March 30, 2011
More mentors will benefit Alberta’s children and youth
Additional $1 million will help young people build relationships with positive role models
Calgary… More children and youth will benefit from the collective efforts of the Alberta Mentoring Partnership. Over the next three years, an additional $1 million in funding from the Alberta government will help youth, community mentoring organizations and government continue to increase mentoring opportunities for young people in Alberta.  
“When young people receive support from positive role models, they make better, healthier life choices, enjoy more success in school, and are less likely to become involved with drugs or crime,” said Premier Ed Stelmach. “We provided funding for the successful Alberta Mentoring Partnership three years ago and look forward to continuing our support. Expanding mentoring opportunities will help create safer communities and brighter futures for our children and youth.”
The Alberta Mentoring Partnership’s vision is that every child or youth who needs a mentor has access to one. The partnership includes representation from Alberta government ministries, community mentoring organizations and youth. With this new investment, the Alberta government will provide a total of $4.2 million for the Alberta Mentoring Partnership.
The new funding will help the partnership continue support for community programs and build local capacity to provide mentoring. Over the past three years, the partnership provided online mentor training to more than 900 people, trained more than 1,000 students as mentors through high school teen programs, ran two mentoring recruitment campaigns, and helped raise awareness through more than 1.5 million website hits to albertamentors.ca. The partnership also supports programs in Fort McMurray, Lloydminster, Edmonton and Calgary that provide mentoring opportunities specifically for Aboriginal and immigrant youth.
“The Alberta Mentoring Partnership has had a key role in increasing the number of mentors in Alberta – by 21 per cent for Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations – and I have heard similar success stories from many other community mentoring agencies,” said Liz O’Neill, AMP Co-chair and Executive Director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Society of Edmonton and Area. “Together, we will continue to build on this success in our communities and enhance mentoring for young people across the province.”
The new funding is being provided by the ministries of Children and Youth Services, Education, Justice and Attorney General through the Safe Communities Initiative, Solicitor General and Public Security, and Aboriginal Relations. Premier Stelmach made the announcement at Mobilizing for Safe Communities 2011, an event bringing together stakeholders and experts from across the province to talk about mobilizing communities and partners to prevent crime.
Visit albertamentors.ca for more information about the Alberta Mentoring Partnership, to learn more about partner community organizations, and to find out how you can become a mentor.
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