Position: Alternative Breaks Issue Area Coordinator 2016-2017
Mission: The Alternative Breaks IAC is responsible for providing support to trip leaders and committee members for
programs in the Alternative Breaks issue area. The IAC provides professional leadership and ensures that all trip leaders
and committee members are adequately trained and prepared to direct high-quality volunteer programs in a positive,
safe and fun environment. The IAC conducts direct service alongside student volunteers. Theirs is a supportive role that
allows trip leaders and volunteers to develop into strong leaders. In the event that a trip leader is sick or quits, the
Alternative Breaks IAC may temporally fill-in so as not to jeopardize the program success. The Alternative Breaks IAC is
responsible for helping students develop a service attitude by planning exciting service-based adventures. The IAC
plans the Fall Break and Spring Break trips to locations around the United States. Each trip should have a singular social
issue focus and work with three to four non-profit agencies in the location.
Qualifications:
Compensation:
 Current USU Student
 May receive an AmeriCorps Education Award of
$1212 (can be applied to future tuition or student
 Volunteered at least for one year in the Service
loans) after completing 300 hours. Talk with
Center, or demonstrate possession of equivalent
Service VP and Community Service Coordinator to
qualifications (determined by Service VP and
enroll
Community Service Coordinator)
 Have a 2.5 GPA or higher
Program Trips:
Partnerships:
 Fall Break and other three-day weekends
 Collaborate with student programs and Community
o Parliament for World Religions (Salt Lake City,
partners participating with Alternative Breaks
October 15-19, 2015)
USU programs include: STEP, Student
o Sustainability Tour of Salt Lake City
Sustainability, or Aggie Outdoor Volunteers
o Southern Utah *potentially
 Spring Break
o Poverty and Homelessness: San Francisco
o Refugees and Immigration: San Diego
o Rainbow Bridge: Southern Utah (in partnership
with Aggie Outdoor Volunteers
Service Center Responsibilities:
Programming Responsibilities:
 Attend the following events and assist as needed
 Leadership development
o Day on the Quad
opportunities
o Service Kick-Off (Fall semester)
 Logistical support for
o Fall and Spring Retreats
program directors
o Fall Volunteer Fair: Volunteer Recruitment
 Professional leadership
o Spring Volunteer Fair: Volunteer Re-Energize
 Ensuring all student
 Attend established office hours: 3 hours a week during business hours
directors are adequately
o Be available for meetings with students and staff
trained, prepared to
 Fill out all required paperwork including:
direct high quality
o Dashboards
volunteer programs in
o Risk Management Paperwork
safe, fun environment
 NSOPW Background Checks
 Direct service alongside
 Photo Release Form
student volunteers
 Conduct Agreement
 May temporarily fill in
 Release, Acknowledgement of Risk, and Waiver of
director vacancies
Liability
 Lead recruitment and
 Track hours on AGS
advertising of Alternative
 Actively inform and educate new volunteers for Service Center
Break trips
 Meet with Issue Area Coordinator once a week
 Manage and train volunteers
 Plan and prepare for school year programming during the summer
 Update Program Director Binder
 Manage volunteer sign up forms and project reporting forms
Student-directed volunteer service responsibilities:
Support student-directed volunteer service programs
 Risk management audits (Spring semester, chat
with directors, at retreat, etc.)
 Provides logistical support (be a part of committee
meetings, chat with directors, encourage
calendaring, set a schedule for calendar
information to be turned in)
 Meet twice a month with student directors within
the Issue Area
 Gather and disseminate campus and Service
Center service information to directors
 Be involved in developing and carrying out training
for directors
 Serve as a mentor, resource, mediator for all
directors
 Maintains positive, professional attitude
 Ensures compliance with Service Center safety
protocols, reports policy violations to Service
Center Coordinator (driving practices, etc.)
 Researches and makes recommendations for
equipment purchases based on program needs
 Alternative Breaks: monitors facilitation of Alt
Breaks reflection, education, reentry activities,
makes sure time is set aside, everyone participates
 Serves as program director if needed
 Figure out how to make dashboard information
useable for future directors
 Visits volunteer sites to participate in
volunteering, come up with suggestions for
directors, gather feedback from community
partners and other organizations
Lesson Plan Development and Training
Responsibilities
Assist Service Center Coordinator and Service Center
VP in developing lesson plans, overseeing following
training topics
 P-card training
 Travel authorization requests
 Risk management
 Critical incident scenarios
 Leadership skills
 Volunteer management
 Program/project planning and organization
 Conflict resolution
 Debriefs and feedback (Dashboards?)
 Group food/menu planning
 Other
Community Partner Responsibilities
Coordinate between Community Partners and CCESL staff
for efficient and effective communication and program
implementation
 Works with Service Center Coordinator to strengthen
relationships with community partners (help administer
CP survey, help with assessment of Tiered Community
Partnership program)
 Reports weekly Service Center Coordinator and Service
VP
 Reports monthly to CCESL Assistant Director
 Works with Service VP to develop efficient equipment
storage and checkout system (inventory, cleaning out
old files)
Outreach Responsibilities
 Assists Service Center Coordinator and Service VP with
social media, tabling, distribution of information
 Assists Service-Learning director in providing USU faculty
with service center program information relevant to
their course content (getting community volunteer
needs to professors and classes in newsletter form?)
 Participate in forming an Aggie Summer Volunteer
program