FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

Diversity and Inclusion Training

As FIRST President Don Bossi noted in this blog one of our Strategic Pillars is to increase our diversity. We recently released the first part of three Diversity and Inclusion training segments, Invisible Inequity, on the Schoology training platform. I strongly encourage all mentors and volunteers to take this training! Among other things, you will learn some great ways to help increase the diversity on your team, in all its many forms.

Signing up for the training is fast and easy (for real this time, it took me probably less than one minute). You can start the process here.

STIMS

In this blog, we said we were listening to folks’ complaints about STIMS and were working on improvements.

Since that time, these are the changes we’ve made:

• We fixed the Team Roster to display phone numbers for team members and parent phone numbers for youth members.
• When a user selects the Youth Member Registration button (which directs them to STIMS), we added an instruction screen with direct links for parent/youth and one for coaches to direct them to the correct screen to manage the youth on their team.
• We no longer ask parents/guardians or youth to complete the User Profile. User Profile is now only required by Team Admins, Coach/Mentors and other team Mentors.
• We added a new button to the dashboard for Coach/Mentors that takes them directly to the Youth Management Screen/Team Roster.
• We added an item to the ‘Outstanding Tasks’ list that directs Coach/Mentors to Review youth applications (which displays when they have a youth application that they have to decline/accept).
• We added instructions on the Create a New Account/Log in screen so users (Parents/Youth) know that they need to create a personal account for themselves.

We have other changes in the works as well, so you should continue to see improvement in the coming weeks.

FIRST Youth Protection Program for Volunteers

Are you volunteering for FIRST this year? Thanks! And, here are a few things to know in relation to our Youth Protection Program:

The FIRST Youth Protection Program requires Background Checks for Lead Coaches/Mentors and Event Volunteers every three years.

For New FRC Event Volunteers: You will be prompted to go to screening once you create your VIMS account and apply to volunteer at a specific event.

For Returning FRC Event Volunteers: If you participated in the 2014 -- 2015 and/or 2015 -- 2016 seasons, you are not required to be re-screened this season. You will, however, need to update your VIMS account before your screening status from a previous season will populate in your profile for this season. If you participated in the 2013 -- 2014 season, you are now due for re-screening for the 2016 -- 2017 season.

This guide will give you step-by-step instructions to complete the background check ordering process. If you have questions about the screening process or need assistance, please contact the FIRST Youth Protection Program at (603) 666-3906, Ext. 207 or 250.

Frank