Mentor Spotlight: The National Mentoring Project at Play
July 12, 2021
National Mentoring Project, Connect Focus Grow, Workforce Development, Our Affiliates
Workplace mentoring opens doors and expands possibilities; our research demonstrates the benefits to be widespread, affecting young people, their workplace mentors, and organizations as a whole. To amplify the benefits of workplace mentoring, MENTOR developed the National Mentoring Project and Connect|Focus|Grow, a training curriculum that prepares supervisors to support the personal and professional growth of young people and that helps those young people make the most of mentoring opportunities. MENTOR Affiliates are partnering with programs across the country to bring this training to local organizations, and the outcomes have been substantial.
From the perspective of Sadiq Ali, Executive Director of MENTOR Maryland|DC, “[the National Mentoring Project] and accompanying Connect | Focus | Grow curriculum and suite of trainings give us more tools to connect with and support young people no matter where we find them; be that in school, in the community or on the site of their first job. Letting them know they are supported is a critical first step to them staying employed and productive and, ultimately, finding their passion that will spark them to great heights throughout the rest of their lives.”
In Baltimore, MENTOR Maryland|DC has been working with Urban Alliance and Civic Works YouthBuild to train the young people and employers they work with in Connect|Focus|Grow. Harry Holt, who mentors an Urban Alliance intern, and Dwain Roberts, the Career Development Coordinator for Civic Works YouthBuild, spoke with us about the ways that the National Mentoring Project and Connect|Focus|Grow have enhanced their mentoring experiences.
Working Partnerships: Civic Works YouthBuild, Urban Alliance, and MENTOR Maryland|DC
Civic Works YouthBuild provides people ages 16-24 with construction training and certifications, assistance in earning a high school diploma or GED, and job placement services. Recognizing the importance of mentoring in increasing retention rates and improving work experiences for young people, YouthBuild began integrating mentoring relationships into their programming. They were excited by Connect|Focus|Grow because they saw it as an opportunity to enhance the work they were doing in this space. As Dwain put it, “it’s our past positive outcomes within mentorship initiatives that has really pushed us to want to want to be a part of this project.”
Like Civic Works YouthBuild, Urban Alliance is a nonprofit that works to increase workplace equity by providing young people with work experiences that help them build relevant job skills and professional networks. They’ve been using Connect|Focus|Grow to train both the young people in their program and the professionals who serve as their workplace mentors. As an employer who’s gone through the training, Harry offered some insight into the benefits, “Because a lot of things in the workplace now are different… [Connect|Focus|Grow] definitely helped me rethink how I do some things or how I might do them differently, or even understanding young people today.”
There’s Always Room to Grow
In talking about the benefits of workplace mentoring, Dwain noted that, after going through Connect|Focus|Grow, the young people he works with “have been more confident in speaking with employers, speaking with perspective employers, and even approaching individuals that they normally wouldn’t speak to when it comes to networking.” In addition to seeing their confidence increase, Dwain added that it’s been great to see the young people grow to “understand their potential and be ready to actually put it into action.”
According to Dwain, “the key to success in this realm is to be open-minded. Have innovative thinking and that will help you with meeting these young people where they are and really being able to support and assist them with whatever their immediate needs are.”
Harry shared a similar sentiment, saying, “A lot of [being a mentor] is listening to [your mentee] and hearing what they’re trying to do and trying to help them evaluate what it’s going to take to do it.” He advises other mentors to “be open and ask [your mentees] questions about things that you’re trying to learn. It’s got to be a back-and-forth, and you need to listen and not be judgmental.”
Widespread Benefits
In talking about his work with MENTOR Maryland|DC and Connect|Focus|Grow, Dwain noted that the partnership and training “has pushed [Civic Works YouthBuild] to be more innovative when it comes to how we are providing mentorship to our young people. We’re now bringing employers into the circle when it comes to mentorship. That is really great because it’s helping our young people not only find employment, but retain employment, and it helps the employer have a better understanding of the great talent that’s within the community.” He added, “I feel like even employers are starting to see the benefit of this, and it’s really starting to open doors and create opportunities for our young people that weren’t there before.”
Harry is witnessing and experiencing those benefits firsthand. In reflecting on his own life and his experiences as both a mentee and a mentor, Harry notes, “I’ve gotten as much out of it as I’ve poured into it, in terms of how working with different people enriched my life… [Mentoring is] helping me also to be open to growing and learning new things and moving forward.” Additionally, Harry’s noticed that when you center relationships in the workplace, “you’re able to communicate more effectively and help each other and grow.” If your co-workers “believe that you genuinely care about them, that you care about their well-being, it can be a much more meaningful type of relationship and exchange.”
Growing the Movement
Given their success so far, MENTOR Maryland|DC has big plans for the National Mentoring Project. Sadiq shared some of those goals, beginning with the hope that “every summer job site supervisor would be trained in the CFG curriculum and that this would lead to a more fulfilling experience with both young person and supervisor.” He also noted that they “want to train more young people on the power and process of growing their own social capital through youth-initiated mentoring” and that they hope to help “more young people to get employed and stay employed with the support of wraparound mentoring via the national mentoring project, their supervisor and community-based mentor.”
To employers unsure if their workplace is ready for a mentoring program, Dwain says, “if you are looking to improve your business and better the community, then the National Mentoring Project is a great initiative to participate in. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and I believe it’s beneficial to all the young people.”
How you can get involved
The National Mentoring Project is managed by MENTOR National in partnership with the America’s Promise Alliance / Center for Promise and with support from the Schultz Family Foundation. Find out if this program may work for your workplace, here.