TRUE ASIAN LEADERS MENTORSHIP APPLICATION

TAL Mission Statement

“True Asian Leaders (TAL) is dedicated to the mentorship and empowerment of Asian high school youth in the neighboring communities of Oakland and Richmond, bringing them together through similar experiences by supporting dialogue about community and political issues. TAL instills students with the motivation and passion to bring about lasting and positive change in our communities by promoting critical thinking and leadership skills. Students are provided with continual support and guidance as needed in order to achieve higher education.”

What is TAL?

The True Asian Leaders (TAL) mentorship program is a group mentorship program that is dedicated to serving and empowering underserved high school students from Oakland and Richmond. TAL was developed in 1998 as a response to the gang related violence between the two cities in hopes to bridge both communities. Since then, TAL has developed an academic dimension designed to mentor and nurture students into more critical thinkers in life and also as leaders in their school and communities.

More specifically, TAL is a 2 1/2 - 3 year program. We work with the same mentees for the entirety of the program so we ideally would like the same mentors to be there for them throughout the program. Every Sunday, TAL takes place from 11am-3pm. Students are brought from their perspective communities to the mentors at the UC Berkeley campus at Wheeler Hall. The students engage in workshops that enhance critical thinking and political awareness in the Asian Pacific Islander community. TAL provides mentees with a long-term relationship with mentors who offer academic and personal guidance, support, and resources throughout their journey to complete high school and beyond.

The Mentees

TAL works with the Asian/Pacific Islander community in neighboring high schools of Richmond and Oakland. These students come from under-resourced districts such as the Oakland Unified School District and West Contra Costa School District. We have students from Oakland High School, Richmond High school, Kennedy High School, Skyline High School, and Fremont High School. All of these schools have a high drop-out rate and low-API (academic performance index) scores. In these communities, students are constantly facing not just the struggles in school, but family struggles and community struggles as well. Considering these factors that the students face, they are distracted from being a student trying to aim for higher education or even aim for a diploma for high school. TAL shows these students that they have the potential to succeed in EVERY way and that higher education is always in reach. Moreover, TAL empowers students to challenge these issues that they face to create positive change in their communities.

High school is a critical time for students to explore their identity. TAL holds dialogue and workshops to help students explore their identity as Asian/Pacific Islander American. TAL empowers these students by educating them on their history that cannot be found in textbooks in high school history courses. By learning about their histories, they are able to understand their family situations and putting their lives into context. By empowering these students, they are motivated to achieve higher education and take a leadership role in their communities in order to spread what they learn.

What To Expect As Part of TAL

TAL is starting its 7th generation this year. A big part of TAL will be about establishing unbreakable bonds and friendships between mentors-mentees, mentor-mentors, mentees-mentees. It is very important to make the mentors and mentees feel comfortable with each other so that we can essentially become a family. With these bonds we can empower the high school students in any and every possible way that we can. Mentors should take initiative and try to help the mentees out in any way that we can, inside and outside of TAL.

Another thing that is and has been a focus of TAL is raising our political awareness. Mentors and mentees will raise their political awareness through participating and leading different workshops (which will be determined as the course of the year goes on). TAL is in the process of figuring out fun, interesting, and effective ways of learning about political issues that affect the API community and also all people of color. So if you have any ideas, please let TAL know.

The voice of the students is always encouraged. A lot of the workshops that TAL gives are based on what the mentees want to hear about and what they want to learn about. When we do site visits, it is the mentees who lead us on “tours” of their communities, explaining to everyone what kinds of resources their communities have or do not have.

Time Commitment

If you want to join TAL please understand that the other mentors and mentees expect you to be visible throughout the year. There are weekly TAL Thursday mentor meetings, which last for an hour-and-a-half. There are weekly TAL Sundays from 11am-3pm. And there will be TAL retreats. We really want dedicated mentors for the mentees because the mentees will expect their mentors to be there for them. We can’t afford to have anyone leaving mid-semester or coming out to TAL events only occasionally. Ideally, we would like for the TAL mentors to be with the students for the entirety of the program. We want mentors that will be invested in the mentorship program.

*NOTE: The 1st TAL Mentor meeting of the semester starts on OCTOBER 3, 2013 (subject to change).

Name: ______Gender: F M

E-mail: ______Birthday: ______

Major: ______Year: ______Phone Number: ______

Circle the position you desire: MENTOR INTERN DRIVER TUTOR

Are you a CAL student?: YES or NO

Please answer the questions to the best of your ability. In addition to the application, we will be conducting interviews as another way for TAL coordinators and previous mentors to get to know you better. :D

1. How can you relate to the TAL Mission Statement? What is your interpretation of the mission statement?

2. Have you had prior experiences mentoring or working with youth? Please describe any specific experience and how this has influenced you.

3. If you become a TAL mentor, what do you expect to gain from the program?

What does it mean to mentor?

Please submit applications via email at . If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to text, call, or email Brian Chung at / (510) 289-9920 or Phuong Tran at / (619) 549-4410. Please keep in mind that if you want to intern you also need to fill out a separate application. Please send in this application by Sept 20th 2013. If you cannot meet this deadline and would like an extension, please let us know!

Thank You,

TAL <3