Virtual Mentoring Portals

The Virtual Mentoring Portals, launched by leading experts in mentoring, are safe and monitored mentoring platforms for mentors and mentees to build and extend their relationships through online communication. Breaking down barriers of distance and coordination, the Portals can both supplement in-person relationships and facilitate 100% virtual relationships.

iCouldBe, one of the leading experts on virtual mentoring in the U.S. since 2000, and MENTOR, the nation’s field and movement leader for youth mentoring for the last 30 years, joined forces to develop this free tool for youth 13 and older, originally in response to the Covid 19 pandemic. The Virtual Mentoring Portal provides unstructured (internal, monitored email) or structured (research-back curriculum) communications and provides mentoring programs with virtual mentoring access for existing mentees and their mentors. The platform is constructed with respect to best practices, safety, and data privacy.

To ensure youth 12 and under also have access to virtual mentoring, MENTOR partnered with Cricket to expand the Portal. Cricket provides a convenient, rewarding, and impactful approach to eMentoring: connecting mentors and students virtually across the U.S. in order to overcome geographic and socio-economic barriers through structured relationship-building curriculum that supports mentor/mentee’s academic, social, and emotional connection.

In its first week, the Virtual Mentoring Portal saw interest from mentoring programs serving a collective 40,000 youth — a clear indication of the power of online tools to bring mentors and mentees together, even when they are physically apart. Today, the Virtual Mentoring Portals encompass two solutions: one to serve youth 13 and older, and one to serve youth 12 and under.

Read: Virtual Mentoring Was Invaluable During the Pandemic. Keeping It Going Can Close the Gap for the 1 in 3 Students Who Need a Mentor’s Help

For Youth 13 and Over

FAQ

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FAQs For Youth 12 and Under

  • What is being offered?

    Interested organizations will be using an existing platform developed by MENTOR and Cricket to support children with a structured evidence-backed curriculum. The portal provides a convenient, rewarding, and impactful approach to eMentoring: connecting mentors and students virtually across the U.S. in order to overcome geographic and socio-economic barriers. Matched pairs engage within a safe and structured curriculum-based correspondence model that provides Grade 3-5 students in underserved communities with one-to-one ongoing academic and social-emotional support, giving each child the benefit of their own personal champion who empowers them to discover and achieve their full potential.

    Younger students focus on academic success paired with social-emotional support while building learning friendships through topic-based explorations.  Your program selects from the CricketTogether curriculum library to developing authentic reading and writing skills as mentors and mentees use the platform to exchange communications on topics from Literacy, Science, Culture, Social Studies, and our newly developed resources on Social Emotional Skills.

    This tool is a solution to help in-person, hybrid and remote learning mentoring organizations to extend learning opportunities.

    Participating program staff will have access to an administrative portal that will enable them to manage the program and review mentee and mentor participation and communication on the Virtual Mentoring Portal.

  • Are there any costs associated with the VMP?

    The VMP with CricketTogether is being offered to provide a safe and monitored mentoring platform for mentors and mentees ages 12 and under to start or continue relationships for all mentoring models.

    We are offering no-cost participation spots until all matches have been secured by mentoring organizations to utilize the VMP. (When free slots are taken, we will update this message.)

    There is availability for reduced rate ($100 per match) participation. There is limited availability of additional financial support to further lower the per match cost being offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

  • Are there requirements to participate in the VMP offerings?

    The VMP offering is for nonprofit organizations designated as a 501(c)3 charitable organizations under the Internal Revenue Code of the United States that meet the following requirements:

    • One-to-one mentoring
    • Mentors ages 18 and older must undergo an online background check through CricketTogether
    • Cross- Age Peer Mentors ages 17 and younger must have parent/guardian permissions to utilize the VMP
    • Mentees and Mentors have internet access and web-enabled devices, and program should ensure that additional data fees are not charged to mentees using mobile devices
    • The organization has staff/vetted volunteers to support and monitor participation
    • All mentees’ ages 12 and under will need to have verifiable parent/guardian permissions collected by the participating organization

    Participating organizations must identify one point person that will support eMentoring implementation within the VMP. This individual must be available to attend training with CricketTogether staff and participate in ongoing monitoring and management of their mentors and mentees directly using the administrative portal.

  • Can all organizations interested in the VMP participate?

    We intend to provide this service to all organizations in need of a virtual mentoring solution for community-based or school-based programs. We will serve organizations that meet the requirements on a first-come first-served basis and will make our best effort to meet the goals of all organizations including numbers of mentees and mentors served.

  • What is included in the full curriculum? What are the curriculum outcomes?

    For organizations serving mentees ages 12 and under, and interested in using the full CricketTogether curriculum, mentees and their mentors will engage in an ongoing correspondence that supports development of the mentees’ self-concept while strengthening and expanding the mentees’ ability to think critically and communicate ideas clearly. The correspondence is fueled by the continual introduction of new reading content, exploring topics of interest selected by your program coordinator that range from STEM innovations to social and emotional units such as “Building My Strengths.” Mentors read intriguing, topic-related articles selected by their mentee and, with gentle guidance built into the platform itself, the pairs exchange online letters getting to know each other by sharing real-life connections and exchanging perspectives while asking and answering thought-provoking questions about the reading.

