Curriculum

• Developing an Advisory Committee

  Developing an Advisory Committee

  The best way to start designing your youth mentoring program is to assemble the people (stakeholders) who want to support its development. Together, these individuals will form your program planning or advisory committee. This group might consist of parents, teachers, counselors, youth development staff members, colleagues, community partners, youth, etc. Ideally, these individuals will see an opportunity to support youth in your community through mentoring. This advisory committee can help you:

  • Conduct a needs assessment
  • Define youth eligibility
  • Develop a program philosophy
  • Create the program design and structure
  • Outline program management
  • Help with fundraising and sustainability
  • Design and conduct program evaluations

  
• Needs Assessment Overview

  Needs Assessment Overview

  With the support of your advisory committee, you can conduct a needs assessment to formally identify the need for youth mentoring in your community. This important step will help you develop program-specific goals you’ll need to communicate to funders, families, community partners, and other supporters. This process will also tell you if a program already exists that could serve your target population. In general it is best to avoid creating redundant programs within a community. Ask yourself if your program will address an unmet need. If the answer is yes, customize your programming accordingly.

  How

  • Hold a community forum or focus group to learn stakeholders’ perspectives
  • Interview key community leaders or administrators
  • Conduct a survey
  • Analyze census information relative to community services
  • Review social indicators, such as graduation rates, mental health statistics, emergency care availability, unemployment rates, etc.

  Potential sources of information

  • Government records
  • Census
  • Local statistics (police, medical, fire, school, etc.)
  • Data and institutional records from your agency or a partner agency
  • A review of similar programs
• Exploring Partnerships

  Exploring Partnerships

  While assessing the opportunity for youth mentoring in your community, consider how you can build on or expand existing services.

  • Investigate whether you can link to an established program that would like to expand or adapt to include the youth you hope to support
  • Use the Mentoring Connector to search for established mentoring programs in your area and learn about services being offered

  
• Developing a Mission and Vision

  Developing a Mission and Vision

  Youth mentoring programs need a vision and mission statement that clearly describes why the program exists and the meaningful change it hopes to produce. For programs embedded in larger agencies, your goals and objectives for mentoring relationships should align with your agency’s overall mission and vision.

  • A vision statement clearly identifies the organization’s primary goal and reason for existence
  • A mission statement broadly speaks to how the organization plans to realize its vision

  The Buddy Program is an afterschool program that matches elementary school students with high schoolers to build the younger students’ positive connection to school.
• Theory of Change
  “Theory of change is essentially a comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context.” – Center for Theory of Change

  Theory of Change

  You will need to develop a theory of change and/or logic model for your program. A theory of change explains how your mentoring services and the activities in which mentors and mentees engage will yield the outcomes you seek.

  A good theory of change should:

  • Illustrate how the program’s work is designed to explicitly bring about change, as well as other external factors that influence program effectiveness.
  • Explicitly show how a program, through the work of a mentor, achieves meaningful and measurable results.
  • Draw on relevant research and theory, illustrating the validity of the program design and how the services align with local needs, contexts, and circumstances.
• Creating a Logic Model

  Creating a Logic Model

  A logic model can help illustrate the rationale for your program in a one-page, easy-to-read visual. Select the (+) to view details about each.
• Introduction to Budgeting

  Introduction to Budgeting

  Have you considered how much it will cost to run your youth mentoring program, in terms of both time and money? (Keep in mind that programs with positive outcomes provide staff and mentor training, thorough screening, ongoing monitoring, etc.) Many components of mentoring program budgets are standard, but depending on whether the program is embedded in a larger nonprofit or operates as a stand-alone entity, they may look different.

  Budgeting tips from the pros

  • Start planning early
  • Develop a formal fundraising plan
  • Consider multiple funding sources: cash donations, fundraising events, corporate or business partners, in-kind donations, etc.
  • Leverage fundraising support from your board of directors
  • Consider joining a larger umbrella organization rather than doing it alone
• Marketing to Stakeholders

  Marketing to Stakeholders

  Finding mentors is critical to your program’s success—but to market your program, you will likely want to appeal to other audiences:

  • Public funders (schools and the city, state, and federal government)
  • Private funders (small businesses, corporations, and foundations)
  • Individual donors
  • Families
  • Youth

  
• Policies and Procedures Development

  Policies and Procedures Development

  • Program policies and procedures are essential to managing liability risk and ensuring your program is implemented the way you intend

  • Program policies and procedures should detail how your program implements best practices, and they should include a section on risk management to guide your staff and operations

  • Relevant policies need to be communicated to volunteers (usually via a program manual and training)
• Board of Directors
  

  Board of Directors

  Depending on the structure and setting of your program, there should be either a formal Board of Directors or an advisory committee that approves program plans, provides input and feedback on program decisions, and offers general oversight and leadership to the program.

  Some programs even have both, with the formal Board handling typical governance and fiduciary responsibilities, and an advisory committee to provide voice to constituents and stakeholders as the program evolves over time.

  It is especially important for embedded programs to have their own dedicated advisory committee so that stakeholders have a say in how services are delivered and to help ensure that the program gets the support it needs.

  Each member should bring to the table a range of skills and experiences, and they should reflect your community. Ideally, board meetings are planned and focus on specific goals, such as fundraising or programmatic assistance.

• Minimum Staffing

  Minimum Staffing

  To run a youth mentoring program, you need dedicated staff members—typically, a minimum of a:

  • Full-time program coordinator
  • Part-time administrative support person

   

  Consider the number of youth you hope to serve and the amount of support you’ll need to implement all aspects of a high-quality mentoring program: recruitment, screening, training, matching, ongoing support, closure, and program evaluation and improvement.

• Accessing Additional Resources

  Accessing Additional Resources

  Youth, families, and volunteers may benefit from resources your program can’t provide. In this case, it will be your responsibility to refer them to other resources.

  • Identify other organizations (such as counseling centers, food pantries, and schools) that offer resources or services that support your intended outcomes
  • Establish relationships—possibly formal partnerships—with organizations you intend to collaborate with regularly
  • Acquire or create a quick reference guide to community service providers as a resource for your staff and volunteers

  
• More
  • National Mentoring Resource Center
  • Mentoring Connector
  • Building an Effective Advisory Committee
  • Generic Mentoring Program Policy and Procedure Manual
  • W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide
• Next Steps
  • Learn more by reviewing the “Program Planning and Management” section of Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition).
  • Use your note-taking guide to list topics or questions about program planning and design to discuss with your technical assistance provider. Remember to save your note-taking guide changes after each chapter.