Start a Group

Now that you have decided to start a Students for CRY America chapter on your campus, you must be wondering how to get started.

Guidelines:

1. A Students for CRY America group in a school/ university is referred as a "chapter" and all its activities are limited to that respective academic campus. There can be only one chapter in a particular university/school.
2. CRY America has Action Centers for its non-student volunteers. The Students for CRY America chapter is a sub-set of an Action Center. The chapters committee may seek support and guidance from an Action Center committee, whenever needed.
3. A Student for CRY America chapter may exist as a separate entity if there is no Action Center in that city, state. Permitting the university/school regulations, the chapter may undertake activities outside the academic campus. Incase an AC is established, the chapter will join the Action Centers activities.
4. All the chapters are required to connect regularly with the national leader for the Students for CRY America

Note: Please check with your School or University Campus on different rules/policies you may have to abide by to carry out some or all these activities.

5 steps to Start a Student Group
STEP 1: Frame your Mission/Vision Statement
STEP 2: Gain knowledge
STEP 3: Build a Volunteer Base
STEP 4: Get an Advisor
STEP 5: Get Recognized

STEP 1: Frame your Mission/Vision Statement
A mission (or vision) statement is a critical step towards establishing a successful new chapter. It enables you stay connected and committed to achieving the chapter goals. It’s a reflection of who you are, the members of the chapter, attracts potential members and makes it simpler for the public at large to understand the chapters purpose. All activities undertaken should be inline with the mission. For instance, CRY America’s mission is: To enable people to take responsibility for the situation of the deprived child, especially Indian, and so motivate them to confront the situation through collective action thereby giving the child and themselves an opportunity to realize their full potential

STEP 2: Gain Knowledge
This is a very important step towards starting new ‘Students for CRY America’ chapter. You will represent CRY America as its local ambassador. It is necessary you read; educate yourself about CRY America, its work, activities, the situation of children and their rights prior to meeting people and spreading awareness about CRY America. Go through the site www.america.cry.org or write to the national leader students@cryamerica.org for regular updates. The CRY America website is a great place to update yourself about the essentials. Self education is very important as people are unlikely to get involved, if they think that you do not know what you are doing. To know about CRY America’s accounting guidelines & requirements - Write to Vivek Peshkar, National Leader students@cryamerica.org

STEP 3: Build a Volunteer Base A. Core Volunteer Group As a part of starting a new chapter, the first step should be on forming a core group of volunteers who will partner you in making the chapter an effective instrument of change for child rights. This group can then spread awareness about your chapters activities and enroll new volunteers. Inspiring your volunteers; circulating and sharing information on CRY America, its mission, beliefs and activities are important aspects towards establishing a strong and committed volunteer base. The members of this group will have to coordinate responsibilities related to specific functional areas like

• Volunteer mobilization and enrolling members
• Rapport building with the School / University authorities
• Organizing Events and its promotions.
• Raising awareness on CRY America and child rights
• Coordinating meetings
• Managing accounts & finances
• Selling CRY America products

The group members could vary from 3-10 core members depending on the activities undertaken. This group as its name indicates forms the leadership role for the chapter. B. Active Volunteers Group The active volunteers are the ones working closely with the core group to build the local chapter and related activities. This group generally consists of 5-20 volunteers. C. Event Specific Volunteers This is also an important set of volunteers as they support you for supporting specific events. Challenge: How to involve people in the volunteer base? Its been our experience that personal contact or a one-on-one communication is the most possible way to get like-minded individuals into this movement for childrens rights. Everyone you interact with may be a potential CRY America supporter or volunteer. Given below are a few options to reach out to people and retain them.

• Talk to your people, be it family member, relative, colleague, classmate, fellow student or even your roommate individually or in a small group, between classes, during lunch or free time on campus or in the work area.
• Make an attempt to connect with existing students groups as they already have an active volunteer base.
• Address meetings of groups that you belong to and other groups at school or in the community, such as the student council and local religious groups.
• Ask for a time slot at the end of a class or during an event to make an announcement.
• Try to organize multiple sessions, spread evenly across the campus so that people do not have to travel a lot to the session location. If executed properly, they can have great impact in mobilizing people.
• Include individuals from various cultures, ethic groups. Diversity brings a wider range of ideas, opinions, talents and connections.
• Create a simple informational flyer or to announce your work and to encourage people to join in. Always include a contact name and phone number, and suggest ways that people can get involved.
• Ask your new volunteers to inspire other like-minded individuals. This will ensure your reach and spread awareness of the activities in your chapter.
• Identify people around you who may be crucial to your chapter. These individuals may have expertise in certain fields, their skills or their network could benefit your chapter [individuals such as existing student group leaders; marketing or financial consultants; media, communications and public relations]
• And most importantly - be a good listener.
• Maintain a database of all your members
• Log in every concern, suggestion, feedback, and query and ensure youve responded to them within 48 hours.
• Those who show interest like new volunteers - send them a note with information on CRY America, its work and your chapters role in ensuring children receive their rightful childhood.
• Follow up with an initial phone call and/or an email. Make sure not to spam peoples e-mail accounts with information or requests.

If you have an interesting and new method, do share it. Write to Vivek Peshkar at students@cryamerica.org

STEP 4: Get an Advisor Identify a faculty or a staff advisor who shares your mission for children and is willing to liaise between the school administration and your chapter. These advisors are a great resource and have a lot to offer in terms of guidance, their views, ideas and moral support. Note: Do check your school or campus rules/policies on appointing an advisor.

STEP 5: Get Recognized Official acknowledgment of your chapter by the school or campus is an imperative and mandatory step in initiating a new chapter. It benefits the mission in attracting volunteers, provides access to school resources (in the form of funding opportunities, event organization, planning etc.) and strengthens the movement and its activities. Many schools also ask you to submit a copy of the constitution for your local chapter. There are processes and polices on this in every school/ campus. We recommend that you contact your authorities (generally student activities department) to know more about the application process, specific rules & regulation and timeframes.
Note: All university registrations must be done in the full name of the organization, CRY - Child Rights and You America Inc.