Mentoring Resources

Books

Mentoring –

  1. Stand By Me – Jean Rhodes – What research is showing about youth mentoring. Talks about the risks and rewards. Highly recommended. Secular
  2. Fatherless Generation – John Sowers – Released 2010, up to date Christian Mentoring information. Gives a good understanding of fatherless youth and why they need a Christian mentor. Highly Recommended
  3. The Handbook of Youth Mentoring- David DuBois & Michael Karcher – 2005 - Comprehensive (textbook) compilation of the most up to date mentoring research and best practices. Very good, but expensive. Secular
  4. The Mentor’s Field Guide – Gail Manza and Susan K. Patrick – 2012 – A tremendous resource for mentors. Explains Evidence-Based Mentoring and answers tons of questions mentors have.
  5. Handoff – Jeff Meyers – More geared at kids. Very Good. Christian
  6. Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions – George Barna – Geared at mentoring children. Christian
  7. When Teens Stray- Parenting for the Long Haul - Scott Larson & Peter Vanacore – Parenting troubled teens. Christian
  8. Reclaiming Our Prodigal Sons and Daughters – Larry Brendtro & Scott Larson – A practical approach for connecting with youth in conflict. Very Good, Christian
  9. All Grown Up and No Place to Go – David Elkind – Dealing with teenagers in crisis. Very Good, Secular
  10. Lost Boys – James Garbarino – Why our sons turn violent and how we can save them. Very Good, Secular
  11. Mentoring – Bobb Biehl – Geared at mentoring in general. Christian
  12. The Fine Art of Mentoring – Ted Engstrom – Geared at mentoring in general. Christian
  13. As Iron Sharpens Iron – Howard and William Hendricks – Geared at mentoring in general. Christian

Fatherlessness

  1. Fields of the Fatherless – C. Thomas Davis – Biblical basis for helping fatherless children – Highly recommend
  2. To Own a Dragon – Donald Miller – What it is like growing up Fatherless. Very Good, Christian
  3. Understanding God’s Heart for Children – Douglas McConnell – Purchase from Fuller Seminary – Biblical basis for helping fatherless children
  4. The Garbage Generation – Daniel Amneus – secular book on trend toward fatherlessness and negative consequences that come with that. Secular

Poverty

  1. A Framework for Understanding Poverty – Ruby Payne – Highly recommend
  2. Toxic Charity – Robert Lupton – Christian perspective
  3. When Helping Hurts – Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert – Christian perspective
  4. See Poverty…Be the Difference – Donna Beegle

Other

  1. Talkpoints – Dr. Franklin Nelson – - (651) 731-7580 - $1.00 / copy

Websites

  1. - Christian Association of Youth Mentoring – great resources for starting a Christian mentoring program and ongoing training
  2. - great national youth mentoring website with a lot of resources on starting and maintaining a safe and effective mentoring program. Effective practices tool kit you can download that is very helpful.
  3. - Jean Rhodes - Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring - The Center is dedicated to creating the open and efficient exchange of research and ideas for the advancement of youth mentoring practice and policy.
  4. – great general mentoring website
  5. – Good research and training – program evaluation, mentor training, screening, etc. Go to the site, click on National Mentoring Center, click on Mentoring Resource Center, click on Web Resources.
  6. - Great source of mentoring research and training information. Check this out!
  7. – Public Private Ventures website – great research on mentoring and articles that you can download
  8. Christian based mentoring initiative (Donald Miller & John Sowers)
  9. – 40 developmental assets, other research, and surveys
  10. - Parenting – Search Institute
  11. - background checks
  12. - Skill building curriculum that the 4-H uses.
  13. Youth Mentoring Program assessment
  14. – website with Fatherlessness research
  15. - College Positive Mentoring Toolkit has activities for elementary, middle, and high school students
  16. - Select “About Sparks” and then “Get Started with Sparks.” Ignite Sparks helps mentors find out what their protégés are interested in and what activities energize them.
  17. - Winning Futures has developed an activity-based curriculum mainly geared for school-based mentoring.
  18. - Talking it Through: Communication Skills for Mentors promotes successful mentor/youth interactions and relationship-building. Once mentors learn about the complexities of their role, they often wish they were better prepared. Watching and reflecting on the examples in this course can help you be ready for sticky situations. The 13 videos in this series are based on experiences of actual mentoring pairs.