CHAPTER 13: MANAGING THE VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Chapter Highlights The Head Start director, policy council, and volunteer coordinator work together to manage the volunteer program. The volunteer coordinators role in particular requires ongoing, effective communication with all component coordinators. The volunteer coordinator plays a key role in providing leadership, supervision, and documentation of the volunteer program. The volunteer coordinator is also responsible for establishing a recordkeeping system for the volunteer program. Files on Head Start volunteers will make up the major part of this recordkeeping system.

Head Start programs use a participatory and democratic management approach involving paid staff, parents, and members of the community. The Head Start director manages the program with the support of the all-volunteer policy council. This includes recruiting and hiring the volunteer coordinator. The staff and other parent and community volunteers assist the volunteer coordinator in planning, implementing, and evaluating all aspects of the program. The Head Start program is therefore dependent on volunteers as decisionmakers, advisors, and service providers.

STAFF ROLES

Head Start staff play various roles in the management of the volunteer program. The roles of key staff are discussed below.

The Role of the Director

The Head Start director is the key to the overall success of the Head Start program and in particular to the volunteer effort. The director establishes and fosters the organizational climate of the program. A positive organizational climate is a factor in recruiting and retaining volunteers. The director strives to:


• Maintain or exceed all Head Start performance standards to create an effective, high-quality program that everyone can be proud of.
  
  
• Develop personnel policies, position descriptions, recruitment strategies, hiring procedures, and personnel evaluation systems that ensure the employment and retention of the most qualified staff for all positions.
  
  
• Include staff and volunteers at all levels in decisions affecting the program and arrive at major decisions through consensus building.
  
  
• Serve as a model for and actively support acceptance and respect of individuals having contact with the program regardless of economic status or ethnic or cultural background.
  
  
• Continually reinforce and restate the program's mission through actions and written communication and take every opportunity to tell the Head Start story to all sectors of the community.
  
  In addition to establishing the climate in which volunteers want to work, the director supports the volunteer effort by including money in the program budget for a volunteer coordinator's salary and volunteer program expenses. The director must justify these expenses to the policy council and board of directors.
  
  

The Role of the Policy Council

The policy council has several functions related to the volunteer effort. It is responsible for supporting the director in creating the positive organizational climate described above. The policy council approves the director's budgetary and staffing decisions supporting the volunteer effort. When the director has not included a budget for volunteer services or designated a volunteer coordinator, the policy council needs to encourage the director to allocate those funds. The policy council also has a role in recruiting volunteers, developing and approving the volunteer plan, approving nominations for and assigning at least one representative to the volunteer advisory committee, and evaluating the volunteer effort.

The Role of the Volunteer Coordinator

As discussed in Chapter 2, the volunteer coordinator is responsible for managing all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the volunteer program. The director delegates this responsibility to the volunteer coordinator, and the volunteer coordinator reports directly to them.

As part of the management team, the volunteer coordinator also must work closely with other program staff. It is particularly important that the coordinator communicate effectively with the other component coordinators. The volunteer coordinator's responsibility for the total volunteer effort means that this individual's role will overlap each component area.

The volunteer coordinator's role in planning the volunteer effort and recruiting, screening, placing, and training volunteers has been discussed in earlier chapters of this handbook. In addition to these tasks, the volunteer coordinator provides leadership, supervision, and documentation of the volunteer program.

CROSS COMPONENT COORDINATION Ongoing communication is vital to coordination among the various Head Start components. One way to ensure ongoing communication is to hold team meetings. These meetings include the volunteer coordinator and all the component coordinators. Meetings should be held at regular intervals, for example, weekly or monthly. Each meeting should last no longer than 1 hour. The meeting begins with the volunteer coordinator and component coordinators each giving a brief summary of component activities since the last meeting. They also present their major plans for the coming week or month. The volunteer and component coordinators review concerns and either resolve each problem or make a plan to resolve it. This keeps the volunteer coordinator informed of component activities. It also keeps the component coordinators informed of any volunteer concerns that may affect their component area. This two-way communication enables the volunteer coordinator and component coordinators to identify and address both problems and successes related to the volunteer effort.

