Mentoring Programs for Youth
MENTOR’s Becoming a Better Mentor: Strategies to Be There for Young People is a free resource written by experts in the field to benefit any adult looking to support young people. Full of real-world advice and evidence-based strategies, it provides mentors with tangible strategies to “be there” for young people in their various life journeys and teaches them about the core skills, key principles, and critical practices of mentoring, such as:
mindsets and attitudes that lay the foundation for a strong mentoring relationship;
basic information about youth development and typical mentoring relationship cycles; and
critical skills and competencies to grow and refine to meet the needs of youth.
Connecting children to mentors that help build their self-esteem, improve their schoolwork, and avoid risky behaviors
Friends of the Children is a nationwide organization that breaks the cycle of generational poverty. The National Network Office supports chapters and affiliates, and leads national efforts to scale the model so that more of our nation’s highest-risk children receive a Friend.
The mission of Girls Rising is to empower at-risk girls to recognize their value and pursue higher goals through a community of women mentors.
The Mentoring Project recruits, trains and matches mentors with at-risk youth populations, with their live trainings and Mentor Toolkit.
National Mentoring Resource Center’s goal is to improve the quality and effectiveness of youth mentoring across the country through increased use of evidence-based practices and sharing practitioner innovations.
StandUp For Kids is a nationally recognized non-profit charity that works directly with thousands of homeless youth across the country. They remain a nearly all-volunteer organization that prioritizes the needs of the youth we serve. Simply put, they are there to empower homeless and at-risk youth toward lifelong personal growth, and to create in these youth a sincere belief in themselves through open, straightforward counseling, mentoring, and life-skills training.
This list provides sample evaluation surveys and forms.
This exhaustive list provides tools to plan and implement mentoring programs. Topics include program planning, program parameters, program planning and management, policies and procedures, financial planning, and e-mentoring.
The Corporation for National Service offers recommendations for recruiting male volunteers, who are underrepresented in volunteer organizations that work with youth.
The U.S. Department of Education offers strategies to outreach to community businesses and organizations to secure funding for mentoring programs.
Find tips on how to have a better success rate with your coaching or mentoring. This site also allows you to join webinars on different topics within mentoring.