Dinomights

“The board is presented the 990 at its completion and votes on the acceptance of the minnesota attorney general report.”

“Each new responsible person shall be required to review a copy of this policy and to acknowledge in writing that he or she has done so. Each responsible person shall annually complete a disclosure form identifying any relationships, positions or circumstances in which the responsible person is involved that he or she believes could contribute to a conflict of interest arising. This policy shall be reviewed annually by each member of the board of directors. Any changes to the policy shall be communicated immediately to all responsible persons.”

“Compensation for executive director is set by the board of directors. It is reviewed by the board on annual basis as a part of the annual budget process.”

“The board sets the budget amount for paid staff and consultants with the executive director on staffing strategies and policies. The executive director is empowered with the task of hiring staff and setting their salaries within the limits of the budget.”

“Governing documents are available upon request.”

“The organization served 135 youth ages 518 with a minimum of 7-10 hours of programming per week. The overall goal of the program is encompassed in the mission statement: to equip our urban youth to develop physical, academic, social, and spiritual excellence. Physical excellence: the ice hockey program is where students develop their potential for physical strength, agility, and coordination. It incorporates practices and games during hockey season (skating 23 hours/week from october through march); hockey camps (1-2 weeks in june/july and 1-2 weeks in august. About 20 hours programming each), street hockey, and other physical activities in the summer. One hour of weekly practice is held on wednesday or thursday mornings before school. Getting up early and keeping the commitment to practicing with the team, teaches students responsibility. Dinomights is part of the minneapolis park and recreation league as well as usa hockey and minnesota hockey. The hockey program is also recognized by the nhl as one of only a handful of hockey is for everyone programs in north america. Hockey players are given skills evaluations at the beginning and end of the hockey season. Academic excellence: during the pandemic we moved all our tutoring efforts to electronic platforms. The elementary tutoring program meets once a week at richard green elementary during the school year (tuesdays, october through april). Individualized lessons are prepared for every tutoring student. Reading instruction is provided for youth who are reading at or below grade level. Homework help and supplemental academic activities are provided after the reading lesson. Middle school and high school tutoring meets for 2 hours each week for the entire school year from september through june. Middle school tutoring is focused on homework completion, writing, study skills and character building. High school tutoring is focused on creating a culture of achievement, homework completion, post high school planning, and goal setting. Power camp is an intensive weeklong academic program during the summer (august) built around a discovery theme. Youth have the opportunity to participate in discovery time, drop-everything-and-read (dear) time, and computer time. Last yearpower camp focused on peace studies. Community service is encouraged and required for participants. Each year, we offer the greg carroll learn 2 skate program. Students volunteer in partnership with richard green elementary school, andersen united school, hope academy, hiawatha leadership academy, and riverview school of st. Paul to teach first graders to ice skate.. We now serve 6 elementary schools in minneapolis and st. Paul. In addition, groups have served at feed my starving children, packing over 40,000 meals for developing countries. Middle school teams have served overnight at simpson homeless shelter. Alumni students are encouraged to develop strong leadership skills by serving as tutors, camp counselors, and coaches. Mentoring, coaching, and peer relationships encourage spiritual development. Positive adult volunteers and staff, motivated by their own personal faith, understand and model positive behaviors in all program activities and life situations. In addition, youth have the choice to attend other optional opportunities such as summer camps and/or bible studies. Accomplishments: 100% of the dinomights class of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2020 graduated from high school. 90%+ per year of tutoring students increased their reading grade level for 10 straight years. 95% respond positively when asked if dinomights has helped them make friends that are different from them and helped them to motivate others. One student wrote, i have made a lot of friends on the dinomight team and it has helped me motivate others like when we taught richard green elementary school first graders to skate. When asked what they value most about dinomights many students speak of the strong relationships with positive mentoring ad”