Establishing a responsible mentoring program
Abstract
Mentoring works best when measures are taken to ensure quality and effectiveness. Guidelines offered in this effective practice include measures any mentoring program can take to offer the best mentoring possible, and are excerpted from Elements of Effective Practice, 2nd. edition, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2003.Issue
The planning stages of developing a mentoring program are very important. Because a mentor program is built on shared trust and respect of the people involved, much care should be given to its implementation.Action
ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE PRACTICE
The National Mentoring Partnership generated a set of guidelines, or common principles, to help guide development of responsible mentoring programs. These elements of effective practice present program policies and practices that have proven effective in a wide range of existing mentoring settings.
PROGRAM DESIGN AND PLANNING
Design the parameters for the program:
- Define the youth population that the program will serve
- Identify the types of individuals who will be recruited as mentors (such as, senior citizens, corporate employees and college students)
- Determine the type of mentoring that the program will offer — one-to-one, group, team, peer or e-mentoring
- Structure the mentoring program —as a stand-alone program or as part of an existing organization
- Define the nature of the mentoring sessions (such as, career involvement, academic support, and socialization)
- Determine what the program will accomplish and what outcomes will result for the participants, including mentors, mentees, and sponsoring organizations
- Determine when the mentoring will take place
- Determine how often mentors and mentees will meet and how long the mentoring matches should endure
- Decide where mentoring matches primarily will meet — workplace, school, faith-based organization, juvenile corrections facility, community setting, or virtual community
- Decide who are program stakeholders and how to promote the program
- Decide how to evaluate program success
- Establish case management protocol to assure that the program has regular contact with both mentors and mentees concerning their relationship
Plan how the program will be managed:
1. Select the management team:
- Establish policies and procedures
- Implement ongoing staff training and professional development
- Develop a program budget
- Determine the amount of funding needed to start and sustain the program
- Identify and secure a diversified funding stream needed to start and sustain the program
- Determine the amount of time each funding source can be expected to provide resources
- Establish internal controls and auditing requirements
- Establish a system for managing program finances
- Recruit program participants, such as, mentors, mentees, and other volunteers
- Screen potential mentors and mentees
- Orient and train mentors, mentees, and parents/caregivers
- Match mentors and mentees
- Bring mentors and mentees together for mentoring sessions that fall within program parameters
- Provide ongoing support, supervision, and monitoring of mentoring relationships
- Recognize the contribution of all program participants
- Help mentors and mentees reach closure
- Decide on the evaluation design
- Determine what data will be collected, how it will be collected, and the sources of data
- Determine the effectiveness of the program process
- Determine the outcomes for mentors and mentees
- Reflect on and disseminate findings
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT:
Ensure the program is well-managed:
1. Form an advisory group:
- Define the advisory group roles and responsibilities
- Recruit people with diverse backgrounds to serve on the group
- Facilitate the advisory group meetings to improve programming and management
- Manage program finances
- Maintain personnel records
- Track program activity, such as, volunteer hours and matches
- Document mentor/mentee matches
- Manage risk
- Document program evaluation efforts
- Seek in-kind gifts
- Hold special events
- Solicit individual donors
- Seek corporate donations
- Apply for government funding
- Seek foundation grants
- Review policies, procedures, and operations on a regular basis
- Collect program information from mentors, mentees, and other participants
- Continually assess customer service
- Provide ongoing staff training
- Build on staff members' skills and knowledge
- Advocate for pro mentoring public policies and funding at the local, state, and federal levels
- Encourage private sector leaders to adopt pro mentoring policies and provide funding
- Identify target markets
- Develop a marketing plan
- Gather feedback from all constituents
- Develop partnerships and collaborations with other organizations
- Recognize mentors, mentees, other program participants, funders, and organizations that sponsor mentoring programs
PROGRAM OPERATIONS
Ensure strong, everyday operations:
1. Recruit mentors, mentees, and other volunteers:
- Define eligibility for participants, including mentors, mentees, and parents/caregivers
- Market the program
- Conduct awareness and information sessions for potential mentors
- Require written applications
