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Volunteer Training

How do I train to become a volunteer with Sakhi?
What do I do in order to sign up for the training?
I want to start volunteering right away! What can I do?

 

2009 Volunteer Training Information

Sakhi is accepting applications until May 29th.

See our volunteer training flyer

Sakhi is pleased to announce that the next training will take place in June! It will be a 5-session training and you will need to attend all the sessions to successfully complete the training and volunteer with Sakhi.

2009 Volunteer Training Schedule:

Monday, June 8, 2009   6:00pm – 9:00pm

Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Monday, June 15, 2009   6:00pm – 9:00pm

Wednesday, June 17, 2009   6:00pm – 9:00pm

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 6:00pm – 7:00pm

After reviewing our volunteer needs for 2009 we will be giving priority to candidates who meet the following criteria:

Language skills: Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu

Daytime hours: 4 contiguous hours on any given day to accompany survivors to court and other social services offices

Evening/Weekend hours: Ability and commitment to attend our events over evenings and the weekend

Community Outreach: Interest in participating in our outreach programs via tabling and flyering

Direct services: Many of our survivors have children and Sakhi volunteers organize children’s activities enabling our survivors to attend our programs over the weekend or on evenings

Richmond Hill/Queens residents: As part of our Communities Taking Charge initiative Sakhi conducts programs targeted in this community and so we would like to have volunteers from this and surrounding Queens neighborhoods

Our volunteer training is intensive and strives to equip you with the tools needed to support our programs with survivors; talk to and engage community members about domestic violence; and, raise awareness to end the violence against women. As a trainee you will be given reading and writing assignments, quizzes to track your progress, and your attendance will be required at every session.

If you would like to participate in our 2009 volunteer training so you can help end Sakhi’s work to end violence in the above ways, please e-mail the following to volunteer@sakhi.org:

1. 2009 Volunteer Training Form
2. Your updated resume
3. Online Volunteer Application

Sakhi relies on dedicated volunteers in order to deepen Sakhi’s impact: in fact, in 2008, volunteers contributed more than 1 year and 7 months of time in order to enable our achievements!

All of us at Sakhi are looking forward to our next training and we encourage all of you to apply. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to make a difference in your community and help Sakhi further its efforts to end the violence against women.

Thank you for your support to end the violence and together we can create change!

How do I train to become a volunteer with Sakhi?

Successful completion of a Sakhi Volunteer Training is mandatory for joining our Domestic Violence and Community Outreach volunteer teams. Sakhi conducts periodic trainings to maintain a stable number of volunteers in these two programs. 

Gen-2 volunteers must also participate in training, but can do so after they have started volunteering.

Sakhi trains up to 25 individuals in each session. Individuals are selected on the basis of their completed applications and on Sakhi’s need for volunteers with specific time availability and language skills.

What do I do in order to sign up for the training?

Because each program area requires a different set of skills, it is in our mutual interest for you to determine which program best suits your skills and time availability. The volunteer application is designed to assist you in doing this.

Volunteer applications (including instructions and deadline information) can be downloaded here. If you would like to get information on Sakhi's next volunteer training, please join our Community Supporters E-mail Listserv to receive updates about future trainings.

I want to start volunteering right away! What can I do?

You can begin supporting Sakhi this year by joining our Community Supporters listserv to get involved by learning, joining activities, and receiving updates about our many events. We would love to have you join us for our next training, but if you wish to begin volunteering right away, many other wonderful anti-domestic violence New York metropolitan area organizations are also looking for volunteers:

Manavi is a South Asian women's domestic violence center in New Jersey, and does work very similar to Sakhi.

Manavi
P.O. Box 3103
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: (732) 435-1414
Fax: (732) 435-1411
E-mail: manavi@worldnet.att.net
Website: www.manavi.org

Safe Horizon is another organization that works with survivors of domestic violence, and it has locations and volunteer opportunities in all five boroughs. Please visit their website at www.safehorizon.org and click on the link "Volunteer" at the top right-hand part of the page.

The New York Asian Women's Center, a domestic violence shelter for Asian women, is also currently looking for volunteers. You can find more information about their volunteer program on their website www.nyawc.org, or you can call (212) 732-0054 x 27 to reach the volunteering program.

Sakhi partners with each of these organizations. We know that volunteers at any of these agencies will help to bolster the anti-domestic violence movement.