Chicago Screener Cheat Sheet

• Chicago has 4 schools: Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville (South Side), Phoenix Military Academy (West Side), Richard T. Crane Medical Prep High School (known simply as Crane, it’s about a block from Phoenix on the West Side) and North-Grand High School (North West). 
• Our Chicago schools are part of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. 
• Chicago is a race-stratified city; the West Side tends to have a mostly Hispanic/Latinx population and the South Side is predominantly Black. 
• Conversely, the Northern suburbs are wealthier and predominantly white. 
• Anecdotally, Chicago participants have tended to have more awareness around diversity, equity and inclusion and have a passion for investing in their communities. It’s a smaller program and has had a more grassroots feel. 
• Chicago is on Central Time which is an hour behind New York City and Baltimore and 2 hours ahead of the Bay Area. 
• Chicago has 2-year matches- 11th and 12th  grade with the option to extend the match into college and post-secondary pursuits through our Post-Secondary Program (PSP). 
• Chicago applicants are asked if their schedules will support exclusive or occasional weekday lunch meetings with their mentees every month since a significant number of students cannot meet during the evening events. 
• Mentors’ availability for weekday lunches are marked in Salesforce. We ask applicants if they can do weekday lunchtime meetups exclusively (every month, in lieu of evening events at the school), sometimes or never and their response is marked in Salesforce. Any additional nuance is included in the Match Logistics section of the Match Notes. 
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• Chicago is relatively flexible about pairs making up monthly school meetings on event nights other than their assigned ones. 
• Chicago does confirm only home addresses in the interview, in some cases for matching purposes but mostly in case we need to mail a formal notice of non-acceptance into the program. 

BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS

• Chicago applicants go to walk-in centers called Accurate Biometrics for fingerprinting. They are required to bring some this form with them which is linked in screening's instructional email templates.
• There are Accurate Biometrics locations all over Chicagoland and applicants can choose the most convenient location and best day/time to go. We still have them sign up for dates at orientation so we can keep track of them and keep them moving through screening.
• Once an applicant is fingerprinted at Accurate Biometrics, they receive a confirmation sheet that has a Transaction Control Number (TCN) on it. 

• Applicants are instructed to email their screener with their TCN once they’ve been printed and we input it into the TCN Number field in Salesforce as well as manually update their status to “fingerprinted” and input the Date Background Check Printed field.
• Mobile fingerprinting events- in the peak of active recruiting season, Chicago hires a fingerprinting technician from Accurate Biometrics to come to the Chicago WeWork office once/month for an iMentor-only fingerprinting event. In these cases, TCNs are collected by Chicago orientation staff and sent to the Chicago regional screening manager to add in Salesforce and update applicant's status to "fingerprinted." 

• The TCN allows screeners to best track results and allows us to make inquiries about applicants with CPS as needed. CPS oversees the background check process.
• Our background check contacts at CPS are Jocelyn Diaz ([email protected]) and Nadia Franco ([email protected]). Screeners don’t email them directly but go through the Chicago regional manager Annette Mae Pierce ([email protected]). 
• Applicants are instructed to forward any communication from CPS on their background check results to their screener. NOTE: Screeners do not manually update applicants to Background Check Approved even if they get a clearance email from their applicant. Annette will do that unless otherwise instructed.
• Any follow up on the background check process for applicants should be run by Annette Mae Pierce, the Chicago Volunteer Screening Manager ([email protected]).

PRE-ORIENTATION TASKS

• Ensure you have enough interview times entered into this document, per the Chicago Screening Manager’s instructions. The Screening Manager will enter everyone’s times into the Calendly for orientation that evening.  
• Chicago can have up to 4 orientations/week when we’re very busy (July-Sept), though typically less.
• Chicago orientations are currently virtual-only as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and are held on Zoom. Prior to the pandemic, they were primarily held at a WeWork office which is where iMentor Chicago staff works (when they’re in the office) but they are occasionally off-site too- in places like libraries and churches  

POST-ORIENTATION WORK FLOW

• Read post-orientation notes via email from Chicago Mentor Engagement staff and orientation captain.
• Chicago screeners will claim ownership of their applicants per their interview sign ups, enter their interview dates/times, enter background check dates and make their own Walk-In applications as needed (the orientation captain will assign applicants who have not signed up for interviews and ensure everyone who attended orientation is accounted for). Increasingly, the Chicago orientation captain has been updating fingerprinting sign up dates and "scheduled" status - don't be alarmed if she gets to it before you do. 
• Send out standard Day After SAC email or SAI/walk-in email templates from Salesforce or manually edited templates for people whose situations are not addressed by the standard templates (i.e didn’t sign up for fingerprinting).
• Review all definitions, references and check for criminal/personal disclosures and chatter notify the Associate Director of Screening for approval as needed.

DAILY CHICAGO CHECKLIST

• Check your walk-in apps for completed applications (via your Open Apps in SF or the #sf-notifications slack channel). 
• Make sure that the applications of all who attended orientation are linked to the right Salesforce campaign. 
• Send out fingerprint instructions and fingerprint check in emails as applicable. Please note that the Fingerprint Reminder email (highlighted below) is automated and will be sent by Salesforce the day before an applicant's scheduled appointment. To stop the automation, screeners can send the reminder via check box earlier than the day before or manually enter a Date Fingerprint Reminder Email Sent in that field. 

• Definitely check in with people who have past due background check visit dates and get their TCN or reschedule as needed (often applicants forget to confirm with us that they were fingerprinted). 
• Log all key correspondence and status updates in the mentor application in Salesforce, either in the Activity section as a task or by sending emails through the widget or Salesforce for Outlook. This ensures that other staff can glance at an application and know exactly what’s happening with an applicant.

• Send eReference forms every 2 days up to 3 times before manual communication while references are not approved in the slow season and every day during the very busy season. Call references as needed.  
• Please copy/paste and format all match notes and interview transcripts into Salesforce by the end of the day. Save all interview transcripts locally.  
• Please audit the status of your Chicago applicant’s mentor contracts and send reminder emails to applicants who have received their mentor contract via SignNow but haven’t yet signed and returned it 
• ASK QUESTIONS TO YOUR FELLOW SCREENERS AND MANAGERS AS OFTEN AS YOU NEED – IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO ASK! 

CHICAGO POINTS OF CONTACT

• Eric Barbour ([email protected] ), Senior Director of Mentor Engagement  
• Kashema Pearson ([email protected]), Associate Director of Mentor Community 
• Fidel Williams ([email protected]), Manager of Community Engagement