Help teens learn and advocate for health!

MIKE Program is a youth empowerment program that places health mentors with teen groups in classrooms or youth agencies. A teacher or case manager facilitates group process and navigates site requirements while employing the MIKE Program curriculum to bring teens and mentors together in a partnership of inquiry and action. We guide groups of young people to build friendship, team and work development skills for academic and career success while instilling an appreciation of healthy lifestyles so that the teens apply, adopt, and advocate for health in their diverse communities. Mentors enrich the social and health environments of youth while encouraging the development of healthy relationships and behaviors. Activities include healthy snacks and exercise, art projects, field trips to grocery stores, tours of dialysis centers and other health facilities, interacting with health care providers, and the completion of a community outreach project in which the youth create and deliver a unique health message/project to others in their community.

Mentors undergo training in aspects of the MIKE Program curriculum, which meets national and state standards for comprehensive adolescent health education, Career Related Learning Skills, and best practices of youth development and adolescent health education.

You will learn and apply group theory as you serve throughout the entirety of one youth group project. Programs have expanded and we need mentors now through June 2011. Mentors typically meet with youth for 1-2 hours per week, as well as embarking on occasional field trips with youth on weekends and attending booster training/networking sessions every other month.

To learn more, please consider attending an upcoming Volunteer Orientation: Saturday, July 31, 10:00 AM in the MIKE Program office Please RSVP (503-296-7705 or [email protected])

Applications available online at http://www.mikeprogram.org/volunteer_app