those who attended.
During the planning stages, five workshop topical areas were identified: grassroots fundraising, fundraising for small nonprofits, cross-cultural understanding, leadership, and volunteer management. The streams of service which participated in the training included VISTA, AmeriCorps State and National members and their supervisors, National Senior Service Corps directors, Learn and Serve staff, and site coordinators.
The Commission and CSO used T/TA providers from the Presidio Leadership Center, the Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, the National MultiCultural Institute, and the United Way. The Southwestern and Southern cluster representatives for the United Way of America identified trainers in the areas of grassroots fundraising and volunteer management. Acquiring these trainers was a unique accomplishment because it brought national trainers to the state, which allowed for quality training "in-house," and provided cross-stream training that was relevant to all participants. All of this was done within the VISTA cost limit of $200 per person.
The Event The event itself was held September 9-11, 1996 in Little Rock, Arkansas with 140 participants in attendance. The success of the training is in the numbers--no one left early and the final enrollment reached over 150 people. The individual workshops were sufficiently focused so that participants learned new skills, provided relevancy for each stream represented, and were carefully designed to be interactive, experiential, and of the highest possible quality. Participants unanimously reported the training sessions as the most valuable they had ever attended. As Torvestad notes, "The participants felt good about themselves because we [the Corporation State Office and Arkansas State Commission] had invested so much in them. It seemed to elevate their importance to their projects and their communities. This was perhaps the highest compliment."
With all of the work and planning, would they do it again? " Absolutely."