Leadership

The leadership role is perhaps the volunteer coordinator's most time-consuming and difficult role. However, it can also be the most rewarding one.


• It is important that volunteer coordinators support volunteers in fulfilling their assignments. Making sure that volunteers are well trained and know their job assignments is one example of how to do this. Ensuring that volunteers' supervisors know how to provide on-the-job training and ongoing support is another example.
  
  
• The volunteer coordinator plays a key role in identifying and resolving difficulties. To do this, the volunteer coordinator must be a keen observer of staff and volunteers as they work together. The volunteer coordinator should try to identify and, with the director, resolve problem behaviors and attitudes before they become more serious. The coordinator must be receptive to individual volunteer and staff concerns and suggestions for improvement.
  
  
• The volunteer coordinator should identify and respect each individual's unique contributions. All volunteers need to feel valued and respected. The volunteer coordinator has a primary role in ensuring that this happens.
  
  
• The volunteer coordinator needs to establish an ongoing communication system that keeps all program participants informed of events in the volunteer program.
  
  

Supervision

The coordinator has four prime areas of supervisory responsibility.


• The volunteer coordinator must provide ongoing monitoring of program efforts. This involves developing a system of checks to ensure that the volunteer plan is being implemented and that the plan adheres to its schedule. Ways of monitoring include checking information gained from periodic meetings with other coordinators, making spot checks on volunteer activity, evaluating volunteer attendance and cumulative hours, and submitting weekly or monthly reports to the director.
  
  Monitoring is important to ensure that the volunteer component is generating its non-Federal match on schedule. Failure to monitor carefully may result in a loss of grant funds or audit exceptions.
  
  
• The coordinator is responsible for participating in staff evaluations where the volunteer component is concerned. Because of the essential role that volunteers play in Head Start programs, all staff must be held accountable for working with volunteers and supporting the entire volunteer effort. Through monitoring the program, the volunteer coordinator will identify individual staff weaknesses and strengths in relating to volunteers. These areas need to be addressed individually and improvement plans made in the context of formal evaluations.
  
  
• The volunteer coordinator is responsible for ensuring that volunteers receive timely, appropriate evaluations. Not all staff will have experience in evaluation, and the volunteer coordinator may need to provide training and guidance. The volunteer coordinator should review each evaluation before it is shared with the volunteer. Additional information on evaluation is provided in Chapter 12: Retaining Volunteers.
  
  
• The volunteer coordinator is also responsible for evaluating the total
  
  
• volunteer effort. The evaluation should be incorporated in the program's annual self-assessment. The Self Assessment Validation Instrument (SAVI) used by most Head Start programs does not have a separate section dedicated to volunteers. Instead, volunteer activities are integrated into the component areas. The volunteer coordinator and the advisory committee must therefore work closely with other components to ensure full compliance regarding use of volunteer services. The advisory committee and coordinator may decide to incorporate additional items in the SAVI process as they relate specifically to the goals and objectives defined in the volunteer plan.
  
  

Documentation

A time-consuming but important task for the volunteer coordinator is the collection and maintenance of appropriate program information on volunteers.

There are two types of information to be collected: information required by >Head Start policy and information that the program keeps for its own purposes. Information required by policy includes the following:


• Docunentation of compliance with performance standards. The Head Start program performance standards include many requirements for the participation of volunteers. Programs need to maintain all information that documents their compliance in each component. To avoid duplication, the volunteer coordinator needs to work closely with other component coordinators to decide who will collect information and how it will be kept.
  
  
• Statistics for the Program Information Report (PIR) on various categories of volunteers. When completing the PIR, Head Start grantees are requested to give the following statistics: — Number of persons providing any volunteer services to the program during the operating period
  
  -- Number of classroom volunteers
  
  -- Number of nonclassroom volunteers
  
  -- Number of Head Start parents who have provided volunteer services
  
  -- Number of persons from the Foster Grandparents Program who participated in the program
  
  -- Number of persons from the Retired Senior Volunteers Program (RSVP) who participated in the program.
  
  PIR requirements change periodically. Grantees need to be alert to memoranda about new data needs.
  
