1. I am not a student. Can I still apply?

2. How will I be able to meet my housing and food needs this summer?

3. Transportation: How will I get around?

4. When should I arrive? Can I come early or stay beyond the program dates?

5. What is the purpose of the opening retreat? What will I do during the open week between the retreat dates and the beginning of the program?

6. How does the “partner organization” aspect of the program work? What will I be doing for work, and who will I be working with?

7. Can I choose a partner organization outside of Berkeley?

8. I won’t be available to participate for the entire program. Can I still apply?

9. I am not interested in applying as a mentee, but I would love to help out with the program in other ways. How can I help?

10. I can’t make it this summer, but would love to apply in the future. Will this program be run again?

1. I am not a student. Can I still apply?

Absolutely. You don’t need to be anyone/anything in particular to apply for the Metta Mentors program. The only eligibility requirements are: 1) you are between the ages of 18-35 years old; 2) you are available for the entirety of the program; and 3) you have a burning desire to learn about nonviolence, a commitment to social justice work, and interest in integrating and applying the two within a service-oriented model for a summer.

So far, most program applicants have tended to be students (graduate and undergraduate) or recent graduates. Do not let that keep you from applying, however. If you want what we’re offering, we want your energy!

2. How will I be able to meet my housing and food needs this summer?

The overview answer to this question is: at Metta, we operate like a community, all supporting each other — and you will be supported as a part of that community while you are here with us. While in the past we have offered a stipend to our mentees regardless of need, we have found that that arrangement has at times left some mentees left with “money to burn” and others struggling to cover their expenses. For that reason, true to our promise to ourselves and our community to be ever-experimenting with nonviolence as our means and our ends, we now offer shared housing and coverage of food expenses in place of the stipend.

Please know that by participating in the program your minimal needs will be met, but you will be expected to cover any extra expenses that you might choose to incur (for instance, by shopping, traveling to visit San Francisco and the outlying area, etc.), while participating in the program.

Money should never be a deterrent to anyone who wishes to learn nonviolence, and we certainly try our best to make sure this is not a deciding factor for Metta Mentors. Please help us in this effort. If you are a local student with existing support, and therefore do not need to be counted in our budget for mentee room and board expenses, please let us know ahead of time. Your ability to cover your own expenses may mean that we can afford to bring another student to the program with the support money that is saved. But please note that your ability/inability to cover your own expenses will not in any way affect your selection for the program. We will be selecting mentees based on much more important criteria than availability of conventional currency!

We also offer, from personal experience and the stories of many others, that if the passion and the intention are there, the rest falls into place. If you are moved by the prospect of immersion in the nonviolent paradigm for a summer as a member of a community of like-minded souls, apply for this program, with the expectation that the details will work themselves out for you naturally. Trust in your soul’s guidance. As John O’Donohue says: “Your soul knows the geography of your destiny better than you do.”

3. Transportation: How will I get around?

You should have no trouble with transportation while you are participating in the Metta Mentors program. You are welcome to bring a vehicle, if you wish (good for exploring the outlying areas if you are an adventurer). But you will find a car unnecessary and maybe even burdensome as a means of traveling within the Bay Area. Parking can be hard to find and expensive, though not impossible to get. If you’re planning to use a car while you are here, let us know so we can help you plan accordingly.
Otherwise, please consider using a combination of a bicycle and public transport as your means of transportation. Metta will provide bicycles to mentees for use during the program. And the San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with a great network of public transportation options, including BART and MUNI, which, along with a bike, can get you nearly everywhere you want to go.

4. When should I arrive? Can I come early or stay beyond the program dates?

Please plan to arrive in Berkeley no later than Wednesday, June 1, 2011. We will have housing arranged for you to arrive on that date. If you plan to arrive sooner, please let us know, so that we can arrange for you accordingly.

You are welcome to arrive early to Berkeley, or stay as long as you wish after the program ends. You will be expected to cover your own expenses during your extra time here, of course. But we would love to have you for as long as you would like, and will do everything we can to support and be of service to you during your stay.

5. What is the purpose of the opening retreat? What will I do during the open week between the retreat dates and the beginning of the program?

The opening retreat weekend, June 3-5, is of utmost importance because it lays the foundation for the program, and begins to establish relationships among mentees that are vital to the transformative aspect of Metta Mentors. The retreat on Friday and Saturday will provide an opportunity for the participants to meet one another and to meet the Metta team that will be involved with the program. It will also include introductory information about the program, orientation to the local community, and sharing of program materials. Sunday (or another day in the following week) will provide an opportunity for participants to work together on a service project in the community, as a way to begin to form a working group, and to begin to familiarize everyone with the area.

