Advisor Connect

What to Expect When You’re Expecting...a Volunteer Management System

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a new way for BBYO to manage its volunteers' compliance and engagement!

You will receive an email the week of June 1 inviting you to create an account with VolunteerMatters, our new Volunteer Management System (VMS): please follow the instructions in that email to set up your account and complete any outstanding compliance requirements. 

The health and safety of our teens is our number-one priority. It’s important to make sure that BBYO has an accurate record of who our advisors are, that they’ve been background checked, and that they’re familiar with BBYO’s health and safety policies. Until now, BBYO has tracked these things across a patchwork of systems, which took up a large amount of staff and advisor time. We are THRILLED to launch a new VMS: a one-stop shop to make sure that your contact information is up-to-date and that you’ve completed all of the health and safety items required for advising. 

Once you set up your account, we don’t anticipate you needing to log in more than once or twice a year to make sure all your compliance items are in order.

You’ll find a few new compliance requirements waiting for you, including a training on mandated reporting and an updated policy manual. The VMS will guide you through any steps you need to take to complete your outstanding compliance requirements. All compliance requirements must be completed: any advisors still with missing required compliance items after a reasonable amount of time will no longer be able to advise.

Please note: right now, the VMS is only set up for US-based advisors, We look forward to adding Canadian and Global advisors to the system further down the road.

This is just one part of our effort to reduce the administrative burden on you and staff so that you can spend your time doing the best parts of your role -- empowering and mentoring your teens.

If you have questions, contact [email protected].

Snackable Training Video for Advisors on Wellness

To mark Mental Health Awareness Month, one of our Wellness Advisory Council members put together a quick micro-training video on how to do self-care as an advisor, and how advisor self-care allows advisors to better support teen wellness. Find it here: a great pick-me-up between meetings, while you’re waiting for your coffee, etc.

Get Certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid

One of the single largest protective factors in a teen’s life is having a positive relationship with a trusted adult. It’s our goal to get as many BBYO advisors as possible certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA). We’re offering another round YMHFA certification, specifically for advisors, on June 13 at 12pm ET. The cost is free, and spots are limited to 30 advisors, so sign up here today.

When you use the skills you learn in YMHFA, you are a first line of support for a youth in need. You are there to help them feel less distressed, and you can be a vital source in helping them seek further assistance. Says Big Apple advisor Alissa Hartnig, "YMHFA was a great opportunity to learn the appropriate methods to support my teens. I would always talk about the importance of teen mental health but it wasn't until YMHFA that I really gained the applicable and pertinent skills needed to support a teen during a mental health crisis."

If you can’t make this training, we’ll continue to offer YMHFA training several times a year, or you can work with your regional staff to find a training in your local community.

Connect and Collaborate with the Advisor Support Group

After meeting with advisors from all over the world during our Advisor Connect conference, we learned that a) many chapters struggle with similar issues, and b) there’s an interest in continuing to collaboratively problem-solve and exchange advice with other advisors.

We (a group of AZA advisors from the West Coast) are excited to introduce the brand-new Advisor Support Group: it’ll  be an open forum for advisors to share their successes, concerns, and questions to help your chapter meet its goals and grow!

We are planning for monthly meet-ups with special guest speakers to help our chapters overcome the many obstacles and succeed! Our first gathering will be Thurs 5/20 at 8:30pm ET on this Zoom link, and our topic will be building up chapter leaders, with a special guest appearance from our Anita M. Perlman International N’siah, Maya Zucker.

We hope you'll join us!
Eric Palonsky, Pacific Western advisor
Herschel Colbert, Evergreen advisor
Trevor Bryant, Evergreen advisor

Wanna Work for BBYO?

As advisors, you know firsthand the power and impact of BBYO on Jewish teens. BBYO is currently hiring for a number of exciting positions on our fundraising, community impact, and finance teams – if you might be interested in joining BBYO as a full-time professional, we hope you’ll take a look! Open positions include Regional Director | Long Island, NY, Associate Regional Director | Michigan, Manager of Campaigns | Remote, and more.

Plus, explore opportunities to staff BBYO trips to Israel this summer, and check out seasonal positions at camp this summer on our wellness and Jewish educational teams, plus our new airport guide role, which is only a few days this summer and a great way to make some extra cash. Know someone who might be a great fit for these roles? Please reach out to [email protected]!