Focus on mentoring

Maine Mentoring Partnership thanks the many Maine volunteers who mentor 6,000 children and youth in one-on-one relationships and another 10,000 in group-mentoring relationships. Mentoring is a caring, committed, formal long-term and personal relationship between a young person and an older one, that helps young people develop into confident, competent and contributing members of society. The dedication, energy, outlook on life, and good humor of mentors give Maine young people hope as well as the support they need to follow their dreams.

As a statewide organization of local and regional mentoring partnerships, mentoring coalitions and mentoring providers, Maine Mentoring Partnership’s goal is to reach 35,000 youth (15 percent of Maine young people) by promoting, advocating, supporting and fostering child and youth mentoring programs. The underlying focus of mentoring lets young people know they are valued in their community, helps them develop career aspirations, and encourages postsecondary education.

It is the suitably selected, screened, trained, evaluated and supported mentors who dramatically increase the ability of mentoring programs to safely and effectively serve Maine’s young people. The success of mentoring in Maine is about a community-wide effort to support quality mentoring in all its many and varied forms. It is about people, young and old, coming together from both the public and private sectors to effect change in the culture so that young people can withstand the challenges of daily life.

Nancy Anderson

Executive director

Debbie Bechard

Communities for Children

AmeriCorps VISTA

Augusta