  
• Documentation for the non-Federal match for program funds. Volunteer services used as all or part of the non-Federal match must be backed up by time sheets signed by the volunteer and the supervisor. This is discussed more fully in Chapter 14: Fiscal Matters and the Volunteer Program. Information that programs keep for their own use includes the following:
• Documentation of volunteer experience and contributions. Some Head Start volunteers give their time because they need work experience, training, or both. Records on the number of hours they work and training they receive will be useful to these volunteers. This information can also be used to select and honor volunteers who have made significant contributions to Head Start.
  
  
• Documentation of volunteer services from community organizations. Head Start programs will be repaying various community organizations by providing periodic reports to them documenting the amount of volunteer effort their members have given. Since service to the community is usually the mission of these organizations, Head Start's report to them provides evidence of the fulfillment of their agency goals.
  
  Once the Head Start program decides what information it needs, a system needs to be established to collect the information.
  
  

WORKING WITH DIFFICULT VOLUNTEERS

Head Start programs have a two-fold mandate: to serve children from the poorest families and to actively involve their parents in program operations as volunteers. Furthermore, Head Start policy calls for involvement of volunteers from all parts of the community. The volunteer pool resulting from this mix sometimes results in the recruitment of volunteers whose behaviors may not be appropriate for the needs of the program. Some of these inappropriate behaviors may not become fully apparent until the volunteer is comfortable with the program.

Head Start programs can help avoid inappropriate placements by:


• Developing a careful interviewing and screening process.
  
  
• Developing a volunteer handbook and agreement that clearly define appropriate behaviors.
  
  
• Providing quality orientation and training programs.
  
  Programs can become alert to potential problems by:
  
  
• Carefully monitoring the volunteer program.
  
  
• Training staff to recognize potential problems.
  
  
• Holding periodic meetings of volunteers to air concerns and suggestions.
  
  
• Monitoring individual placements to ensure that the volunteer is working in an appropriate setting.
  
  Sometimes it may be necessary to confront and redirect a volunteer. In some cases, it may be necessary to end a volunteer's involvement with the program. Ending a volunteer's involvement with the program is not much different from terminating a paid employee. Each step must be documented. Some steps for confronting problem behavior are shown on the following page.
  
  

STEPS FOR CONFRONTING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS


Step 1. Identify the problem.

It is important to carefully define the problem that a volunteer is having. The definition of the problem needs to be objective and supportable through observation.

Step 2. Gather in formation.

Once the problem is defined, several questions must be asked:


• Is there anything in writing that covers this problem?
  
• Has training addressing this area been provided?
  
• Is this a volunteer problem or a staff reaction?
  
• What specifically has the immediate supervisor done to address the problem?
  
• How long has the problem been going on?
  
• Is this a community or parent volunteer?
  
  Step 3. Address the problem with the volunteer.
  
  This must be done privately. The volunteer coordinator needs to assure that the discussion will be confidential. The specific behavior should be clearly stated. Feelings and generalizations should be left out. A typical example in the Head Start program might be, "Mary, the teacher you are working with has Indicated that you have told the children they are bad and that they won't be able to come to school anymore. Some of the children have cried as a result of your statements. The classroom aide and education coordinator have shared the same information with me. On several occasions the classroom staff have discussed this with you, but you continue to tell the children the same thing. Our handbook and the training you received you have discussed the importance of helping children to feel good about themselves. We cannot continue to allow you to work in the classroom if you use this kind of language. How might we help you?"
  
  Step 4. Establish an improvement plan for the volunteer.
  
  The plan should be based on information provided by the volunteer and staff. The plan might include specific one-on-one practice sessions, mentoring, or reassignment to another position.
  
  Step 5. Include a contingency statement.
  
  The volunteer should be given a specified length of time or number of repeated behaviors in which to improve. For example, "Mary, now that we have your improvement plan in place, our hope is that the problem will be resolved. I must, however, Inform you that if you tell any more children that they are bad or that they can't come to school, you will no longer be able to volunteer in the center." If the volunteer Is a parent, "We will have to find other ways for you to volunteer in the program."
  
  Step 6. If the behavior is repeated, the volunteer must be met with again privately.
  
