Many mentoring programs invest significant time and effort into preparing volunteers before they meet with a mentee. Pre-match training is an essential first step, helping mentors understand the roles they should play, establish appropriate boundaries [...]

Starting a mentoring relationship can be exciting, but it can also feel uncertain for young people. Many mentees enter a mentoring program not knowing what mentoring is, what they will do with their mentor, or [...]

The start of a new school year brings a fresh set of opportunities. New teachers, new classes, and new experiences offer students the chance to reset after summer break and think about what they hope [...]

Becoming a mentor is both exciting and a little intimidating. After completing the application process and being matched with a mentee, mentors may begin to doubt their abilities to mentor or begin wondering what their [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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; [...]