Press Releases

2023-02-23

Mentoring Central Attends the 13th Annual National Mentoring Summit

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, Dr. Rebecca Stelter, and Elizabeth Porter represented Mentoring Central, a division of iRT, at the annual National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC, last month. The 2023 Summit, convened by MENTOR, brought mentoring professionals and advocates from across the nation together for expert-led presentations and networking opportunities to share mentoring best practices and drive positive change for young people.

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2023-02-23

New product! Building the Foundation for Mentees Virtual Toolkit: Demystifying Mentoring for Youth While Building Their Motivation and Skills to Safely and Fully Participate in a Mentoring Relationship

Most mentees participating in a youth mentoring program are signed up to participate by one or more of their parents, and if you ask them, what they will get out of being a mentee in a mentoring program or what a mentor does or what to expect, they often tell you that they have no idea. The Building the Foundation for Mentees workshop was developed to fill this gap in knowledge in youth, as well as to build their interest and motivation to participate. Without proper knowledge about what it means to have a mentoring relationship, mentees may feel apprehensive about being enrolled in a mentoring program. Providing training to mentees about what to expect in a mentoring relationship, the roles and responsibilities of mentors, and the ways the mentee can positively contribute to building a close, positive mentoring relationship can help youth feel more motivated to participate and more skilled in building a stronger, more helpful relationship with a caring volunteer adult.

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2023-02-07

iRT Contributes to the Development of a Disability Inclusion Guide for Mentoring Programs

February 7, 2023, Durham, NC – Youth with disabilities account for a significant portion of the mentees enrolled in mentoring programs across the United States. A national study conducted by MENTOR found that approximately 10 percent of youth served in mentoring programs nationally have a disability.1 However, many mentoring programs lack the resources needed to meet the unique needs of mentees with disabilities. Mentoring program staff must implement inclusive strategies in the training, policies, and design of their mentoring program to achieve positive outcomes for every mentee enrolled in the program.

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2022-02-18

iRT Presents Results of Evaluation of National Demonstration Project Designed to Enhance the Impact of Mentoring on Children of Incarcerated Parents

When a parent or caregiver of a child is incarcerated, the impact of incarceration on the child can be a traumatic experience with long-lasting effects. Children of incarcerated caregivers are susceptible to a wide range of negative outcomes, from depression and low self-esteem to substance abuse and delinquent behavior.

To develop new avenues of support and early intervention for youth potentially impacted by the incarceration of a loved one, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) funded a multi-year, multi-site national initiative, the Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents (MCOIP) Demonstration Project, in a pair of grant awards. The first award focused on developing and implementing mentoring program enhancements to better serve youth impacted by caregiver incarceration, and the second award focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the new program enhancements.

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2021-05-24

Dr. Stelter Appointed to the MENTOR NC Board of Directors

Durham, NC, May 5, 2021 – innovation Research & Training is pleased to announce Dr. Rebecca Stelter’s appointment to the MENTOR NC  Board of Directors.

MENTOR NC is a non-profit organization that is a state affiliate of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership that is “dedicated to increasing the number of youth in quality mentoring relationships across North Carolina while working to address the systemic barriers that young people face on a daily basis.”

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Events

Webinar: Applying the EEPM 4 to Diverse Models and Youth Populations [free]

Applying the EEPM 4 to Diverse Models and Youth Populations [free]

2/25/16 1-2:30pm EST

~ 75 minutes

Applying the EEPM 4 to Diverse Models and Youth Populations will provide attendees with an interactive discussion on how the Elements of Effective Practice applies to mentoring programs given the diverse array of mentee and mentor populations and program models. In addition, we will solicit questions and feedback from attendees regarding how the EEPM applies to their programs.

