But because MHASP is run entirely by college students, it still struggles with the pitfalls of rapid volunteer and leadership turnover.

The name recognition of Mission Hill helps draw in a consistent and sufficient number of volunteers each year, overcoming the attrition problems facing many other volunteer organizations. But the rapid transitions of volunteers and leadership runs the risk of blurring the institutional history of the program.

Eric M. Sefton ’10, a Mission Hill administrative director last year, has recently begun to contact Harvard graduates who volunteered with MHASP, with the intent of developing a database of survey results and contact information to use in the future.

“Graduates have a lot to contribute to the program and the experience of current volunteers,” he says. “It’s also always nice to see who comes before you and see what resources they can bring to the table.”

COLLABORATION, COMMUNITY

MHASP helps maintain the size of its program through collaboration with other established public service programs at Harvard, but also through extensive recruitment of volunteers outside of Harvard.

Out of 180 MHASP volunteers, 75 come from other universities in the Boston area, such as Boston University and Northeastern.

The program has also reached out to other PBHA-affiliated programs to make sure its kids do not lose all mentoring opportunities either over the summer or when they outgrow the program.

MHASP maintains particularly strong relationships with Mission Hill Summer and Mission Mentor programs. According to MHASP Clientele Director Max R. Selver ’11, many MHASP volunteers choose to also work for Mission Hill Summer, and, consequently, many kids participate in both programs.

Many of the children too old for MHASP often move on to Mission Mentor.

“We are very institutionalized,” Selver says. “People understand our legitimacy.”

The involvement of the parents of kids participating in MHASP keeps the program deeply ingrained in the Boston community.

According to Selver, parents meet with the coordinators at the beginning of the school year to discuss goals for their children, and progress reports for each child are sent home in the middle of the semester.

More fun-oriented Mission Hill traditions, such as a final party and a sleepover at Harvard, exemplify the high level of trust bestowed upon MHASP by the community.

—Staff writer Rediet T. Abebe can be reached at rtesfaye@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Linda Zhang can be reached at zhang53@fas.harvard.edu.