This week at The Overwatch Partnership, I had a number of tasks to complete. The main one was to create an Excel sheet that complied all the responses I received from the mentors and mentees I emailed. So far, I have heard back from a lot of the mentors. I was really glad to see that their feedback was mainly positive! A lot of them said that their communication and relationship with their mentee was going very well. One mentor expressed that they would like to talk to other mentors to share experiences. This would be helpful for the mentors so that they could learn methods that do and don’t work when it comes to supporting their mentees. Unfortunately, another mentor has been having consistent communication issues with their mentees. Reading all of the responses made me realize how important gathering feedback is. There is always room for improvement, and you should always look for ways to make things easier and more beneficial for all parties. 

Another task I had this week was to create a mentor playbook. The playbook is meant to be an outline that they can reference or follow during the 9-month mentorship period. It will be especially helpful for first time mentors. I have never created a playbook for programs before, so I did a lot of research and looked and preexisting playbooks to help me create one for OWP. I really enjoy doing these kinds of tasks. It makes me feel like I am really making a difference and helping people. I am still researching grants that OWP can apply to. It has been really hard trying to find grants that are local to Ohio. Overwatch does not fit a lot of the specific requirements to receive a lot of local grants, but I am still trying very hard to find some! I see how hard it is for small nonprofits to receive funding. And unfortunately, with the way things are going I don’t think it is going to get any easier. 

To end on a high note, I also created a document containing the responses I received from each board member I met with. They all aspire to grow OWP so that many more veterans can receive mentorship and support. One even had the idea to provide support to military families as well, which was something I hadn’t even thought of. I am really excited to see how Overwatch grows, even after I am no longer a Fellow. 

Thank you for reading, 

Kindall Benjamin