The week in between the retreat weekend and the first Friday (June 6-9) will be a preparatory week for the program. During this week, mentees are expected to familiarize themselves with their partner organizations, review program materials, and have fun getting to know their fellow mentees and their community. It will also be a week for working with the program coordinators and/or facilitators at Metta to get questions answered and finalize any remaining program details.

6. How does the “partner organization” aspect of the program work? What will I be doing for work, and who will I be working with?

Since you will be working Monday-Wednesday each week as an intern for a local social justice organization, your work with that partner organization (PO) will be a significant part of your experience while you are participating in the Metta Mentors program (in other words, 60% of your program time will be spent in service to your PO). The organization that you work with, the work you do, and the relationship you have with your PO will be largely determined by your personal interests. Once you are selected for the program, Metta will make suggestions for pairings between you and a potential PO (see below for a list of some partners we have worked with in the past), seeking to find mutually interesting partnerships.

Before beginning work with your partner organization (either before you arrive in Berkeley, or during the orientation week of June 6-9), you will meet with your PO advisor to design and finalize your work plan for the summer. Metta will be available throughout for support and guidance as needed.

In past years, the majority of Metta Mentors POs have been organizations within the local nonviolence community. These include Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pace e Bene, SEEDS Community Resolution Center, and Bay Area Nonviolent Communication. Mentees have also served — and had positive experiences — with related peace and social justice organizations, including American Friends Service Committee, Bay Peace, and Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP). In addition, several mentees have elected to create independent projects with organizations outside the typical social justice nonprofit arena, working on health care, immigrant rights, food justice, and other areas to which the practice of nonviolence is very appropriate and applicable.

You are allowed — and encouraged — to research organizations in the Berkeley/Oakland area, and let us know if 1) you have a specific interest in one of our existing POs, or 2) you have found another organization with whom you would like to work, in order to explore a topic that is of special interest to you. Feel free to be creative with this process, and don’t hesitate to suggest a partnership that seems way out-of-the box. Start early and have fun with the “research.” We welcome all of your suggestions, and will make every effort to accommodate you!

7. Can I choose a partner organization outside of Berkeley?

You are welcome to suggest work with a partner organization that is not located in the local area (the “local area” here includes Berkeley and Oakland, California). In San Francisco, especially, you may find organizations of interest to you. You will be expected to live in Berkeley, however, so that you will be close to Metta and your fellow mentees, and available for local gatherings. So take that into account when you are thinking about your PO location, as the farther away it is from Berkeley, the more time you will spend traveling back and forth to work!

Trust us — you will be glad you are living in Berkeley. Mentees that have decided to live in San Francisco or other nearby areas in the past have spent a lot of extra time and money traveling, and have not been able to participate fully as a member of the mentee group.

8. I won’t be available to participate for the entire program. Can I still apply?

One of the few strict requirements of the Metta Mentors program is that mentees must agree to participate in the entire program, from beginning to end. This is important in order to create a stable and supporting community of participants, to engender a sense of dedication and service among the mentees, and to help us with planning and execution of the program. Question 3 of the short answer questions on the program application asks that applicants affirm their availability for the entire program by initialing the document. Please make sure that you can be available for the program dates before you agree to take a space in the program. (If you are not sure at this time if you will be available for the program dates, feel free to apply anyway! Just be sure to let us know, if you are offered a spot in the program, of the status of your availability at that time.)

9. I am not interested in applying as a mentee, but I would love to help out with the program in other ways. How can I help?

If you love the program, that means we will probably love you too. If you’re interested in collaborating with Metta Mentors in a way other than applying as a mentee, give us a call at 510-548-5550, or send us an email at mettamentors@mettacenter.org, and we can explore your ideas and interests together!

10. I can’t make it this summer, but would love to apply in the future. Will this program be run again?

Metta exists to fill an urgent need for experiential nonviolence education, and the Metta Mentors program is the most in-depth of our programs. We operate in a demand-pull way — as long as potential participants are drawn to experience it, as long as facilitators are moved to hold the space, and as long as people are willing to provide sustenance for the participants, the program will continue. Of course, we don’t know what will happen in the future. But most likely, given the value created and exchanged through this program, it will go on for years to come.

[updated February, 2011]