- Conduct reference checks, such as, employment record, character reference, child abuse registry, driving record and criminal record checks
- Conduct face to face interviews
- Hold orientations
- Provide an overview of the program
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations
- Discuss how to handle a variety of situations
- Use established criteria
- Arrange an introduction between mentors and mentees
- Ensure mentors, mentees, and parents/caregivers understand and agree to the terms and conditions of program participation
- Provide safe locations and circumstances
- Provide resources and materials for activities
- Offer continuing training opportunities for program participants
- Communicate regularly with participants and offer support
- Help mentors and mentees define next steps for achieving mentee goals
- Bring mentors together to share ideas and support
- Establish a process to manage grievances, resolve issues, and offer positive feedback
- Assist mentors and mentees whose relationship is not working out
- Assure that appropriate documentation is done on a regular basis
- Sponsor recognition events
- Make the community aware of the contributions made by mentors, mentees, supporters, and funders
- Actively solicit feedback from mentors and mentees regarding their experience
- Use information to refine program and retain mentors
- Conduct private, confidential interviews with mentors and mentees
- Ensure mentors, mentees, and parent/caregivers understand program policy regarding their meeting outside the program
PROGRAM EVALUATION:
Ensure program quality and effectiveness:
1. Develop a plan to measure program process:
- Select indicators of program implementation viability and volunteer fidelity, such as, training hours, meeting frequency, and relationship duration
- Develop a system for collecting and managing specified data
- Specify expected outcomes
- Select appropriate instruments to measure outcomes, such as, questionnaires, surveys, and interviews
- Select and implement an evaluation design
- Refine the program design and operations based on the findings
- Develop and deliver reports to program constituents, funders, and the media (at minimum yearly; optimally, each quarter)
BARRIERS TO REACHING SCALE
Too many young people who want mentors are unable to have them. High costs are partially responsible, but there are other reasons mentoring has not reached the level it could reach.
Following are some barriers as identified by The National Mentoring Partnership:
- There is insufficient support for existing mentoring programs and initiatives.
- There are not enough mentoring programs in institutions that have the resources to build and sustain them — for example, school, communities of faith, and corporations.
- Institutions and individuals that want to, and have the resources to develop programs, lack easy access to information and help with implementation.
- There is high attrition among mentors and would-be mentors.
- The public has fears and misconceptions about young people and about mentoring.
- There is a lack of information on the prevalence, performance, and progress of mentoring initiatives.
- Decision-makers lack awareness of what specifically they can do to bring mentoring to scale.
- Organizations and institutions are acting on their own, duplicating efforts.
- The mentoring movement does not have a sufficiently strong voice in policy decisions made at the federal and state levels.
- There is a lack of recognition and visibility for excellence in mentoring.
COMMON PROBLEMS AND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS:
There seem to be many impediments to effective mentoring. The following are barriers common to mentoring, followed by some creative possible solutions as identified by the 1998 Report to Congress of the JUMP Project, OJJDP:
- Problem: Not enough mentors to serve all youths who wanted mentors.
Solution: Redefine service goal and eligibility criteria for mentees, and expand the pool from which to recruit mentors. - Problem: Scheduled weekly mentor meetings were not well attended — mentors did not have additional time to give.
Solution: Change trainings and supervision from weekly to monthly. Survey the mentors before the meetings, asking them what issues they would like to cover. - Problem: Expectation of "miracles of transformation" from high risk youth by working with them only an hour or two per week during one school year.
Solution: Develop realistic and specific goals for each mentee. Include mentee in goal-setting process, for better buy-in. - Problem: Trying to build the program too quickly, not realizing that it takes a tremendous amount of time to implement and institutionalize procedures.
Solution: Re-evaluate to determine which activities could be started immediately, then prioritize steps for implementing the rest of the program systematically. - Problem: Small staff trying to "be all things to all people."
Solution: If there is no budget for additional staff, recruit volunteers to handle some of the administrative duties. Some of the best volunteers may be people without the time to be full-time mentors, but who want to support the program in some other way. - Problem: Staff turnover rate is very high.
