| 6.1 | Planning and Design |
| 6.2 | The Pilot |
| 6.3 | Regular Operations |
| 6.4 | Expansion and Replication |
The Hub hopes to implement its first program at Stanford University. The Board of Directors will hire two staff members, the Resource Specialist and the Relationship Coordinator, to initiate a three-month Planning and Design Phase. The staff will settle in to office space provided to them by Stanford University.
The Resource Specialist will first become deeply knowledgeable about Stanford Benefits and work with the BenefitSU department to author and develop materials that will be used to introduce program participants to the benefits basic in a way that is easy for them to understand. The Resource Specialist will also develop modules, which are guides to introducing local resources for addressing specific problems that program participants might be facing (e.g., finding housing, childcare, etc.) The Resource Specialist will work closely with the Relationship coordinator to design the way in which these materials and modules will be taught and delivered by the mentors through the mentoring program.
The Relationship Coordinator designs the mentoring infrastructure. During the first phase, the Relationship Coordinator will design strategies for recruiting, screening, and matching program participants; refine the program design and plan events and activities; and plan methods of recognition and ongoing evaluation. The process of recruiting mentors will begin.
Both staff will spend a great deal of time getting to know the Stanford environment and in particular, the obstacles that confront entry-level employees at Stanford.
The Hub will start with a deliberately small program for an initial six-month pilot phase, so the program staff can adequately monitor each relationship and different aspects of the operation and make refinements before resources are deployed for a full-scale program. At the beginning of this phase, the Hub and Stanford University, the pilot host, will set goals and measures of success for evaluating the program. One goal is to begin with ten mentor-mentee pairs and add ten additional pairs every two months, ending with no more than forty pairs after six months.
The majority of the initial mentee population will come from Springboard's client base, as these applicants are pre-screened and motivated employees. After six months the program will again go through thorough evaluation and refinement, incorporating feedback from the program staff, mentors and mentees, Stanford, and the Board of Directors.
Assuming the Hub meets its goals and Stanford is pleased with the program, Stanford will begin to pay the Hub for continued operation of the mentoring and benefits outreach program. The program will be allowed to expand beyond the initial forty pairs with a goal of 100 pairs by the end of the first year, 120 by the end of the second year, and 150 by the end of the third year.
As the number of mentor-mentee pairs grows, outstanding and committed mentors will be recruited to serve as senior mentors, or "mentors to the mentors," who will support mentor-mentee pairs and relieve some of the check-up duties of the Relationship Coordinator. This will help the program scale.
Because our venture is designed to be replicable, one of its goals is to expand to more employment locations. Potential partner institutions will be identified and approached about incorporating the Hub into their employee support program. Interested institutions will work with the Hub staff to inform potential employer partners of benefits and environment specific to the new institution. The Hub staff will then create and implement a curriculum tailored to the new partner. Potential partners will be able to look at Stanford and subsequent affiliates to evaluate the success of the venture. The Hub will continue to adapt, improve, and innovate its methods for helping the working poor take advantage of existing employer and community resources. Hopefully, after expanding regionally, like the spokes of the Hub, the core values of our venture will spread and create a culture for supportive workplace communities nationwide.