Adopt the Junior Quota Club Mentoring Program in Your Club: Steps for Getting Started

The way that you coordinate your junior club depends on your resources, time, and goals, as well as the resources, time, and goals of your soon-to-be junior members! However, any club planning to sponsor a Junior Quota Club will need to consider the following steps:

• STEP ONE:
  Determine who you'll recruit.
• STEP TWO:
  Determine how you'll recruit.
• STEP THREE:
  Establish operating procedures.
• STEP FOUR:
  Create connections with the senior club.

STEP ONE: Determine who you'll recruit.
To determine how you will recruit members, first consider how your sponsorship aligns with your club's goals.

• To start a junior club as a form of service to the deaf and hard-of-hearing:
  • Focus your recruitment efforts on organizations that support the deaf and hard-of-hearing, such as specialized schools and classes, youth clubs for the deaf, or perhaps even a local audiologist's office.
    
    
• To start a junior club as a form of service to disadvantaged children:
  • Recruit through schools that serve low-income families as well as the hundreds of non-profits, churches, and other organizations that serve them. Visit the United Way's Web site, www.idealist.org, or another on-line service directory to access a list of organizations that provide support to disadvantaged families.
    
    
• If you envision your junior club as a service organization open to any young people committed to service:
  • Your recruitment efforts might extend to local schools, churches, and sports, recreational, and other organizations that serve youth.

STEP TWO: Determine how you'll recruit.
Once you've determined who to recruit to join your junior club, it's time to put the word out! Utilize a variety of methods to reach a range of audiences, and be sure to target your flyers, events, and marketing to the "junior" crowd. Some ways you might consider reaching out to potential junior members:

• Club connections:
  • Members who work directly with youth (teachers, coaches, etc.) can share the opportunity with their own students, as well as co-workers, who also work with youth. Quota parents might also encourage their children to join.
    
    
• Word of mouth:
  • Tell family members, friends, and co-workers that your local Quota club is starting a junior club. They can share the word with their own children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and other youth.
    
    
• School, church, and organizational bulletins and
  Web sites:
  • Most organizations that serve young people publish regular bulletins and maintain Web sites that are frequently updated. Ask these organizations to publicize your call for membership.
    
    
• Postal and Web mailings:
  • Utilize the many postal and e-mail addresses that you've gathered to publicize other Quota events! Send flyers or e-flyers to those you've invited to your programs in the past—their homes might include young people, or they might know youth who would be interested.
    
    
• Quota table:
  • Colleges, high schools, multi-service organizations, churches, and other agencies often hold service and other fairs to make students aware of extracurricular opportunities. If your community has an event like this, be sure to sponsor a Junior Quota club table!
    
    
• Youth event:
  • Hold an event geared toward youth as a service project or fund-raiser. This is a great opportunity, not only to share the word about Junior Quota clubs, but also to serve the local community.

STEP THREE: Establish Operating Procedures
While your Junior Quota Club will offer youth an opportunity to develop their leadership skills and operate their club autonomously, they will also need some structure, especially when they are getting started. Consider involving your junior members in this decision-making process, as it will encourage them to take ownership of their own club. Be sure to set up guidelines for the following items.

• Governance:
  • How will your Junior Quota Club govern itself? Electing officers is a great way to build leadership skills; in addition to the offices of president, vice-president, and secretary/treasurer, consider establishing committees to spread the work and leadership opportunities. Be sure to create job descriptions for each of these offices so that responsibilities are clear.
    
    

In addition to electing officers, developing and maintaining a mission statement and bylaws might be a valuable experience for your junior club. These do not have to be lengthy, but they do give structure to the club's work. What should their bylaws look like? How will you support them in their development? How can they be amended?

• Meetings:
  • How often should the club meet? What should the function of those meetings be? Will a senior member attend those meetings, or will a junior member report on the events of the meeting to the senior club?
    
    

In addition, you should consider where the club will meet. Be sure that the junior club acquires space where they can have effective meetings. You might offer professional or other non-school space to give junior members exposure to office and other environments.

• Service requirements:
  • The focus of your junior club will most likely be service. How will you hold club members accountable to those service requirements? By logging service hours or holding a certain number of events? Will junior members submit a proposal and/or evaluation to the senior club for feedback and review? Be sure to involve junior members in this process so that the service requirements meet their own expectations and abilities.
    
    
• Finances:
  • Managing a budget is a valuable experience. What will your junior club need funds for? Will they raise these funds on their own, or will they receive a grant from the senior club? If you decide that club members should pay dues, keep them to a minimum and offer scholarships so that all young people can get involved, regardless of financial situation.

To view, print, or adapt Junior Quota Club guidelines set up by Quota International of Coral Springs/Parkland, Florida, U.S.A., click here.

STEP FOUR: Create links to the senior club.
The structure of Junior Quota Clubs should include plenty of opportunity for feedback, advising, and mentoring from senior members. While youth should have the freedom to develop their own programs and lead their peers, they should also feel supported. In all cases, look at the individual needs of the members of your club's junior members, and look for ways that individual senior members can mentor, assist, and support junior club members on an individual basis. For example, planning one-on-one outings, acknowledging birthdays and other special events, etc.

Other ways to ensure that your junior members gain leadership skills while still benefiting from the support of the senior club include:

• Shared meetings and projects:
  • Although each club is dealing with its own programs, issues, and goals, it is valuable for you to work together and develop strong face-to-face relationships. Be sure that you hold at least two meetings together each year, and develop at least two service projects together. In addition, invite junior members to your other events as appropriate.
    
    
• Club representatives:
  • Elected officials in both the junior and senior clubs could include intergenerational club representatives. The senior representative could attend junior meetings to report on senior club activities and share opportunities; the junior representative would do the same at senior club meetings.
    
    
• Hold a retreat:
  • Hold an annual retreat to celebrate the accomplishments of the junior club's past year while working with them to establish goals for the upcoming year.
    
    
• Establish reporting requirements:
  • As the junior club's sponsoring organization, hold junior members accountable to their goals and provide them with feedback. Having them provide annual reports and program evaluations is a great way for them to share their activities with you while also encouraging them to evaluate and reflect on their own projects.