High-quality mentoring programs must take time to evaluate their programs’ outcomes to demonstrate measurable impact. Program evaluation is an essential part of effective mentoring practice, not only because it demonstrates impact, but also because it provides opportunities to improve program quality and compete for funding. MENTOR’s Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™ (EEPM) emphasizes continuous […]

Helping Mentors Keep Matches Engaged During Summer Break As summer approaches, mentoring relationships often begin to change. During the school year, mentors and mentees may naturally connect through school schedules, afterschool programs, sports, or other structured routines. Once summer break begins, those built-in opportunities for interaction can disappear. Without the structure of the school day, […]

Start Enhancing Your School-Based Mentoring Program for Next Year School is one of the most common settings for formal mentoring relationships in the United States. If your school-based mentoring program follows the academic calendar, with new matches initiating at the start of the school year, now is the perfect time to begin planning for next […]

Helping Mentees Finish the School Year Strong: Building a Growth Mindset As the school year draws to a close, many students begin to lose momentum. Final projects, standardized testing, and the anticipation of summer break can make it difficult to stay focused and motivated. For some students, this time of year can feel overwhelming, especially […]

Offer State-of-the-Art Mentoring Training Opportunities with Mentoring Central’s Annual Membership Mentoring programs have enormous impact on youth across the country, but managing a mentoring program is not without its challenges. Program staff are responsible for recruiting mentors; preparing staff volunteers, mentees, and parents of mentees; supporting matches; tracking progress; and evaluating program outcomes, often with […]

A Decade of Collaboration: Mentoring Central and the National Urban League’s Work on Project Ready Mentor Mentoring Central is dedicated to using our mentoring expertise to help organizations build and maintain mentoring programs that promote impactful mentoring relationships. As part of this mission, Mentoring Central has developed a strong partnership with the National Urban League […]

Helping Mentors Reignite Student Engagement in School After the Holiday Break Around this time of year, many students are starting to experience burnout in school. Students often feel exhausted after completing final projects and exams at the end of the fall semester or start to lose motivation for schoolwork after several months of school without […]