Following several successful initiatives with our former interns in previous years, Career Edge Organization decided to officially launch an association for those who completed paid internships in our three programs – Career Edge, Ability Edge and Career Bridge. We call this the Alumni Network.
In October 2009 we sent out an announcement and a call for volunteers to sit on a Committee that would steer the direction of this program. The response we received was overwhelmingly positive, with many indicating they were interested in participating in Alumni forums and events. We received over 130 applications to sit on the Committee!
Choosing the final Alumni Network Committee (ANC) members was a difficult task but we are proud to say we now have a team of 30 impressive and dedicated individuals.
For the other 100 applicants as well as the 9,500+ former interns in our database – we intend to create many opportunities to volunteer and participate with our organization, our Host Employers and each other.
To kick things off we held our inaugural ANC Meeting at Toronto City Hall (many thanks to our Ward Councillor Adam Vaughan) this past Wednesday evening and were thrilled to see almost every single committee member in attendance, as well as members of our team including our VP, Donna Smith and our President & CEO, Anne Lamont.
To tackle the massive job of running a Network for Alumni, we decided to divide and conquer, breaking down into groups or subcommittees that will each oversee Alumni Events, Online Communities, Benefits and Perks as well as professional development needs for Alumni of each of our three programs.
By the end of the meeting, every single person had contributed and participated and there was an air of excitement and anticipation in the room because we know that collectively, we can create a program that is innovative and tailored to the specific needs of our thousands of stakeholders. I can’t wait to see what we come up with by our next ANC Meeting in the Spring!