News & Events | Mentoring Central

Up-to-date news from the mentoring world

Mentoring Central is your gateway to the latest innovations in mentoring programs.

Press Releases

2023-08-24

The American Educational Research Journal Publishes the Results of an Evaluation of the Connected Scholars Program

August 24, 2023, Durham, NC – The college years are often a time of great change and new responsibilities, and it can be difficult for students to adjust to these new responsibilities without a diverse network of support. The connections, relationships, and resources available to students, called social capital, impact college students’ academic and career success, and it is vital that students have the skills or resources available to them to build their social capital during the college years in order to thrive.

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2023-08-24

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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2023-08-24

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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2023-06-23

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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2023-06-23

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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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 CityâThe 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

2023-08-31

A Guide to Finding Funding and Grants for Mentoring Programs

By eporter

A Guide to Finding Funding and Grants for Mentoring Programs

So, you have big plans for your youth mentoring program, and you’re ready to develop, expand, and hit the ground running, but you don’t have the funding or resources you need to launch a new mentoring program or take your current mentoring program to the next level? There are numerous organizations and foundations that provide funding and grants for mentoring programs to apply for, so you can provide evidence-based training to your mentors, offer high quality resources and activities to matches, employ a team of professional mentoring program staff, evaluate your program, and more. You just need to know where to find the resources to help!

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2023-07-31

How to Plan Mentoring Activities for Stronger Mentoring Relationships

By eporter

One of the most challenging parts of being a mentor to a child or teenager is jointly planning activities to do together. Breaking the adult-child decision-making paradigm of adults making all of the decisions is critical to establishing an effective mentoring relationship. One area to regularly practice sharing power with a mentee is in making decisions together about how to spend mentoring meetings. Mentors should ask mentees which mentoring activities are the most engaging, feasible, and beneficial for them.

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2023-06-23

Mentor Management: How to Support Your Mentors

By eporter

Successful mentoring programs that foster impactful experiences for mentees should be supported and maintained with proven mentor management practices, which include providing mentor support as matches navigate their mentoring relationships.

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Jobs

2023-05-15

Business Development Associate

By eporter

POSITION TITLE: Business Development Associate
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: Full-time

Company Description: innovation Research & Training (iRT), a behavioral sciences research company, in Durham, North Carolina, seeks a full-time Business Development Associate who desires to join an outstanding team. iRT is a small, innovative company that specializes in research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs. Our mission is to create products and services with proven outcomes that improve the health and well-being of children, adolescents, young adults, families, and communities.

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