Archives: Press Releases

Posted on August 24, 2023 by eporter

New System Administrator Joins Mentoring Central’s Team

August 24, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central is pleased to welcome Dereka McNair to our team of passionate and skilled professionals.

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Interactive, Web-Based Training Course for STEM Mentors: Now Available!

August 24, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central is proud to announce the release of a new, multimedia, interactive, web-based training course designed specifically for onboarding STEM mentors!

As the numbers of youth pursuing careers or higher education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) dwindles, there is a growing need for support for youth who may be interested in STEM subject areas and careers. STEM mentoring programs play an important role in inspiring youth to explore their interests in STEM, and mentors must learn the skills and knowledge needed to provide high quality support to mentees who are underrepresented in these fields and build the interest and engagement of their mentees in STEM. The new Building the Foundation for STEM Mentors course is designed to provide mentors with the essential skills needed to build and maintain an impactful relationship with a mentee in a STEM mentoring program, in an effort to encourage youth of diverse races, abilities, and backgrounds to continue seeking opportunities in STEM.

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Posted on July 17, 2023 by eporter

Mentoring Central Researcher Contributes to the Development of a Guide for Youth Seeking Mentoring Relationships

November 29, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central Research Scientist Dr. Rebecca Stelter joined a working group with other researchers from the National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC) Research Board to develop a youth-informed guide for young people seeking or entering a mentoring relationship. The guide is now freely available on the NMRC website.

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Posted on June 23, 2023 by eporter

Mentoring Central Seeks STEM Mentoring Programs for Participation in Study of Online STEM Mentor Training Program

June 23, 2023, Durham, NC – Researchers from Mentoring Central are seeking STEM mentoring programs to participate in usability and feasibility studies to evaluate a new online mentor training course for STEM mentors. The new course includes an adapted version of Building the Foundation, Mentoring Central’s foundational mentor training course, that contains revised content that is relevant to STEM mentoring and new content related to how mentors can support the recruitment and retention of mentees into STEM, build cultural competency, and identify, prevent, and support mentee’s exposed to microaggressions in STEM settings. Development of this course was funded through a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

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New Administrative Assistant Joins iRT’s Team

June 23, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central is pleased to announce that Jamila Howard has joined our team as an administrative assistant.

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Mentoring Central Shares Effective Practices for Mentoring Programs Serving Children of Incarcerated Caregivers

June 23, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central President and Senior Research Scientist Dr. Janis Kupersmidt presented as a panelist in a live session at the 2023 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) National Research Conference last month in Arlington, Virginia.

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Posted on April 24, 2023 by eporter

Mentoring Central President to Present at the National Institute of Justice National Research Conference

April 24, 2023, Durham, NC – Mentoring Central Senior Research Scientist Dr. Janis Kupersmidt will be presenting at the 2023 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) National Research Conference in Arlington, Virginia on May 23. Kupersmidt will present as a panelist in a conference session entitled Promoting Evidence-Based Youth Mentoring: The Benefits of Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations to discuss the results and policy implications from the evaluation of the effectiveness of implementing enhanced mentoring practices in mentoring programs serving children of incarcerated caregivers.

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Posted on April 3, 2023 by eporter

Mentoring Central to Create New Mentor Training Course for STEM Mentoring Programs

April 03, 2023, Durham, NC – There are fewer and fewer youth pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) each year. In addition, there are many subgroups of youth that are underrepresented in these fields including girls, youth with a disability, youth living in a low-income family, youth who are or will be first-generation college students, youth who are immigrants or refugees, and youth from a traditionally underrepresented ethnic or racial minority group. STEM mentoring programs can play an important role in inspiring youth of diverse races and abilities, and from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in STEM. In order to be optimally prepared and effective, mentors volunteering or working in STEM mentoring programs need to be well prepared to create impactful relationships with their mentees to build their interest in these subject areas.

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Mentoring Central Publishes Research on Mentoring Program Practices to Support Children of Incarcerated Caregivers

April 03, 2023, Durham, NC – As rates of incarceration in the United States have steadily climbed for the past 40 years, providing high quality support to children of incarcerated parents has become increasingly important to limit negative impacts on their self-esteem, relationships with their parents, and sense of the future, among other harmful effects. Mentoring programs can reduce negative behavioral, social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes for children of incarcerated parents by providing youth with opportunities for growth and engagement in supportive relationships. Mentoring Central conducts research on mentoring best practices to assist mentoring programs serving children of incarcerated parents and help them provide the most supportive, impactful experiences possible for mentees.

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Unleash Your Mentoring Program’s Full Potential with the Mentoring Central Annual Membership

April 03, 2023, Durham, NC – Are you looking for training programs and evaluation resources to take your mentoring program to the next level? Mentoring Central’s annual membership is your one-stop shop for access to a large array of training, evaluation, and mentoring-related products for your mentoring program. Whether your program offers Community-based mentoring, Site-based mentoring, e-Mentoring, Group mentoring, or some combination of these program models, the membership package will meet the needs of your program.

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