Volunteer
The Aurora Center offers volunteer opportunities at The University of Minnesota that are focused on providing support to survivors and educating to the campus. All positions are designed to foster leadership and professional skill development for volunteers. 2009 - 2010 Volunteer Application Packet is now available.
Upcoming Training:
February 2010: All Volunteer Positions
Application Deadline: January 25, 2010 - DUE BY 4:30pm
This is our advanced training for:
Help Line Advocate
Legal Advocate
Violence Prevention Educator (VPE) - we have a need for VPEs!
as well as the training for Special Projects & Men's Leadership Group
Some dates below require attendance only by those continuing on to be Crisis Line Advocates or Legal Advocates:
ALL Volunteers must attend training on:
Friday, February 5th, 3:00pm - 9:00pm
Saturday, February 6th, 11:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday, February 7th, 11:00am - 4:00pm
ADVOCATES (Crisis and Legal) must CONTINUE to attend training on:
Wednesday, February 10th*, 2:00pm - 7:00pm
Thursday, February 11th, 2:00pm - 7:00pm
Friday, February 12th, 2:00pm - 7:00pm
Saturday, February 13th, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Contact: Roberta Gibbons
* as of 8/3/2009, we switched to Wednesday the 10th (instead of Tuesday) due to room schedule conflicts. Please update your planner if you applied before we had to change this date.
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No experience is needed to volunteer as comprehensive and on-going training is provided.
Undergraduate Students
- Any students age 18 or older are eligible to apply.
Graduate Students
- Graduate students are eligible to apply.
CCLC Students
- If you have been officially approved to complete your service at The Aurora Center, you still need to submit an application and a letter of reference in order for you to volunteer with The Aurora Center. Contact Jill Lipski Cain for all application forms. You will be approved to begin training as a volunteer once your application has been accepted AND you complete the Pre-Training Interview. If you do not apply by the posted deadline you may lose your opportunity to complete the CCLC requirements through our program.
- While the hours for our volunteer training satisfy the requirement for CLCC, all volunteers are expected to continue their involvement for one academic year, being two consecutive semesters, starting in the semester you completed training.
Students from other colleges and universities in the Twin Cities
- You are welcome to apply. Acceptance may be contingent upon open spots in the training as we serve University of Minnesota students first. There are other local organizations who train community members to provide support to survivors such as Sexual Offense Services, Rape and Sexual Abuse Center and Sexual Violence Center which can be found in our Recommended Links page.
What to Expect
Upon receiving your application, you will be contacted to schedule a pre-training interview with an Aurora Center staff member. From there, information about the training and required reading materials will be provided. At training, you will be given a training manual.
After training, you are expected to complete an individual orientation in order to be considered to volunteer. This usually takes place within 1 to 2 weeks after training, at which point you will be ready to volunteer. You will then start to attend regular volunteer meetings and sign up for shifts on call (advocates) or presentations (VPEs).
If there is a need for more Legal Advocates, Crisis Line Advocates who wish to be Legal Advocates will be informed of an upcoming 6-hour legal training and the available hours to work in the office.