  The specified result of the inappropriate behavior must be followed through on. For example, "Mary, today I heard you shout at Jeremy. You said 'Shut up! I'm going to send you home and you won't be able to come to school anymore I' We have already discussed the consequences of this. We will no longer be able to use your services at this center." In the case of a parent, alternative ways to volunteer may be discussed.
  
  

Sometimes a parent volunteer may have to be excluded from the center entirely. Repeated threats, violent behavior, continuous substance abuse, and attacks on children or staff are reasons for keeping a parent out of the center. In such cases, attempts should be made to continue some form of home volunteerism. The social service staff should be alerted, and every effort should be made to keep the child in the center and identify help for the parent.

VOLUNTEER PROGRAM RECORDS

The volunteer coordinator will want to establish recordkeeping systems that allow the convenient retrieval and access of information. Exactly what kinds of records and forms will be maintained and what they will look like will depend on the program's needs and requirements.

Volunteer Files

The major part of a volunteer recordkeeping system is volunteer files. These files are usually divided into groups on potential, active, and inactive volunteers.


• Potential Volunteers. A file of potential volunteers is a holding place for information while interviews, reference checks, and other requirements are completed prior to assigning the volunteer. Potential volunteers may be persons recruited to assume specific responsibilities, or they may be persons who have offered their services to a program. In either case, files for each potential volunteer will contain the following:
  
  -- Cover sheet (a sample cover sheet is shown on the following page)
  
  -- Application form
  
  -- Interview notes
  
  -- Reference checks
  
  -- Background checks, if required
  
  -- Health screenings, if required
  
  -- Other materials needed.
  
  These materials remain in the file established for the volunteer when they become active.
  
  
• Active Volunteers. Once a volunteer has been offered and has accepted a volunteer assignment, the individual's records are moved from the potential to the active volunteer file.
  
  

SAMPLE VOLUNTEER FILE COVER SHEET    Date Item ________ Application received ________ Interview scheduled ________ Interview conducted ________ Reference checks ________ Background checks ________ Health screenings ________ Confidentiality statement ________ Letter of agreement ________ Assignment(s) ________ Volunteer manual received ________ Orientations/training ________ Moved to inactive file

• Inactive Volunteers. Programs should maintain volunteer files for the same amount of time that they keep other supportive information for Federal grants. The information may be needed to verify in-kind share for audits or as a data base for future grant applications.
  
  
  

Other Files

Sometimes it is useful to keep separate files on volunteer organizations that provide services. Some of these organizations provide a specific service, such as transporting families to doctor appointments, under a formal agreement with the Head Start program. In such cases, the letter of agreement and subsequent assignments would be with the volunteer organization rather than with an individual. Therefore, it may be more convenient to file all records related to this organization in one folder.

Volunteer Data Forms

There are several data forms that may help volunteer coordinators organize and track information:


• A summary or control form that lists active volunteers, their assignments, and their supervisors
  
  
• A form that lists volunteer characteristics (for example, Head Start parent, senior citizen, youth group, etc.)
  
  
• A form that lists the kind(s) of services performed (for example, classroom volunteer, consultant, contractual volunteer, advisory group volunteer, etc.)
  
  
• A summary form showing the total number of hours volunteered in a certain time period (month, quarter, or program year).
  
  These forms can be used to track volunteer activity, to flag no-show volunteers, and to check whether or not a supervisor has submitted a volunteer's time sheet.
  
  The volunteer coordinator also maintains copies of component plans and advisory committee meetings. Required and suggested documentation lists are included at the end of each chapter in the handbook.
  
  

POLICY REFERENCES

Policy references related to managing the volunteer program may be formed in the following sections of the publication, Head Start Policies: Volunteer and Community Partnerships:

Section 1: Authority for the Volunteer Program

Section 2: Recruitment of Volunteers

Section 3: Head Start Parents as Volunteers

Section 6: Volunteers in the Education Services Component

Section 7: Volunteers in the Health Services Component

Section 8: Volunteers in the Social Services Component

Section 13: Documentation of Volunteer Services

DOCUMENTATION CHECKLIST Required Documentation: Documentation supporting performance standards requirements PIR information Documentation of non-Federal match Recommended Documentation: Volunteer evaluations Monitoring Information Volunteer experience Volunteer contributions Volunteer services through community organizations Volunteer files Control form for active volunteers