MENTOR Awarded Continued Support for National Mentoring Resource Center
October 2015
This fall, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) announced MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) as the recipient of the FY15 $1.5 million Training and Technical Assistance grant. This grant award provides continued support for MENTOR’s operation of the National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC). This most recent support will expand the no-cost technical assistance and training and evidence-based resources for mentoring programs across the nation provided through the NMRC. The over-arching goal of the NMRC is to improve the quality and effectiveness of mentoring across the country by supporting youth mentoring practitioners in more deeply incorporating evidence-based practices in their programs.
“The National Mentoring Resource Center has quickly become a game changer in terms of broad-based access to the best information and on the ground training and consultation for building and operating effective mentoring programs,” said David Shapiro, CEO and President of MENTOR. “We are grateful for OJJDP’s leadership in investing in mentoring and our role in driving quality and impact for our young people through the Resource Center’s great work.”
Formally launched during the 2015 National Mentoring Summit, the NMRC has been effective in meeting the needs of mentoring programs seeking to increase their quality and effectiveness. The resources and technical assistance available are in alignment with the national standards for quality mentoring found in MENTOR’s cornerstone publication, the recently updated and released Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™. Through MENTOR’s network of affiliate Mentoring Partnerships and experts in the field, 2,765 hours of technical assistance has been provided to mentoring programs, who collectively match 75,000 young people in mentoring relationships. Technical assistance recipients have shared their appreciation for the NMRC in their evaluations:
- “[Our TA Providers] were wonderful and took the time to understand our program, our strengths and areas for improvement. They were extremely easy to work with, wonderful communication via email, phone and face to face.”
- “The expertise of [our TA Provider] was exceptional and helped us build a solid foundation for our mentoring program. We are deeply grateful for the support the technical assistance grant afforded us at a critical point in our program’s development.”
MENTOR is proud to continue providing leadership for the National Mentoring Resource Center and supporting youth mentoring practitioners through this resource to help ensure that mentoring continues to be safe and effective and our communities are at their strongest. To learn more about this program, visit our webpage.