A survey indicated that 3,000 youth in the city of Oakland have a mentor. However, counting youth in foster care, those re-entering from juvenile justice, under performing in school, and/or high absenteeism at school, there are more than 15,000 children who would benefit from a mentor.
Our Volunteer Management System (VMS) revolutionizes school district volunteerism. It provides school districts with an efficient and effective system that assures student safety. Academic achievement is enhanced when volunteers and student-serving partners are connected with students.
VMS can
- Provide easy access for volunteer registration
- Manage background clearances
- Assign volunteers to activities
- Send automated notices of key requirements
- Provide a volunteer dashboard
- Collect student data for grades, attendance, and disciplinary actions
The primary metrics we track are:
Grade Point Average – participation and interest in learning almost always results in better grades. This is listed last as depending on the accumulation of years of the poor attendance in the classroom; academic success becomes harder to overcome as the students fall behind with their grade level.
School Attendance – being present in class is the first step to learning
Disciplinary Action – suspensions, conflicts, etc. are signs of underlining, often unrelated, problems
Here are few samples of mentee outcomes at the end of several school reporting periods. Mentors are being trained to monitor this data, encourage mentees to do well in school, and finding resources (such as tutors and/or counseling).
Other areas of impact that are harder to track are:
- Learning of new skills
- Committing crimes
- Being a victim of crime
- Number of arrests
- Prison time
- Gang involvement
- Drug usage, substance abuse
- Homelessness
Sentry System: Integrated badge system for on-campus security
- Volunteers swipe their ID to gain access to the school.
- If they are already cleared in VMS, a badge is automatically printed.
- Guest badges can be printed for other visitors after collecting their information.
- School administrators can track how many visitors are on campus from their mobile device.
Benefits to the school
- Saves districts money when we handle background clearances
- Protects your students and reduces your liability risk
- Increases the number of volunteers. Districts have experienced an immediate 4-5x increase.
- Easy access to reports and manage thousands of volunteers without the need to hire more staff
- Accommodates parents desire (in California a right by law) to participate
VMS
Demo Videos
Businesses care about the prosperity and safety of the local communities they operate in and the long-term prospect of a qualified workforce. Providing mentors for at-risk youth impacts both desires.
Sponsor a mentoring program to support the youth in your community.
Working with Be A Mentor gives you the advantages of 30 plus years of mentoring experience. We partner with youth-serving organizations to bring mentoring to low-income and vulnerable youth.
Corporate involvement in youth mentoring is the intersection of business strategy, organizational competencies, and societal needs.
Our greatest challenge to reaching more youth, are the resources needed to do so. Your financial support of youth mentoring combined with optional employee volunteers will make a difference in the lives of youth in your community.
The cost of one mentor-mentee match per year is $2,000. For each monthly $2,000 sponsorship, we will be able to support one year-long match: from mentor recruitment, background clearance, training, and matching, to ongoing support for the mentor, mentee, and the mentee’s family.
As a nonprofit, we know being passionate about helping youth is not enough. Programs require resources. We have learned a lot since 1992, one vital lesson is pooling resources and skills quickly scale the number of lives we can touch. Are you one of the many youth-serving agencies that could add value by providing mentors? If only you had enough resources? Let’s work together to reach more youth.
Benefits include:
- Economies of scale
- Latest resources and funding
- Technical assistance
- Training opportunities for staff and mentors
- Increased public awareness
- Power for advocacy
- Learning from others
With our Volunteer Management System (VMS) we are able to serve as the coordinating backbone for multi-agency collaborations.
We can provide centralize services such as:
- Mentor recruitment
- Background clearances
- Training for mentors and staff
- Mentoring case management
- Data collection
- Technical support
- Joint-funding opportunities
Individual vs. Collaborative Cost
Coalitions are much more beneficial to programs than anyone realizes. We can help programs be more efficient and effective. And, we can help them keep their focus on what their mission is, all the while prioritizing the safety of children.
– Lorey Keele, Northcoast Mentor Council
MENTOR
What to expect
Being a mentor is being a positive role model for a child, between 7-18 years old, who needs and wants one, possibly because
- Guardians, due to various circumstances, are unable to dedicated as much time as needed
- There is a desire to confide in adult other than their immediate family
- There is a need for a foster youth to have a consistent adult in their life
Mentoring is about being developmental not prescriptive. Prescriptive is when the mentor emphasizes their own goals and/or setting expectations for a mentee that are often not met. Developmental is when goals and expectations are based on the needs of the protégé.
Your weekly visit with your mentee may include activities such as a visiting the library, walking in the park, attending a sporting event, shopping, job shadowing, helping with school work or just talking about what’s going on.
Resources
In addition to paying attention and expressing genuine interest in your mentee’s life, needs, fears and desires, you may also provide opportunities for your mentee to learn in areas of interest or provide connections for jobs and career exploration. To help you encourage your mentee to complete their education, make healthy choices and pursue their dreams, we provide you with:
- Project manager available to answer questions for both you and your mentee
- Goal-Setting Tool plus training on how to use it
- Support group. Opportunities to meet with other mentors via meetings, workshops and other social events
Read what mentors and mentees thought about the experience. Testimonials
Guiding your mentee towards an adulthood of healthy choices, successful employment and positive relationships can be both a challenge and rewarding experience. Take the next step by selecting a mentoring program
Becoming a mentor is just one way to make a difference in the lives of our children. Your donations are equally appreciated.
View our financial details at Guidestar. We are proud to hold their highest level rating for a nonprofit.
Or send your check payable to:
Be A Mentor, Inc.
22693 Hesperian Blvd., Suite 170
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 795-6488
Contact@beamentor.org
OTHER WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE
Planned and deferred gifts through wills, bequests, trusts and insurance provide a giving opportunity that benefits beneficiaries. Please contact your financial advisor for details.
Many companies financially match their employees’ donations and/or volunteer hours or conduct United Way campaigns for employees to make before-tax payroll deduction gifts to specific nonprofits, such as Be A Mentor. Please contact your human resources for details.
Gifts such as professional services and items that may be used for mentee-mentor match events like gift certificates/gift cards, board games, tickets to sporting events, concerts or other age-appropriate entertainment are gratefully accepted.
Causes offers Facebook members the opportunity to conduct a fundraiser for a specific not-for-profit organization. The process enables you to set up the Cause, set a goal and invite friends to contribute. To create one go to Facebook Causes or contact us
Simply indicate Be A Mentor, Inc. as your preferred nonprofit on the following sites and whenever you shop there, you’ll be contributing to improving lives of at-risk youth.
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ADVOCATE
Children with caring adult role models in their lives have much better outcomes than those who do not. Here are some ways to help build awareness and stay informed.
START YOUR OWN
With our do-it-yourself mentoring kit you can improve your chances of launching a successful youth mentoring program by accelerating your learning curve and leveraging our 30+ years of experience.
- Mentoring program user manual
- Documents and forms used in the process
- Mentor and project manager training materials