Solution: Unrealistic expectations of staffers. Over-worked staff gets frustrated by not being able to do all things. Develop more appropriate job descriptions for all staff. - Problem: Limited resources keep program from implementing some of the supplementary activities planned, such as writing a newsletter.
Solution: Rather than abandon the plans completely, amend your goal by writing a periodic bulletin rather than a full-fledged newsletter. - Problem: Difficulty recruiting enough mentors, especially males, from targeted populations.
Solution: Spend more time in the community recruiting in order to be able to expand the pool of organizations from which you recruit. Develop relationships with businesses which designate your program as their community project for the year. Some businesses will allow their employees to provide mentoring on company time. - Problem: Loss of prospective mentors during the lengthy screening process.
Solution: Develop a gradual program where mentors can participate in the program in a limited way until screening is complete. Do not allow them individual contact with a mentee, but there are some things you can let them do during this waiting period. This will keep their interest high, and it also helps with training the mentor. - Problem: Everyone in the community wanted the mentoring project, but when it came time to pitch in, they disappeared.
Solution: Get specific with your needs, and translate that into how their support would actually help youth. Also, educate community-based organizations as to how they might be able to help. Have human-interest stories in the local paper. - Problem: Funding in rural areas is difficult due to lack of corporations or large businesses.
Solution: Try to persuade several small businesses to band together. - Problem: How can you get parents of mentees not normally involved to become involved?
Solution: Conduct home visits — and establish a supportive, non-judgmental relationship with parents of mentees. - Problem: Getting parents to show up the first time.
Solution: Develop incentives, such as a visit to a food bank, guest speakers, or a "makeover" night for moms from the cosmetic department of local department stores.
LIABILITY AND RISK ISSUES
Concerns around security and personal liability and risk may have a negative impact on finding potential mentors as well as mentees. Many people who express an interest in being a mentor also raise a concern with being accused of inappropriate behavior. And, what are the legal issues around confidentiality? What if the mentee tells the mentor of an illegal, or life-threatening activity? What is the responsibility of the mentoring program around these issues? For the safety of the mentee as well as to comply with any laws concerning the issue of working with youth, how thorough does a background check need to be? What are the federal and state laws governing fingerprinting a potential mentor?
We don't like to think about this kind of thing, but some individuals should not become mentors. Some people should not be allowed to come into contact, especially one-to-one contact, with a young person. However, because of the high cost of background checks, many programs find their screening process is less than it should be ... and that it takes far longer than they would like. While responsible mentoring programs go to great lengths to screen potential mentors, they also find they are unable to serve all the youth wanting a mentor, due to the high cost of that screening process.
Before beginning any new program, or before volunteering for an established program, make sure the legal and liability issues are solidly dealt with. Because we live in such a litigious society, make sure liability insurance is covered and up-to-date. Clearly stated policies for meetings between mentors and mentees should be in place.
Although California and Indiana both have free screening for mentor applicants, in most other states screening is costly. If more states would allow funds for support of these costs, a great deal more programming could be accomplished a lot more quickly. Until then, finding an organization/organizations willing to help underwrite these costs may be possible.
Context
If you already have a mentoring program in place, use these guidelines to help improve your current program. Or use them as a benchmark to determine how your program is doing and to make necessary adjustments.Citation
Elements of Effective Practice. 2nd. edition, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2003.Posted On
December 4, 2000For More Information
Resources
PUBLICATIONS DEALING WITH SCREENING, MANAGING RISK, AND LIABILITY ISSUES:
Screening Volunteers to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse: A Community Guide for Youth Organizations. Information from the National Collaboration for Youth on policies for screening and selecting volunteers who work with children. To order, call: (202) 347-2080.
More than a Matter of Trust: Managing the Risks of Mentoring. From the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, this explores the importance of understanding your clientele, selecting personnel, establishing program boundaries and need for quality supervision. To order, call: (202) 785-3891.
Planning It Safe: How to Control Liability and Risk in Volunteer Programs. This newly revised guide tells you when your organization can be held liable for acts harming another person and what defense can be used if your organization is sued. To order, call: 1-800-395-9800.