Zoo-Mates 2010-2011

Hello there Zoo-Mates Fans!

Welcome to Zoo-Mates 2010-2011!

The first event was a mentor training, held October 13th at the Cincinnati Zoo in the Leaf Cutter Ant and Dart Frog rooms of the Education Center. New Zoo-Mates mentors got a chance to hear from David Rosenthal about the exciting digital photography project the Zoo-Mates will be working on throughout the year. The photo project is part of Prairie and will give mentors and their Zoo-Mates a way to connect through the creative process.

Zoo-Mates also got to go on a thought experiment lead by Pat Reiber of the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, who also informed mentors of the possibility of continuing their relationship with their Zoo-Mate after the program year has concluded.

Then it was on to everyone favorite Ice Breakers, during which Zoo-Mates mentors got a chance to get to know one another, and practice one of the key aspects of Zoo-Mates: having fun!

Mentors were introduced to the issues surrounding homelessness, and children experiencing homelessness by Project Connect. They then were able to interactively explore their own understanding of homelessness, and work together to figure out what talents and assets they brought to the program to make a positive impact on Zoo-Mates.

Finally, mentors learned best practices, and returning Zoo-Mates shared their insights from past experience working with children through the program.

Summer updates

TrueHero.org: The results will not be official until August, but initial results look good for Zoo-Mates. Keep checking the blog for official results. If you voted, you will get an email from True Hero once results are in!

In the meantime, beat the summer heat by checking out Project Connect/Faces Without Places Youtube channel.


Here's a video from a Zoo-Mates activity:

Two days left to vote!

There are only two days left to vote for Zoo-Mates at Truehero.org.

Zoo-Mates needs about 70 votes to be awarded money for next year's programming. If you haven't voted yet, please vote. If  you have already voted, please pass along this information to friends, family, co-workers, anyone!

Helpful information to forward:

We'd like to ask you to support one of our signature mentoring programs through the UC Center for Community Engagement called Zoo-Mates.  If you’re not already familiar, Zoo-Mates is a group mentoring program that pairs 30 UC students with 30 students from Cincinnati Public Schools who are currently experiencing homelessness. A large portion of our funding comes from a voting contest on TrueHero.org where the “Top 8 College Projects” (vote-getters) are awarded project support grants.

Please read about the program and vote here: http://truehero.org/projects/index.cfm?id=242.  It takes less than 1 minute; simply type your email address, submit, and validate your address in the confirmation email.  For further information about Zoo-Mates, check out our website.

Don’t feel motivated to click the link, yet?
Read the stats below to learn about issues that Zoo-Mates helps to address:
•  Children account for the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
•  The average age of a homeless person is only 9 years old.
•  Families comprise 40% of the homeless population.
•  Children experiencing homelessness change schools 7-8 times per year.