Professional Development
Oregon Mentors believes that one way to increase youth success is to better train staff at mentoring programs. Trained and qualified staff offer better support to mentors and make more informed decisions about program policies and procedures. Here are several ways we support the professional development of staff members at mentoring programs:
Coaching / Technical Assistance
Oregon Mentors offers one-on-one, personalized technical assistance and coaching on a variety of issues related to mentoring such as program policies and evaluation, how to start a mentoring program, or nonprofit sustainability. We base our knowledge from the nationally-recognized "Elements of Effective Practice," from best practices of mentoring programs in Oregon, and from our staff’s personal experiences in mentoring and the nonprofit sector. Coaching is available to any mentoring program or potential program in Oregon or Southwest Washington.
Conference
Oregon Mentors supports the opportunity for staff at mentoring programs statewide to participate in an annual statewide conference focused on youth development topics related to mentoring. In recent years, we have hosted or partnered to offer a two-day conference and provided scholarships to many programs. Past conference keynotes have included mentoring youth from a strength-based vs. deficit-based approach, mentoring children from different socio-economic groups, and how the environment (including the people in it) shapes a youth’s brain. We will be seeking opportunities to collaborate on similar events with MENTOR, Portland State University, the National Mentoring Center at NWREL and other leaders in the youth mentoring field.
Training
Oregon Mentors links programs to trainings for staff and volunteers that promote the "Elements of Effective Practice." We can assist programs interested in coming together to share training and costs. Additionally, we offer programs access to a no-cost, three-hour Mentor 101 workshop for new volunteers through our relationship with the Oregon National Guard.
Members of our staff periodically present content to mentoring staff and volunteers (e.g., in conjunction with the annual Southern Oregon Mentoring Conference). Information about these and all other trainings are posted in our E-news.
We also post relevant trainings and resources on our Web site. An example is the online "Learn to Mentor" curriculum developed by MENTOR, the national mentoring partnership.
To see more resources, visit our resource library.
