Building Pathways: Barton Institute next steps
As announced in our March newsletter, we engaged Point b(e) Strategies to conduct a community engagement process as we consider a programming pathway to support social change leaders and community entrepreneurs with historically marginalized identities. We’re deeply grateful to the fifty-plus community leaders who shared their time and perspectives during the process.
Among the findings: Leaders with marginalized identities are longing for connection and support, and have a deep need for “hyper-individualized, intensive, identity-based mentorship.” Click here to read a full summary of the qualitative data they collected.
The Barton Institute Board of Directors considered the findings and recommendations, and made the following decisions:
The Barton Institute will continue to serve as the fiscal sponsor for a very small number of organizations that are community-led and community-driven.
The Barton Institute will continue working with Point b(e) Strategies to develop and implement a Pathways Program for community entrepreneurs with marginalized identities. Among the key elements of the program will be the following:
A process will be developed to select a small cohort of Metro Denver mentors and mentees with marginalized identities to participate in the Pathways Program.
Mentors will have substantial input into who their mentees are and vice versa. Both groups may choose to be paired with partners who share some or all of their identities.
A variety of opportunities will be created for participants to get to know, learn, and work with each other over the course of a year.
Mentors and mentees will both be paid for their time for participating in the program.
We will be announcing the Pathways Program with full details in a few months, but in the meantime, please feel free to let us know if you have any thoughts or suggestions. To do so, contact Carolyne Ash, carolyne@pointbestrategies.com, or Rebecca Arno, rebecca.arno@bartoninstitute.org.