Owing to sheer enthusiasm and the distraction of food, we don’t have exhaustive notes from the April meeting. Not to worry, the meeting left several impressions and attendees will hopefully add comments to round out these notes.

We were elbow to elbow for our first tango with the Not for Profit group, who numbered eight, and represented a range of area nonprofits.  We totalled 22 for the meeting, and brought at least 2 new faces to the table on the NeXtGen side. Notably, this made for a packed feeling around the table, which we were happy to work through, given the delicious pizza provided.

We kicked off with a quick intro into who our respective groups are, why we started meeting and how it is helping us individually, in our careers and for our persons served. Joe Conrad, Executive Director of CANI, took up the charge of introducing the NFP group and debriefing us on their evolution.

Marty Pastura, general director and CEO of the Fort Wayne YMCAs provided the first responses to the conversation about what mentorship in this sector brings to mind. Pastura’s comments ran the gamut and were followed with lots of encouraging and excited head knodding from all corners. The idea that any mentorship program created needs to be mutual, with learning on both sides of the partnership was a big hit with all attendees.

All in all, the meeting was a success. In terms of encouragement, NeXtGen now has some serious buy-in to co-creating a mentorship program with NINA, a handful of vibrant, interested mentors and some idea about the structure.

The take aways? We should do this again – though, as Conrad said on the tour of ACPL’s Children’s Services Department, NeXtGen ought to have their own time every month in order to continue eeking out our identity, structure and purpose.

Well said.