Take the free training at: Free Mentoring Central

[Webinar] Risk Management Part 2 – 1pm (EST) Feb. 16, 2016

Risky Business (Part 2): Developing your mentoring program’s risk management policies [free]

Take the Free Training at Free Mentoring Central

A mentoring relationship cannot be considered effective unless it is safe. Training on ethics and safety in mentoring is critical to ensuring the health and well-being of mentees and mentors. The recently released Fourth Edition of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (EEPM) identified a set of risk management topics that programs should address in their policies and include in their training of mentors, mentees, and parent or guardians. This three-part webinar series will focus on how mentoring programs can decrease the potential for harm to anyone involved in a mentoring relationship.

Join our expert researchers (Drs. Janis Kupersmidt and Rebecca Stelter) and practitioner (Ms. Sharon Daura) who will provide a thorough exploration of the 19 risk management topics outlined in the EEPM, with the goal of helping you to fine-tune your existing program policies or develop new ones.  After you attend these webinars, you will understand the importance and relevance of each topic for mentoring as well as key issues to address in your policies.  Future training will focus on how to conduct mentor, mentee, and parent or guardian training on these policies.

The second webinar in the series focuses on issues to consider in a mentoring program’s risk management policies and practices that are related to communications by mentors, mentees, parents or guardians, and the mentoring program with individuals, organizations, and media outlets that are outside of the mentoring relationship.

Celebrating 25 Years of the Youth Mentoring Movement

Monday, November 9, New York City—The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) is proud to celebrate 25 years of building and unifying a youth mentoring movement in 2015! This yearlong celebration will include a special event at The Plaza Hotel on Monday, November 9 honoring MENTOR’s co-founders and commemorating a quarter of a century of milestones and achievements in the field. More on this celebration: bit.ly/1Hh0WIe.

Advanced Screening

November 17, Boston–Join Mass Mentoring Partnership for an advanced training that will build upon the basics of screening. Participants will have the opportunity to refine program eligibility requirements, receive feedback on program applications and interview forms, enhance awareness of red flags, and practice relevant steps in the screening process.  Participants will receive MMP’s Advanced Screening Workbook which contains useful tools and templates to support screening of volunteers and mentors. Register: bit.ly/1MP0gr1

National Mentoring Month: Amplifying Your Voice

November 19, 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., EDT–Planning to participate in National Mentoring Month this January? Join this webinar to learn best practices for amplifying your voice during this yearly recruitment campaign. We will feature panelists from Midlands Mentoring Partnership in Nebraska, TeamMates Mentoring in Iowa and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Mid-South in Tennessee. Each presenter will speak on a different way to engage throughout the month. Whether you represent a small, mid-size or large program, there will be plenty of useful information shared. Register now! Facilitated by MENTOR. For more information: bit.ly/1k5bGjb

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Blog

2023-02-23
Mentor Education to Create Committed and Effective Volunteers

By eporter

Mentor education should be ongoing and diverse. Learn about when and how to train your mentors, and encourage them to keep learning.

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2022-12-08
Mentor Evaluation and Assessment Tips to Ensure Your Program’s Success

By jmeyer

Discover the best tips for mentor evaluation and assessment across the lifetime of the mentoring relationship. Learn how recurring assessment of mentors and mentoring relationships can improve the safety, stability, and efficacy of your mentoring program.

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2022-12-08
Your How-to Guide to Start a Mentoring Program

By jmeyer

Thinking about starting a mentoring program? Use this helpful guide to find out how to get started.

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Jobs

2023-03-22
Contracts and Compliance Administrator

By eporter

POSITION TITLE: Contracts and Compliance Administrator
EMPLOYER: Innovation Research & Training
LOCATION (City, State): Durham, NC
WEBSITES: www.irtinc.us; www.mentoringcentral.net; www.preventioncentral.net
START DATE: Available immediately

Position Type: Part-time, approximately 20 hours/week

Do you like doing activities that require precision and attention to detail? Do you silently correct grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors when reading something? Do you notice things that other people do not (e.g., are you good at Where’s Waldo?)? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then this may be the job for you!

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