Mentoring studies have proven the importance of quality mentoring relationships for young people. Having access to a mentor increases the likelihood that young people will enroll in college, volunteer with community organizations, and hold professional leadership positions. Research has also shown that mentoring programs that utilize best practices have a greater impact on the lives of young people compared with programs that don’t. In 2016, the Collaboration Council explored the status of mentoring in Montgomery County by commissioning a study on the state of mentoring.
Data Sources: This study gathered data from semi-structured key informant interviews with representatives from mentoring programs and focus groups with representatives from funders, business leaders, and youth practitioners.
Findings: The study found the following ongoing needs, challenges, and opportunities in Montgomery County mentoring programs:
- Codifying all mentoring program policies and procedures in a manual or guide
- Developing and implementing a resource development strategy and increasing the overall level of program funding
- Providing staff development opportunities and increasing staff size
- Locating and using mentoring program training and technical assistance to support the development of mentoring programs
- Creating community awareness of specific mentoring programs and the general benefits of mentoring
- Using evaluation data for program improvement
- Finding opportunities for collaboration among youth-serving organizations and mentoring programs
Upon completion of the interviews and analysis, the report recommended improvements to five distinct areas that would increase the impact of mentoring programs as they currently stand. These five recommendations were:
1.Develop comprehensive mentoring program manuals or guides.
2.Create, implement, and monitor resource development plans.
3.Increase the amount of pre-match and post-match training provided to mentors.
4.Provide consistent pre-match training to mentees and parents or guardians.
5.Increase program capacity to collect, analyze, and use data for program improvement and to monitor the quality of the mentoring relationship.
State of Mentoring in MoCo Report
