Mentoring Central President Presents at the 2024 National Mentoring Summit
Mentoring Central President Dr. Janis Kupersmidt co-led a workshop at the 14th annual National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC, last month to discuss the need for additional training for mentors who are serving youth impacted by substance misuse.
Tips for Recruiting Committed Mentors to Your Program
Many mentoring programs have difficulty recruiting mentors to volunteer in their program and begin a mentoring relationship with a mentee. Program staff often report challenges to 1) recruiting a sufficient number of mentors to match the number of mentees enrolled in their program, 2) recruiting mentors who have similar interests to mentees, 3) recruiting mentors whose skills and motivations match the program’s goals, and 4) recruiting mentors who are committed to the mentoring relationship who will not leave the relationship prematurely. To address these recruitment challenges, we have outlined some tips to consider while recruiting mentors to volunteer in your mentoring program, so you can locate and enroll committed, trusting mentors to meet the unique needs of each of your mentees.
Mentoring Central Welcomes New Research Intern
Mentoring Central is pleased to welcome Abbey Collins to its team of skilled, world-renowned researchers and creative professionals. Collins joined Mentoring Central, a division of iRT, this month as a research intern to contribute to the research and development of high-quality mentor trainings on topics related to cultural competency.
Mentor Training for Supporting Mentees During the Nationwide Addiction Crisis
The national opioid crisis has grown exponentially since 2020, possibly due to reduced access to interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the mental health crisis that followed. During a 12-month period between 2022 and 2023, the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States reached a record-high of approximately 109,000.1 In addition, trends in substance use have evolved in recent years, making it increasingly difficult to thwart the addiction crisis. Polysubstance use has become increasingly common, with rates of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl use rising alongside opioid use. Recent data has shown that 70-80% of people who are addicted to opioids also use other illicit substances.2
Plan My Ride Receives a LearnX Award for Best Accessibility
iRT is pleased to announce that it received the 2023 Diamond Award from LearnX® for Best Accessibility in the Best eLearning Design category for the Plan My Ride eLearning course.
Supporting Mentees During the Holidays: A Guide for Mentors and Mentoring Program Staff
The holiday season can be an exciting and joyful time to gather with loved ones and plan celebrations, but it can also be a stressful time for both children and adults. During this time of year, families may face stress caused by changes in normal routines and schedules, financial burdens, pressure to socialize, or grief that is exacerbated during the holidays. Short-term stress, such as that often experienced during the holidays, can be beneficial to youth when they are in a supportive environment with a trusted adult. Experiencing stress in this way may promote resilience and help youth create mechanisms for dealing with stressful situations in the future. However, when stress is severe and/or long lasting, it may increase a child’s risk of cognitive impairment and lead to disease development into adulthood. Fortunately, research shows that support from a caring adult may prevent or reverse these harmful effects of stress on the health and wellbeing of young people.
STEM Mentors and Mentoring Program Staff Report Satisfaction with New Mentor Training Course
The number of youth who are pursuing higher education or careers in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) has declined rapidly in recent years. In addition, girls, youth with disabilities, youth from low-income families, youth who are or will be first-generation college students, youth who are immigrants or refugees, and youth from ethnic or racial minority groups are underrepresented in STEM fields. Many STEM mentoring programs have been established to address the national shortage of youth pursuing futures in STEM. By providing youth with opportunities to create a meaningful relationship with a supportive adult and explore their interests in STEM subjects, these mentoring programs may help engage, recruit, and retain youth of diverse races, abilities, and backgrounds in STEM.
Preparing Mentors to Enhance Their Mentee’s Academic Engagement
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to online learning posed significant challenges to students and teachers. Schools and students are still struggling to recover from the loss of in-person learning opportunities and the negative impacts that the pandemic had on students’ and staff’s school engagement, mental health, and daily lives. A recent NWEA report showed that students are learning at a slower rate than before the pandemic, resulting in tremendous learning losses. Student test scores are repeatedly lower than normal, tutoring is reaching only a small subset of students, and school attendance is markedly low.
Mentoring Central to Present at the 2024 National Mentoring Summit
Mentoring Central Research Scientists Drs. Janis Kupersmidt and Katie Stump will present at the 2024 meeting of the annual National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC, next month. Each year, MENTOR hosts mentoring professionals and advocates from across the nation to take part in expert-led presentations and networking opportunities to share mentoring best practices and drive positive change for young people. The next National Mentoring Summit will be held January 24-26, 2024.
How Your Mentoring Program Could Benefit from Mentoring Central’s Annual Membership Plan
Every mentoring program has important training and evaluation needs related to preparing their matches for the mentoring relationship and improving their program’s practices; however, the process of searching for resources or tools to address all of your program’s needs can be challenging and time consuming. Many mentoring programs want to provide staff, mentors, and parents involved in their program with online training and have asked for opportunities to receive easy access to an array of training and evaluation resources. Mentoring Central responded to this need by creating a simple, affordable Annual Membership plan that combines all of its mentoring products into one comprehensive bundle. Mentoring programs can choose which bundle best fits the size of their program.