In this weeks class, we started with a quick and easy project pitch of 90 seconds. Backed with 6 volunteer mentors, from different organisations within the criminal justice sector. Each group would take their chance to discuss their groups service design idea, their target, their problem, their intervention and finally, their question.
When it came round for our group (U5), I was the pitch talker to represent our group. The reason I stepped up was the fact that the pitch Idea came from me, meaning it made sense for the person that idea was chosen for the project, would be the one to pitch it to the mentor.
I was able to achieve the pitch within the 90 second threshold, but feel like I could have presented a lot better, as I wasn’t very confident, and used my laptop for notes. I wasn’t use to this and I feel like it’s what threw me off, despite being able to read and say aloud the script that was provided by Erin.
Following this, each mentor then got together to discuss who is going to mentor which group. This stage was broken down into two rounds, with 30 minutes each, meaning my group had one mentor for 30 minutes in round 1, and a different mentor for 30 minutes in round 2.
To help distinguish our group from each other group, I quickly put together a title board, with our group name, U5, a quick summary of the service, title, and members. Despite, this, I don’t think it worked out well considering the position of my monitor.
A suggested Idea, was to “think bigger”, even suggesting a lived mentor scheme, as despite the address may be a good idea, it could only get offenders so far, as most may still not know how to register with a gp, or benefits office, as they change all the time. Or a community Navigator, as instead of providing points of support, we could provide an in-person volunteer to take the offender about and provide physical support. Even using volunteer schemes from actual offenders, instead of paid support workers.
The most important part of feedback as getting it from people that have actually lived the experience and left prison, going through similar scenarios or experiencing similar barriers.