Please join me in welcoming Tristan Penn, NTEN's new Community Engagement Manager. Tristan brings to NTEN a wealth of experience in volunteer management, including in a youth development setting. He will manage our Nonprofit Tech Clubs, and online communities, and contribute to community and membership engagement.
1. What are you most excited about as you join NTEN?
I'm excited to contribute to the impact that NTEN has firmly established among the nonprofit community and create relationships with our awesome community members and organizers. Additionally, I'm excited to work alongside colleagues that exude an unwavering passion for the work within our communities.
2. Tell me about a time you felt your community engagement work made a difference to someone's life.
Previously, I worked in programming in youth development for about 14 years (Boys & Girls Clubs) and the great thing about community engagement in the youth development sector is that community engagement is woven into every aspect of the work that we did. Being able to bring together multiple communities such as families, schools, businesses and partner organizations all in support of the youth we were working with had such a profound impact on not only myself, but also the employees that I served, and most importantly, the connections and mentoring relationships that I had with our youth club members. I'm so proud to now see that the youth that I worked with as kindergarteners are now young adults in college and still reach out to me for occasional guidance from time to time and are succeeding in every aspect of their adult lives.
3. What's a blog or a podcast you never miss?
Radiolab! It's a great podcast that covers/investigates everything science related. Great editing and even better topics! I also like the podcast Sword and Scale, it's a mix between Forensic Files and Dateline.
4. If you were a Birds of a Feather table at the 19NTC, what would you be?
I would most likely be a fitness/health table. I love lifting weights and I don't feel whole if I haven't started my day off at the gym! With that being said, I also like beer so I would definitely be a beer table of some sort. However, I would also probably be a youth development table because I really enjoy nerding out and discussing/talking about youth development best practices; or maybe I would be an indecisive people table because I am looking at the 19NTC list of tables and I want to sit at a LOT of them!
You can connect with Tristan at the NTEN online communities.
1. What are you most excited about as you join NTEN?
I'm excited to contribute to the impact that NTEN has firmly established among the nonprofit community and create relationships with our awesome community members and organizers. Additionally, I'm excited to work alongside colleagues that exude an unwavering passion for the work within our communities.
2. Tell me about a time you felt your community engagement work made a difference to someone's life.
Previously, I worked in programming in youth development for about 14 years (Boys & Girls Clubs) and the great thing about community engagement in the youth development sector is that community engagement is woven into every aspect of the work that we did. Being able to bring together multiple communities such as families, schools, businesses and partner organizations all in support of the youth we were working with had such a profound impact on not only myself, but also the employees that I served, and most importantly, the connections and mentoring relationships that I had with our youth club members. I'm so proud to now see that the youth that I worked with as kindergarteners are now young adults in college and still reach out to me for occasional guidance from time to time and are succeeding in every aspect of their adult lives.
3. What's a blog or a podcast you never miss?
Radiolab! It's a great podcast that covers/investigates everything science related. Great editing and even better topics! I also like the podcast Sword and Scale, it's a mix between Forensic Files and Dateline.
4. If you were a Birds of a Feather table at the 19NTC, what would you be?
I would most likely be a fitness/health table. I love lifting weights and I don't feel whole if I haven't started my day off at the gym! With that being said, I also like beer so I would definitely be a beer table of some sort. However, I would also probably be a youth development table because I really enjoy nerding out and discussing/talking about youth development best practices; or maybe I would be an indecisive people table because I am looking at the 19NTC list of tables and I want to sit at a LOT of them!
You can connect with Tristan at the NTEN online communities.
