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Welcome to the FAQ's!
If you cannot find the answer to your question, please email us at info@calmentor.org or call us at 415.789.1007.
The California Mentor Foundation (CMF) is an innovative program set up to act as the central infrastructure and voice for mentoring in California. CMF provides funding, technical assistance, advanced training, and administers Quality Assurance (QA) Standards to 522 mentor programs and 29 regional mentor coalitions across California. In the simplest terms, CMF is the infrastructure for supporting the overall growth curve for the Mentoring Movement in California.
The goal of CMF is to expand the capacity and quality of mentoring programs, and to improve the linkages between those in need to those willing to help. CMF is also committed to growing the private sector investment in mentoring through the strengthening of business partnerships.
The CMF was set up in response to mentor programs, coalitions, and businesses asking for one central organization to take a leadership role in growing mentoring opportunities in California. Dr. Mecca has volunteered his time and resources for four years to grow the California Mentor Foundation.
Dr. Andrew Mecca, President of the California Mentor Foundation, and Bridget Lackie, Associate Director, run an efficient and tightly budgeted team of CMF consultants. Most important, CMF supports 360 quality mentor programs and 29 mentor coalitions.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Parsons Foundation and the Koret Foundation support CMF. In addition, private sector partners include Disney, Lucasfilm Ltd., Accenture, Microsoft, Global Crossings, MARSH, AARP, Kikkoman, Porter Novelli, CSEA, The Capital Group, Nissan, and Mervyn’s. CMF is also comprised of an esteemed board of directors, including former Governor Pete Wilson, and senior partner of Texas Pacific Group, Bill price.
CMF has been the lead advocate of public sector investment for mentor program capacity. This has grown from zero in 1995 to $30 million in 2001. CMF has developed relationships with private sector partners to commit the human capital to this mentoring equation. The private sectors, as well as foundations, are also providing grants and financial support.
The ultimate beneficiaries of CMF are neglected children and those at risk of falling victim to academic failure, drug and alcohol abuse, gang participation and teen pregnancy. CMF also benefits large mentoring programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and local mentor programs such as HOSTS. California has developed the first statewide mentoring initiative in the nation. Because of its results and research, leadership, experience and strategy, CMF has provided assistance to other states including Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and Texas.
At CMF, mentoring is defined as a relationship over a prolonged period -of -time between one or more people where older, wiser, more experienced individuals assist youth by providing constant support, guidance, to insure healthy youth development.
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Mentoring works better than other youth development and preventive services because it tailors itself to the needs of a particular child instead of combating problems of all youth today with a single program or slogan. A mentor holds aspirations, provides friendship, and supports positive youth development “one child at a time.”
In 1998 and 1999, CMF conducted the two largest surveys ever completed in 1998 and 1999 on the benefits of mentoring. The results show 98% of the youth matched with mentors stayed in school, 85% did not use drugs, 98% did not become a teen parent and 98% did not get involved in a gang.
A quality assured mentoring program is designed to safely match children in need of guidance and support with a mentor. Quality assured mentor programs conduct background checks, recruit and train mentors, and monitor and document mentor/mentee matches.
If you are looking to become a mentor, please be sure to ask the program if they meet some or all of the following criteria:
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Statement of purpose and long range plan for the program
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Recruitment, orientation, and eligibility screening for mentors and mentees
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Readiness and training curriculum for all mentors and mentees
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Strategy for matching mentors and mentees
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Monitoring process of matches
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Support, recognition and retention component
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Closure steps for mentor/mentee relationship
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Evaluation process
In 1995, the Governor's office adopted the Quality Assurance Standards to ensure maximum protection for mentees age 18 and under, and to foster the long-term operational stability of mentor programs. The programs listed in the California Mentor Directory and California Mentor Foundation database are those programs that completed and submitted an application to the Governor's Mentoring Partnership QA Committee for review. The Committee implemented the following QA Standards:
- Statement of purpose and long range plan for the program
- Recruitment, orientation, and eligibility screening for mentors and mentees
- Readiness and training curriculum for all mentors and mentees
- Strategy for matching mentors and mentees
- Monitoring process of matches
- Support, recognition and retention component
- Closure steps for mentor/mentee relationship
- Evaluation process
More specifically, QA Standards include interviews and background checks on all mentors, consultations, and on site visits of mentor programs. These standards guarantee that only quality mentor/mentee matches are made, ensuring a safe and stable mentoring relationship. Other states mentoring initiatives lose two-thirds of their mentors each year. Because of the effectiveness of the QA process, California experiences a record breaking 70% mentor retention rate.
With its inception in 1998, our biggest corporate sponsor, Disneyland, has hosted the California Mentor Summit for the past three years. The National Mentor Summit at Disneyland was launched in October of 2001. The Mentor Summit is a gathering of elected officials, mentor coalition members, business leaders and mentor programs’ staff. The Mentor Summit celebrates the ever-growing mentor movement, provides an environment for public policy development, and hosts workshops for the most current “best practices” in mentoring. The California Mentor Summit offers a unique environment where children are put above partisan politics and real solutions and commitment are forged. The next Mentor Summit is scheduled for Fall of 2003.
Please feel free to email us at info@calmentor.org, or call us at 415-789-1007. We also invite you to sign up for our newsletter on our homepage.
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