Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Catherine Greenberg, the Founder & Co-Executive Director Bright Light Volunteers:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Bright Light Volunteers?
A: We are all about “Serve. Learn. Lead,” but we take it to the global level. Bright Light Volunteers exists to make the world a brighter place by creating a more peaceful, just, interconnected world where global challenges and opportunities are met by educated, compassionate, global citizens and leaders. We do this through educationally focused Global Citizenship Training, coupled with hands-on, real world experience in community service.
Q: You’ve recently announced the appointment of FIVE new members of your Board of Directors; could you tell us something more?
A: We’ve had a crazy year of growth. Our programs have proven themselves successful and we have now been around long enough to track our program graduates from high school into completing college. At this point of our existence we need to figure out how to scale operations without losing the quality of programming, which has been the key ingredient to our success. Our Board of Directors now reflects the diversity of background and range of skill sets necessary to enable us to serve many more communities and continue to promote peace and understanding through education and service.
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Q: Can you give us insights into your programs?
A: The majority of the student population we are currently serving come from rural, Title 1 schools in the South. Bringing these sorts of educational leadership programs into these communities has made a huge impact on the lives of the participants and their surrounding community. One exciting result of research found that 100% of our 2017 and 2018 high school and college participants were either retained or graduated. How cool is that?! To follow our research and develops please go to our website for more information.
Q: Who can sign up to your programs? How much does it cost?
A: Our programs are open for enrollment for any and all, but we do specialize in working with student groups and we are only able to accommodate groups of ten or more. The amount of the participant donation depends primarily on the sort of community service project involved in the program, but on average one would expect to contribute around $4200 for each program participant spot. Luckily we have many donors that are supporting our mission by contributing to a scholarship fund that allows us to subsidize our program costs when needed. I know that part of my vision when creating Bright Light Volunteers was to make this sort of program open to all, regardless of financial barrier.
Q: What about safety and security?
A: Safety and security are always the top two concerns potential participants have about joining this sort of program in general. Bright Light Volunteers works only with communities in which we have established relationships; we do not work in disaster zones (those areas should just be for aide professionals); we have developed and follow detailed crisis management documents and procedures; we require all of our program leaders and coordinators to maintain a current CPR and emergency preparedness certification. All participants are covered with additional medical and emergency evacuation insurance.…I am sure that I am missing some of our standard security protocol and language here, but suffice it to say that the people that are facilitating these programs are all former participants. We always do everything possible to avoid safety and security before, on , and after programs.
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Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: The Bright Light Volunteers’ team is now setting its sight on how the world would benefit if our student program module was tweaked in order to benefit the corporate environment. Enabling businesses to foster programs that increase cultural inclusivity, understanding, collaboration, and tolerance won’t just help the bottom line for the company- it helps the bottom line for our global community. Medium size companies could potentially partner with us to outsource their CSR needs and offer tax deductible employee benefits that include continued education, training, and service. Programs like these are one of the reasons that companies- like Google- recruit and retain top talent. Let’s level out the playing field.
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