    The in-platform correspondence prompts guide pairs to begin and end each letter by connecting around current events in their lives, while the bulk of each exchange dives deep into discussing and exploring the topic. Mentors serve both the role of personal champion for the mentee as well as academic support in helping their mentee develop independent learning skills. Mentors also share the real-life value of learning to their lives and their careers. The teacher or program coordinator propels the conversation forward by regularly launching new topics and calendaring a recommended cadence of correspondence, while ensuring safety through ongoing letter review and moderation. The platform supports program coordinators by offering real-time data access on match engagement as well as ongoing help desk support, and keeping the mentors engaged through automatic email reminders.

  • Is video chatting a feature that will be included?

    We do not currently have a video chat feature, but you are welcome to supplement our program with your own video-conferencing tools.

  • CAN PEER MENTORING ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATE?

    Yes! We’re eager to support peer mentoring organizations. Peer mentors ages 17 and younger will need verifiable parent/guardian permission to participate in the program.

  • DO YOU SUPPORT GROUP MENTORING?

    Our program can support virtual, hybrid and in-person models. We will guide a more customized approach based on your organization’s goals. The original program is designed to support 1:1 mentoring matches. We can accommodate a mentor supporting multiple mentees, but they will support each student in a 1:1 manner through the individualized writing correspondence.

  • HOW CAN MY ORGANIZATION GET STARTED?

    Following are the general steps in the process.

    • Complete the application to share information about your organization and your needs for the academic year
    • CricketTogether staff will reach out to confirm your interest, answer questions and share a Partnership Agreement for your review
    • Review and sign the Partnership Agreement
    • Collect Parent/Guardian Permissions for mentees (and any mentors ages 17 and younger)
    • Complete and return a spreadsheet with mentee and mentor match information
    • Participate in a training session
    • Share login credentials with mentors and mentees

FAQs For Youth 13 and Over

  • What is the Virtual Mentoring Portal (VMP)?

    The Virtual Mentoring Portal (also referred to as VMP) is a safe and monitored mentoring platform for mentors and mentees to continue their relationships while they may be separated due to COVID-19 and to form new mentoring relationships.

    The VMP provides structured (research-back curriculum) communications, email and chat functionality and provides mentoring programs with virtual mentoring access for existing mentees who are at least 13 years old, and their mentors. The platform has been constructed with respect to best practices, safety, and data privacy.

    The VMP leverages iCouldBe’s existing program and enables participating organizations to connect their mentors and mentees online on a safe and monitored mentoring platform. The platform was recently enhanced with a new chat feature to better meet the needs of in-person mentoring programs.

  • What is being offered?

    Interested organizations will use an existing platform developed by iCouldBe to support teens with a structured evidence-backed curriculum focused on academic success, post-secondary education, work experience, exploring future careers and developing webs of support.

    Partner organizations will have the option of registering their mentees and mentors on the platform to participate in the full curricular activities as well as using email, live text chat and other functionality on the platform.

    Participating program staff will have access to an administrative portal that will enable them to manage the program and review mentee and mentor participation and communication on the VMP.

  • What kind of training will be available?

    iCouldBe will act in a ‘train-the-trainer’ role and will train program representatives who in turn will train the mentors and mentees. Participating organization staff will support and monitor the mentee and mentor participants. Trainings cover how mentees access the program and how program staff can monitor participation from their dedicated admin portal. The trainings will be recorded and will be available in the admin portal for program staff to view as a refresher.

    A mentee orientation is available for program staff to deliver to mentees before they register on the VMP. Mentor training videos and mentee training videos are also available within the platform.

  • What is the process to begin?

    Following are the general steps in the process. Based on the level of demand and interest we will work to accommodate as many participant programs as possible but cannot make any guarantees.

    • Complete the Participation Interest Form
    • iCouldBe will notify you if we have questions.
    • Review and sign the Partnership Agreement.
    • Complete and return a spreadsheet with mentee and mentor match information.
    • Participate in a training session.
    • Have mentors register on the VMP.
    • Have mentees register on the VMP.
  • Are there any costs associated with the VMP?

    The VMP was launched in the spring of 2020 and thanks to initial funding from AT&T the VMP was available for free to a few dozen mentoring organizations through the summer of 2020.

    Based on our conversations with hundreds of mentoring programs we understand that a virtual mentoring option is needed for many programs going forward. iCouldBe is working hard to secure additional funding to support our friends across the mentoring community to meet this need.

    At this time, we have raised enough funds to be able to offer the iCouldBe VMP to participating organizations for a minimum of $3,000 for up to 25 mentee-mentor matches and $125 for each additional mentee-mentor match (a savings of $375 per match). We can only provide this opportunity to a limited number of matches.

