#MentoringMonth Launch 2018: MENTORING MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

#MentoringMonth 2018 Week 1
Happy New Year! This year, we are celebrating the start of 2018 with our second annual #MENTORINGMONTH. Building on the great work done by MENTOR, the National Mentoring Partnership in the United States, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada we are running a concurrent province-wide push to recruit more mentors and support youth mentoring programs!
Read this toolkit for a full overview. Please retweet our content, share our resources with your staff, LIKE our Facebook page, and host an open house in your local community!
The goal of this week is to empower you with key messages to share why we need to expand and enhance mentoring throughout Alberta.  We hope this will help you recruit more volunteers, donors, and supporters. We even hope to inspire more schools and communities to start new programs to provide new mentoring opportunities.
Each week we will have a new theme and highlight a “Resource of the Day” as well as showcase mentoring champions.

This week the theme is “Mentoring Makes the Difference”.

As you know, Mentoring is an evidence-based intervention that can make a tremendous difference is a young person’s life, as well as paying forward dividends to the mentor as well. Mentoring programs take many shapes and sizes ranging from the traditional “one on one” relationship, such as those modeled by Big Brothers Big Sisters to group-based programs. Many of our partners serve youth ranging in age from 6 to 30 years old.
We surveyed Albertans about mentoring in 2016, and the results were very positive:

  • One third of surveyed Alberta adults reported mentoring youth in 2016; the majority of these did so informally (not within a structured mentoring program). Women and individuals born in Alberta were more likely to be mentors.
  • Over half of surveyed Alberta adults were mentored as youth (once again, mostly informally.) Younger respondents are more likely to report past mentorship as are more educated individuals and those in higher income households. Interprovincial migrants are less likely to report mentorship during youth.
  • The impact of mentorship on youth resiliency outcomes was rated very high by most individuals who were mentored as youth. Type of mentorship (formal vs informal) did not influence perceived impact of mentorship; however, individuals experiencing shorter mentoring relationships reported lower impact.
  • About half of surveyed Alberta adults report at one point wanting a mentor during youth, but not having one available to them. Greater proportions of low-income and low-education individuals report wanting but lacking a mentor during youth, as do those unemployed at the time of the survey and those born outside Canada.
  • Two thirds of surveyed Alberta adults would consider mentoring in the near future (next 3 years). 60% of these would consider mentoring at least partially via a formal mentoring program. Women, young people and wealthier, more educated individuals are more likely to express interest in mentoring, as are those who were mentored as youth (particularly those who rate the impact of mentorship highly).

This data is clear on the impact of mentoring. Volunteers need to know that they can make a meaningful contribution to their community via a quality mentoring program.

  • 80% of 18-24 year olds in Alberta wished they had a mentor when they were kids
  • 89% of Mentees said mentoring increased their social skills
  • 81% of Mentees said mentoring helped them stay in school
  • 92% of Mentees said mentoring increased their hope for the future

Learn more by visiting our #mentoringmonth page: albertamentors.ca/mentoring-month

EVENTS THIS WEEK

Stay-tuned for “I am a Mentor Day” January 4th!

  • A day for volunteer mentors to celebrate their role and reflect on the ways mentees have enhanced their world.

CLICK TO TWEET AND SHARE YOUR SUPPORT!

I am a proud #MentoringMonth supporter! I hope you’ll also become a mentor this #MentoringMonth https://albertamentors.ca/mentoring-month/#start

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE

  1. Subscribe, friend and tweet out all of our content this month. This is our one big push for the year so let’s make it count! Help AMPlify our voice in your local community and through your social media!
  2. Host your own local mentoring month event and tell us about it (visit our Hosting a Teen Mentor Training Event toolkit for some inspiration).
  3. Share your own mentoring stories with us on social media, sign up as a featured partner, or nominate 5 friends as Mentors!

MENTORING CHAMPIONS

Throughout the month, mentoring champions will be taking to social media to celebrate mentoring. This month the current mentoring champions are posted here. If you would like to be listed as a Mentoring Champion, please email your photo and a quote to mentoring.support@albertamentors.ca

SOCIAL MEDIA

Make sure to tell all of your staff and volunteers to follow and share our content.
Hashtags (#mentoringmonth, #MentorIRL)

Follow the AMP:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlbertaMentors
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alberta-Mentoring-Partnership
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albertamentors/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1jzKjk121I6JjmvwOpPQow
MentoringMinute Podcast: https://albertamentors.ca/podcast