For the Public - Mentors

Become a better Mentor. No matter how much you enjoy being a mentor, there are probably times when you think, "So now what do I do?" MENTOR’s website “Be a Mentor” provides activities for you and your mentee, exercises to help you improve your mentoring skills, and in-depth resources like “How to be a Great Mentor,” a 40-page guide designed to assist you to get the most out of your mentoring relationship.

Learn to Mentor, an online course. This online course is offered to help prepare you to be an e-mentor, but is valuable for all mentors. It includes:

  • Topics ranging from "What is Mentoring" to "Your Role as Mentor", "The Lifecycle of a Mentoring Relationship," and "How to End Your Relationship"
  • A downloadable "Learn to E-Mentor Workbook" that includes exercises and tools you can use personally and share with your mentee 
  • A "Self Check Quiz" to try out your new skills at the conclusion of the training  

Volunteer service activities. Service projects provided more benefits that a structured activity for a Saturday. Research has demonstrated that when youth participate in quality volunteer opportunities they are less likely to be involved in risky behaviors and more likely to feel empowered and connected to their school or community.

LEARNS: Youth Impact (formerly The Tutor). In-depth articles for tutors and mentors.

Find a mentoring program in your community. WSM’s website will search your community by zipcode to find mentoring programs where you live.

ABOUT KIDS

A wealth of information about youth exists.  WSM includes rich and famous resources like Kids Count and referrals to excellent, easy to read books that open the door to understanding the life circumstances of specific populations of youth. 

Washington Kids Count. Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Washington Kids Count tracks, analyzes, and communicates information about the health and well-being of children and families in Washington. State and local organizations rely on us for comprehensive data profiles and special topic reports.

See Poverty…Be the Difference. Beegle weaves her personal experiences of growing up in generational poverty with 17 years of work and research on this topic. Beegle (2007).

All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated. Journalist Nell Bernstein’s book documents the endless cycle of crime and punishment that the mandatory drug sentencing laws of the past three decades have set into motion, and their devastating effect on the very children, families, and communities that they were allegedly created to protect. Over 2.4 million American children now have a mother or father behind bars.

Voices of Youth: Supporting Adolescents in Foster Care. This DVD from the Annie E. Casey Foundationfeatures a candid conversation with foster youth as they describe their experiences in the foster care system. (17:30 minutes)

Youth Bullying. In response to adolescent bullying, Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development, recently released a report entitled, “Assessing Bullying: A Guide for Out-of-School Time Program Practitioners.” The brief provides information on who is most likely to be a bully or victim, how to know when conflict has turned into bullying, and ways to reduce bullying. The report also includes specific questions to assess students’ tendencies to bully others, to be victimized by bullying, and to be pro-social and help others.