Mentor a Pod Leader
Last updated
Last updated
Fire Pod leaders are exactly the type of Pod leaders who are suited for PPC's Mentorship Program. You can take your extensive leadership experience and use it to help another Pod leader gain the confidence and skills to take their Pod to the next level.
The PPC Mentorship Program supports new and existing Pod Leaders (PLs) who are interested in being paired with other Pod Leaders (Mentors) in order to work on strengthening their own Pods.
What is a Mentor? A Mentor is a Pod Leader (PL) who has experience running a Pod for at least 6 months, and who is willing to dedicate time to work with one or more PLs who have requested assistance.
Time Commitment of Being a Mentor: Mentors are expected to communicate with their Mentee (via phone, video, email, or other) approximately 2x/month for 2 - 3 months, for up to 30 minutes per session. After the initial 3 months, Mentors are encouraged to continue offering support if contacted by Mentees. Efforts will be made to match Mentor PLs with the needs expressed by those requesting assistance. Matches may be based on geography or type of community (i.e., urban, suburban, rural). Discussions between Mentors and Mentees may be in person, over the phone, via video call, emails, or any other mode that works.
Mentoring a Pod Leader: PPC’s website contains a plethora of information to support PLs, but any additional tips that Mentors offer from their personal experience will be valuable. We have put together a list of questions which the Mentee could be asked by the Mentor: • What was your first meeting like? How many people showed up and how did you ‘market’ it? • How do you promote your Pod to the community? Have you recruited new members? • How did you come up with the name? How do you meaningfully engage members during your Pod meetings? • What projects, activities, or events have you found to be successful? • What was the most interesting pod meeting? • How often does your Pod meet? • Do you have co-Group Leaders? If so, what is their role(s)? • Were you able to recruit members who were inexperienced/new to plant-based diets? If so, how?
Feel free to share any other general advice or things you wish you knew when starting your Pod!
"Running Successful Meetings" (found in the Leadership Toolkit): Contains information gathered from PLs and can be used to discuss what has worked well, or to direct the new PL to review it on their own. Direct your mentee to review information on the PlantPure Communities website, this site, and to especially focus on studying our Leadership Toolkit. This information provides PLs with guidance on how to maintain and grow community member participation in their Pods.
When talking with the Mentee about their Pod, encourage them to:
• Make the Pod their own/unique, i.e., adjust the Pod’s tone, focus, and rhythm as the PL sees fit. Encourage the PL to share what has motivated the Mentee’s WFPB diet journey and explain why they want to share plant-based information with their community.
• Shape their Pod’s goals based on what they, and their members, want to see done in their community, and to create a sense of welcome and flexibility.
• Structure Pod events around their (and their members’) interests. For example, if they like to cook, hold a plant-based cooking demo! If they want to see a new documentary, hold a film screening. Do they go to the farmer’s market? Have a meeting at the local market. Are they mostly concerned about the quality of the food being served in local schools? If so, review PPC's Healthy Childhood Nutrition course and decide if the Pod wants to launch a campaign.
Special note: Pod Leaders who participate as Mentors will be ranked higher for future scholarship opportunities that are administered by PPC for the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate, offered through the Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell. Refer to the Scholarship Opportunities page for more details.
If you are interested in Mentoring, please complete the following form:
Pod Leader Interested in Being a Mentor: https://formstack.io/AAFCB
Check out this Info Sheet to find out what being a Mentor may involve.
