Volunteer Training Checklist 

All volunteers must complete our training checklist. You must be 18 or older to volunteer in our local program. 

1. Online chapter orientation

The above slideshow will help you become familiar with the organization and how we operate in the DC area. Don’t forget to complete the form linked on slide 67 of the orientation! That’s how we’ll record some basic information about you as a potential volunteer. 

2. Attend classroom training

This training is in a dynamic setting and we schedule them about once every 6 weeks.

• Next Date: March 26th, 2024 6:30 – 8:00 pm
• Location: Virtual Meeting on Zoom – link will be sent to all who RSVP.
• RSVP: Please email [email protected] to take this training, or ask to be put on the list for future training dates.

3. Submit paperwork and get your background clearance

We require all trainees who wish to become volunteers to:

• Complete and submit this waiver.
• Submit a picture of your government ID and payment of $30 to complete your background screening. Here’s how: First, take a picture of the front of your driver’s license or state identification card – or the photo page of your passport. Second, pay $30.00 here, selecting Washington DC in the drop-down menu. Third, find the payment confirmation email, press “forward”,  attach the picture of your ID, and send it all to the StandUp for Kids leader who delivers the training. Within a few business days, you will get an email from our national office as well as from Clearstar.net (check junk/spam if you do not see these). Results take about a week. If you do not see the emails, check your spam and junk email folders. We do not want to turn any serious volunteers away, so in the event of a financial hardship, please contact [email protected] for a fee reduction or waiver. 
• Ask 3 people to submit digital character reference forms on your behalf. Give them this link: http://bit.ly/sufkdcref (these can be coworkers, supervisors, mentors, teachers, spiritual leaders, and others who know you in a professionalsetting for at least one year, and who can speak to your capacity to work with vulnerable youth).

4. National orientation 

After you pass the background screening, you will be invited to set up an account in our online training platform called Coassemble. There, you will need to take the national volunteer onboarding course to learn more about what we do and what we expect from our volunteers. 

5. Three skill-rich training lessons

Download each lesson below and submit each lesson’s quiz online. Each one should take you about 30 minutes or less. It may be helpful to have two browser windows open while you complete each lesson – one with the PDF and the other with the quiz. Take the quiz as you go along. You will receive your scores automatically at the end of each quiz. You can do this step before you attend the in-person training.

Lesson 1: Stage of a Helping Relationships – Lesson | Quiz

Lesson 2: Motivational Interviewing – Lesson | Quiz 

Lesson 3: Trauma – Lesson | Quiz

6. Self-assessment of your learning

After you complete all steps 1-5 above, complete this post-training self-assessment survey.

7. Get connected to specific opportunities 

Once you complete all of the above steps, you will be officially designated as a StandUp for Kids volunteer and will be added to the email distribution to sign up for volunteer opportunities and shifts. You will also speak with our director of volunteers to make sure you get placed into a great position. If you desire to do street outreach or counseling at the Outreach Center, we recommend starting out by shadowing more experienced volunteers for at least two shifts to get a better hang of the work.