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FAMILY COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

A program of the Volunteer Resource Center of Hawaii in collaboration with the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the Hawaii Association Family & Community Education (HAFCE).

Family Community Leadership (FCL) has just completed the training session, "Building a Caring Community” held in Hilo, Hawaii in June and August, 2010. For more information on the next training session or further questions contact Jean Young.

Building a Caring Community Training Session 2010

Preview more photos from the FCL Building a Caring Community training session.

The FCL Trainer Team is comprised of experienced volunteer trainers from the community working closely together with Extension Educator, Jean Young, from the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources. Together, we custom designed a training series to meet the specific needs and interests of groups such as the FCE and other community organizations such as churches, human services, civic and other nonprofit organizations.

These days, many membership organizations are facing similar challenges such as:
• “Graying” out (aging) of its membership
• Difficulty in recruiting new members
• Difficulty in recruiting younger members
• Shortfalls in budgets due to declining membership and rising costs
• Competition from other groups
• Lack of adequate staffing for programs
• Increasing needs to service more persons

Main goals of the training included:
• To increase participant’s knowledge of themselves and others
• To explore different leadership styles and appropriateness to use what style when
• To gain new skills and knowledge in leadership, team building and volunteer development
• To “invest” in participants so that they will take back what they learned and share it with others

FCL training blends research based information on leadership, volunteer management and development with personal development and team building techniques with diverse clientele. FCL trainings are unique, creating positive learning environments using a multitude of teaching styles designed to address different learning styles -- auditory, visual, kinesthetic. FCL workshops are comprised of individual, paired sharing, small group and large group activities. Participants present “Teach Back” sessions where small groups must present to the larger class and include key points learned, demonstrate new skills and knowledge, and must utilize the entire group’s members in their presentations to give public speaking practice for all. Presentations are creative, often funny, and highlight that we learn best when we have to teach others.

FCL spends extra time and efforts to incorporate plants, flowers, colored wall hangings (pareos), changing room set ups, lighting, costumes, music and dance to create a conducive learning environment. As we tell the class, if you already know the content of the training, watch how we teach it because it is probably taught unlike anything they have seen before.

As a direct result of training, participants complete “Life Application” report forms and cite they have already started to:
• Take on new leadership roles that they had not done prior to FCL training
• Expand their network of resources in the community
• Take their new knowledge and skills learned and shared it with others such as their families, workplaces and organizations they belong to
• Help energize members to want to continue to keep learning (filling their “tool” and “treasure” chests)