Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

Town Hall Forum preliminary report is available for viewing.  (You will need Adobe Reader 6.0 to view the form.) 

Highlights from the report include:

• The need is greater, but the mentoring community is better equipped to handle the challenges than it was a decade ago.
• There is a need for positive connections at all levels of the mentoring community.
• The mentoring community needs to reach young people at an earlier age, before age 9.
• Programs need support to make better connections with families, the community and each other. 
• The mentoring community must address the issue of volunteer compensation.  One thought is to change what it means to be "paid".  The issue is not going to go away ---something needs to be done.  The audience and panelists talked about creative ways that programs were reimbursing volunteers' expenses to address the issue and expand the pool of mentors.  
• One of the essential roles of mentoring is to help our children and each other learn to enjoy the passage of time.
• While we may not be able to eliminate the issues that young people face, we can approach sustainability and accountability with creative solutions.

A final report from the Town Hall Forum will be available from the Mentoring Partnership in the coming weeks.  

The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota will share this report with various community stakeholders across the state of Minnesota in the coming weeks and months and requesting commitments from individuals and organizations to further support the mentoring movement.