GradNation Community Summits
Mentoring Toolkit
Guide Content
1. Introduction
2. Resources & Best Practices (GradNation.org)
3. Speaker Recommendations
4. Alliance Partners
5. Multi-Media and Suggested Reading
6. Summit Conveners
1. Introduction
Mentoring is a development strategy for a youth’s successful path to adulthood. In a structured mentoring program, a supportive individual works with a youth to build a relationship by offering guidance, support, and encouragement to cultivate the youth’s positive and healthy development. Often, mentoring programs are designed around specific goals, such as academic achievement, career preparation, and behavior modification.
Mentoring programs often focus on youth who are perceived to be at risk in a number of domains such as education, workforce development, and juvenile justice. The risk factors that place youth along a low- to high-risk continuum include being disconnected from school and/or work, lagging in academic achievement, lacking positive role models, being involved in the justice system, and transitioning out of foster care.
2. Research, Resources, and Tools
Visit the Mentoring Channel at GradNation.org where you will find a large variety of resources and best practices on this topic.
3. Speaker recommendations
Below is a sampling of speaker recommendations for this topic. In a few cases, the contact information is included for a speaker. If you would like to find out more about a specific speaker or discuss additional speaker options please contact your Summit Manager.
Mentoring Partnerships are present in many communities in America today. A representative from a Mentoring Partnership in your local community could be a potential speaker.
Contact Information: http://www.mentoring.org/about_mentor/mentoring_partnerships
Jean Rhodes, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston where she serves as Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring. Rhodes has devoted her career to understanding the role of intergenerational relationships in the lives of disadvantaged youth. She is currently involved in a range of research projects that address the role of both formal and informal mentors in vulnerable groups, including children of prisoners, community college students, high school dropouts, adjudicated youth, and low-income children in after-school settings. Dr. Rhodes is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research and Community Action, and was a Distinguished Fellow of the William T. Grant Foundation. She is the author of Stand by Me: The Risks and Rewards of Mentoring Today's Youth and is currently working on a book about moral and ethical decision making in adult-youth relationships.
David Shapiro is the President and CEO of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. In partnership with MENTOR’s Board of Directors, Shapiro guides the organization to help expand the capacity of mentoring programs across the nation to serve more youth, more effectively. MENTOR does this through developing and delivering resources to mentoring programs around the U.S., providing a public voice on Capitol Hill, through the media and other venues for mentoring, and promoting quality for mentoring through standards, cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art tools. Before his appointment to MENTOR, Shapiro served as President and CEO of Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) for seven years, the state’s umbrella organization for youth mentoring. MMP works across sectors to increase the quantity and quality of youth mentoring opportunities for young people in Massachusetts.
4. Alliance Partners
View our list of Alliance Partners for information about their work and for potential local engagement and/or strategy development regarding your summit. If you would like to make a connection, contact your Summit Manager at America’s Promise, who can help facilitate an introduction.
5. Multi-Media and Suggested Reading
FRONTLINE - Middle School Moment:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/dropout-nation/middle-school-moment/
WTCI- PBS - Untamed Legacy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruJ28e9TKfw&feature=youtu.be
6. Summit Conveners
Reach out to other summit conveners that have focused their work on mentoring. Connect and learn from your peers about promising practices, what’s working in their local area, what they are challenged by and what’s been happening in the community around the issue since the summit adjourned.
Jacksonville, FL
Annmarie Kent-Willette
City of Jacksonville
Oakland, CA
Chris Chatmon
African American Male Initiative (OUSD)
Tucson, AZ
Amanda Kucich
United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona
Mentoring Toolkit 3