    To keep costs low for participating programs, program staff must be available to monitor and manage the program directly using the administrative portal. In addition, each program must ensure that mentees have devices and internet access to use the program and should ensure that additional data fees are not charged to mentees using mobile devices.

  • Are there requirements to participate in the VMP offerings?

    The VMP offering is available to nonprofit organizations designated as 501(c)3 charitable organizations under the Internal Revenue Code of the United States, as well as public schools and government organizations. Participating programs must meet the following requirements:

    • One-to-one mentoring.
    • Mentors have completed, and successfully passed, background checks.
    • Mentees using the portal are 13 years or older.
    • Mentees have or will soon have internet access and web-enabled devices.
    • The organization has staff and vetted volunteers to support and monitor participation.
  • Can all organizations interested in the VMP participate?

    Yes. We intend to provide this discounted service to all organizations in need of a virtual mentoring alternative; however, our capacity is dependent on ongoing external fundraising efforts and we cannot guarantee that we can meet the target number of mentees and mentors served. We will serve organizations (that meet the requirements) on a first-come, first-served basis and will make our best effort to meet the goals of all organizations including numbers of mentees and mentors served and target start dates. Other options are available, but the discounted rate is only for a limited number of matches.

  • How is my program chosen?

    External funding the program will determine the number of free or reduced-cost participants going forward. We are using a Participation Interest Form, signed agreements and completed mentor-mentee match spreadsheets to fill slots on a first come, first served basis.

  • If our program is approved to participate in the Virtual Mentoring Portal, how long until our matches can begin utilizing?

    To be approved, iCouldBe needs your signed Agreement, the mentee and mentor match spreadsheet and for your staff to attend the training (dates to be sent to you upon iCouldBe after receiving your documents). iCouldBe will set up your cohorts and then you will be responsible for managing the process of getting your mentees and mentors registered. Once you confirm that is completed, iCouldBe will use your list to match the mentees and mentors.

  • What’s the difference between the VMP and Gmail, Facebook, or other services?

    While there are many resources for online communications, the Virtual Mentoring Portal incorporates privacy policies and processes that were developed to meet federal and state student privacy laws. iCouldBe will not sell, share, or rent any personally identifiable information entered by any users, or collected through their use of the iCouldBe e-mentoring platform, to third-parties for their own marketing or commercial purposes.

    iCouldBe embeds real-time privacy and safety filters across the platform. To ensure mentee and mentor safety, automated filter alerts are designed to notify staff and partners so they can take action and respond accordingly.

    The Virtual Mentoring Portal includes safety and privacy e-mentoring best-practices that other non-mentoring services may not include.

  • What is included in the full curriculum? What are the curriculum outcomes?

    iCouldBe merges mentoring best-practices and technology to disrupt systematic inequities in public school education for students from low-income backgrounds. We address a root cause of the achievement gap: lack of access to relationships and webs of support. iCouldBe believes that broad networks of support will open new opportunities for academic and career success.

    Mentees and mentors engage in weekly online activities that strengthen and expand real-life connections to help mentees develop self-knowledge, map academic and career paths and identify tactical steps to achieve goals. The interactive activities are grouped into themed “quests” to achieve outcomes in social emotional development, self-efficacy, self-direction, curiosity, problem-solving, college and career aspirational development. Mentees lead discussions with their mentors on themes including academic success, preparing for graduation, gaining work experience, preparing for future education and networking. Mentors provide feedback and support their mentees’ efforts to: 1) define personal challenges or goals; 2) determine potential solutions and strategies; 3) identify networks of people who can help and how they can help; and 4) engage people in their network in the solution.

    Every activity begins with a “Check This Out” section with the main content and ends with “Start the Conversation” prompts that mentees and mentors discuss, research, and brainstorm each session. Students may complete approximately two activities per session while working asynchronously with their mentors. The back-end administrative management system enables real-time access for teachers and program coordinators and ongoing weekly support calls by iCouldBe staff.

  • Is video chatting a feature that will be included?

    Video chatting cannot be monitored or filtered so it is not currently available on the Virtual Mentoring Portal. To better support in-person programs during this time, iCouldBe recently launched a new dynamic text chat section that allows mentees and mentors to communicate in real-time on the portal, with the same monitoring and filtering applied to all communications.

  • Do you have plans to add a group mentoring component?

    Group mentoring is not currently available on the Virtual Mentoring Portal and we don’t have near-term plans to add this feature. We are happy to discuss a longer-term strategy with you to meet group mentoring program needs.

  • How long is the platform available for free? What is the cost beyond that?

    Based upon external funding the program will be available initially to a limited number of participants for free through the end of June 2020 (and through the summer if needed). As additional funding becomes available more participants can be accommodated, and we can consider implementation beyond the summer. Funding for this initiative is focused on the current crisis for the current school year / program year. We will need to identify new funding to address partnerships for the next school year, which we are just beginning now.

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