Call for Proposals: 2020 National Mentoring Summit Workshop

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2020 NATIONAL MENTORING SUMMIT WORKSHOP
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership is seeking proposals for workshop presentations at the 2020 National Mentoring Summit taking place January 29 – 31, 2020 at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown.
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Submission Deadline: Friday, June 28, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
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The National Mentoring Summit
The tenth annual National Mentoring Summit will bring together individuals who represent the mentoring movement, including practitioners, researchers, philanthropic investors, youth leaders, government and civic leaders, and MENTOR’s local Affiliates. The National Mentoring Summit is convened by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, and garners support from both the private and public sectors, including a group of national mentoring and youth-serving organizations who serve as Supporting Partners. The National Mentoring Summit is the annual opportunity for the mentoring movement to gather to advance a collective mentoring agenda, strengthen programs and practices, and collaborate to support positive youth development through mentoring.
The 2019 National Mentoring Summit hosted over 1,300 participants and featured 96 workshops on diverse topics in mentoring, including a Philanthropic Partnerships Track. View a recap of the 2019 National Mentoring Summit.
Workshop Information
The 2020 National Mentoring Summit will continue to explore how relationships are central to success, and building relationships—especially mentoring relationships—are critical for young people to move forward. Workshop proposals are encouraged to explore how effective relationships are part of the proposed topic, and provide attendees with practical tools and knowledge to bring to their own programs, investments and communities. Workshops that include youth and funder perspectives have been particularly popular among conference attendees and we encourage you to consider including those perspectives.
Workshop presenters are encouraged to focus workshop topics and themes on the following areas:
  • Advocacy and public policy work.
  • Collaborations, including private sector engagement, philanthropic investments and cross-sector initiatives.
  • Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, including best practices in program operations.
  • Exemplary program models, including group, team and peer mentoring programs.
  • Innovations to close the mentoring gap, including leveraging technology, everyday/informal mentoring, private sector resources such as employee volunteerism, philanthropic investments, and/or in-kind support, and integrating youth voice into programming.
  • Mentoring and national challenges, such as creating college and career pathways, addressing poverty and truancy, focusing on youth impacted by justice involvement or the opioid crisis, and youth in foster care or aging out of foster care.
  • Mentoring specific youth groups, including mentoring youth of color, youth with disabilities, LGBTQQ youth, tribal or native youth, girls, and other specific youth groups.
  • Nonprofit Management, including organizational governance, fundraising, administration and leadership.
  • Research and Evaluation, including new research findings, trends in data collection and outcome measurement and analysis, and research-based implications for practitioners and philanthropic investors.
  • Supporting the mentoring relationship, including strategies to help mentors and youth bond.
This year’s Summit features six conference tracks that will guide attendees as they make their workshop selections. Attendees can use these tracks during registration to find workshops most applicable to their roles and interests. We recognize that not all proposal topics relate to these tracks, and we will not be reviewing or selecting workshops solely based on that criteria. It is important to note that track workshops are not exclusive to track attendees. All attendees will be able to register for any workshop through the general track. These tracks are meant as a resource to simplify the registration process for attendees but should be relevant for a cross-sector audience.
  • Advocacy, tailored towards program staff, mentors and other advocates. This track covers strategies and opportunities to leverage relationships with government officials and other influencers to garner support for expanding access to quality youth mentoring.
  • Culturally Specific Practices, tailored towards practitioners interested in learning best-practices when working with ethnically and racially diverse populations. This track examines how program models use racial and ethnic identity as an intentional strategy to improve youth outcomes.
  • Nonprofit Management, tailored towards nonprofit professionals interested in learning practices and strategies that increase an organization’s sustainability, effectiveness, and impact. Topics may include organizational growth, fundraising, talent management, leading innovation, board development, and other areas related to management and leadership.
  • Research and Evaluation, tailored towards researchers, philanthropic partners and practitioners looking to integrate and/or implement new research findings. This track covers both new research on mentoring relationships, services and outcomes, as well as sessions on how to conduct research and assess and evaluate programs and relationships.
  • Supporting the Mentoring Match, tailored towards program staff and mentors who work directly with matches. This track focuses on how to best support matches in their relationship.
  • Philanthropic Partnerships, tailored towards corporate, foundation and individual philanthropists. This track elevates examples of innovative and impactful private sector engagement and philanthropic investments within the mentoring field. Workshops will explore topics such as, the role of philanthropic partners in advancing innovative practices and program models, examples of investments that have supported the creation of additional tools, resources and research, case studies of strategic cross-sector partnerships, and examples of how youth mentoring programs have helped companies and foundations meet business, philanthropic, youth and community goals. Workshops featured in this track may also facilitate dialogues with cross-sector stakeholders on topics that are relevant and responsive to the needs of young people in our country.
Workshop Format
  • Length: 90 minutes
  • Size: Workshops will vary in size, but presenters should prepare for 40-60 attendees. If selected, presenters will be notified of workshop size as the National Mentoring Summit approaches and should plan for an interactive session.
  • Audiovisual (A/V) Support: In the application process, presenters should indicate A/V needs. All rooms will have a screen, projector, connection cords to Mac and PC computers, the ability to play audio from a computer, WiFi, a clicker to advance PowerPoint presentations, a flipchart and markers, and limited A/V support. Presenters must provide own laptop if making a presentation, as well as provide their own handouts.
  • Room Setup: All rooms will be set up either theater style or in rounds. If you have a preference between theater style and rounds, or a different setup request, you must let us know within your proposal.

 

Selection Process and Timeline
  • Proposals due: June 28, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
  • Review process: Proposals will be reviewed according to the criteria outlined above by a workshop review committee made up of MENTOR, MENTOR’s Affiliates, and other select partners. The Committee may determine that additional proposals are needed after the submission deadline to fulfill the goals of the National Mentoring Summit.
  • Notification date: August 5, 2019

For more information and to apply, click here.