Webinars, Podcasts and Forums

FORUM: How will the new report on the “mentoring gap” help your efforts?

Earlier this month, MENTOR released The Mentoring Effect: Young People’s Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring (pdf file), a major contribution to our understanding of just how much of an impact mentors are having on the lives of America’s young people. You can read more about the report and its findings on the […]

FORUM: What does it mean for a mentor to be an “advocate” for a young person?

Last week, we began exploring the connections between advocacy and mentoring with a moving piece on the ways a mentor could advocate for gay and lesbian youth. This week we share some additional perspectives on how mentors can serve as “advocates” in working with children and adolescents. This issue comes out of David DuBois’ 2011 […]

Connecting the dots during National Mentoring Month

by Marty Martinez January is National Mentoring Month, and programs all across the country celebrate the incredible impact mentors have on the lives of youth every day. As program leaders, we know the role mentors play is critically important in ensuring that the young people we serve have a caring voice, a listening ear and […]

FORUM: Should volunteer mentors be re-screened periodically?

Screening mentors is obviously important at the beginning of a volunteer’s involvement; and ongoing supervision and monitoring provides some assurances over the duration of the relationship. But would it be a good idea for programs to periodically conduct a formal background check/interview/reference check of current mentors ? Is it worth the expense? Would mentors feel […]

FORUM: How does your program handle holiday season gifts?

Over in Expert Corner, we’ve posted a nice excerpt from The Mentor’s Field Guide on whether mentors should buy gifts for their mentees, an issue that can crop up throughout the year, but often takes on increasing importance every holiday season. The end-of-year holidays carry a lot of symbolism and emotion for most people, and […]

Webinar on evaluating youth outcomes

Did it Work? Evaluating Youth Outcomes in Relationship-Based Programs Thursday, December 19, 2013 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM EDT As the year comes to a close, many programs are conducting mid-year or year-end evaluations. Analyzing this data, interpreting it accurately, and turning it into practical program improvements can be challenging and often overwhelming. If you’re […]

POLL: What are your mentoring program’s biggest professional development needs?

As a training and technical assistance provider, I’ve spent the better part of 16 years in mentoring helping programs shore up their weak spots. Sometimes that has to do with program practice, such as codifying staff tasks into an operations manual or revamping a recruitment campaign; other times it may be infrastructure related: a new […]

Teen Social Struggles Can Last Into Adulthood

Allen, J. P., Chango, J. and Szwedo, D. (2013), The Adolescent Relational Dialectic and the Peer Roots of Adult Social Functioning. Child Development. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12106 Posted by Fariss Samarrai-Virginia U. VIRGINIA (US) — Most teens who fail to build strong, independent relationships with peers continue to have social and romantic issues into adulthood, a study shows. […]

FORUM: Should we be devoting more time and resources to “natural” mentoring?

There has been a lot of research in recent years examining the role that “natural” mentors play in supporting children and adolescents, highlighting the ways in which these supportive adults help youth develop identity, succeed in school, overcome racism and other substantial challenges, and learn to ask for help throughout their lives. Researchers such as […]

FORUM: What should mentoring programs keep in mind as they think about evaluation?

As a training and technical assistance provider who has worked with many diverse mentoring programs and initiatives over the years, I can honestly say that I’ve not seen a topic generate as much consternation, confusion, and near panic as program evaluation. As with many types of nonprofit and human services, mentoring programs are increasingly caught […]