Name: Wendy Vang Roberts
Position: Volunteer Outreach and Hotline Manager
Organization: Minnesota Literacy Council
MAVA Member Since: 2015
Please describe your volunteer program: Minnesota Literacy Council recruits, trains and places volunteers at literacy programs across Minnesota. These programs offer free classes, such as English as a Second Language (ESL), citizenship, GED, reading, math and computer skills. Volunteers help in many ways including, assisting in a classroom, teaching or co-teaching, tutoring one-on-one, providing administrative support and more. Many of our adult literacy classes are completely volunteer-led, and volunteers are essential to the success of our mission and programs. We would not be able to achieve our goals without our volunteers!
What is your role? I manage volunteer and learner outreach for Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs across Minnesota. I also provide support to ABE volunteer coordinators statewide and coordinate equity and culture workshops for volunteers, annual events and conferences.
How did you get involved in Volunteer Management? I started with Minnesota Literacy Council in 2013 as a volunteer ESL teacher and a Community Outreach Intern before joining the staff in 2014 in the children’s literacy program. I have worked in the Children's Tutor Training, National Service (AmeriCorps VISTA), Libraries and Literacy Leadership (L3), Adult Literacy Hotline and Volunteer Outreach departments. As the daughter of Hmong refugees, I experienced firsthand the importance of literacy, which is where my passion for education and community outreach and engagement began. Education has been the most important tool in helping me achieve my goals. It has opened many doors of opportunities for me and my family, and I would not be where I am today without it. It is why I work to promote it every day by helping prospective students find and connect with classes and engaging community members in the cause as volunteers across Minnesota.
What does it mean to you to be a MAVA member? I greatly appreciate being able to connect with and learn from the staff at MAVA and other organizations that are dedicated to promoting volunteerism. As a MAVA member, I am impressed with and grateful for the access I have to innovative research, trainings and networking opportunities that MAVA has provided for the volunteer field. I am looking forward to the progress we can make together in building more just and equitable communities through volunteerism.
Can you recall a time when being a MAVA member directly impacted your work in your organization? What were the outcomes of MAVA’s impact?
Minnesota Literacy Council has been working to ensure its programs are inclusive and welcoming to all. The volunteer outreach team has prioritized engaging and recruiting volunteers from communities of color. Since April 2018, we have increased the percentage of volunteers of color recruited from 11 to 27 percent by changing our outreach methods to be more inclusive, improving our data collection and being intentional in our overall work. MAVA’s research and presentation on engaging volunteers from diverse and immigrant communities was a very helpful starting point for us, and we can’t thank Lisa Joyslin and her team enough for helping us get started in this work. It has also been great to be connected with Lisa and the Inclusive Volunteerism Task Force. I appreciate being able to learn from other volunteer engagement leaders and to share about the work we are doing in literacy.
Do you have any advice for new MAVA members/leaders of volunteers?
I know we are all busy (My desk is cluttered with several months of paperwork to file and I haven’t watered my office plant in weeks!), but prioritize getting out and connecting with community members and other organizations. Attend community events, schedule a meeting across town at a partner’s site (and ask for a tour!) and create opportunities for collaboration and learning. You’ll hear many stories, gain new ideas, challenge your own assumptions and build authentic relationships that will help you and your organization learn and grow.