The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania

2005 Mentoring Symposium
Sponsored by Mellon Financial Corporation
Friday, January 21, 2005; 2:00-4:30 pm

The event featured Eric Liu, Author of “Guiding Lights: The People Who Lead Us Toward Our Purpose in Life”. As an acclaimed author and educator, Eric Liu provided insights from his research on the qualities and traits of mentors, telling the stories of a dozen teachers from many walks of life and the remarkable relationships they form with their apprentices. Their “classrooms” are boardrooms, arenas, concert halls, kitchens, halls of worship. Their stories are motivating and held great meaning for the staff and volunteers from the local mentoring programs.

Eric Liu at book signing

The State of Mentoring In Southwestern Pennsylvania
Presented by Colleen Fedor, Executive Director, The Mentoring Partnership of SW PA

Since 1998, the number of youth mentored through your programs combined has grown from 3828 to 13288 (or an increase of 250%).

Mentor Matches

In addition, we have seen tremendous growth in the variety of mentoring programs. In 1998, the majority of programs were Community based with a few school, workplace and faith-based programs. Today, the mix is:

60% are Community based
18% are Faith Based
16% are School-based
6% in Workplaces

By realizing the opportunities to connect children with caring adults in a variety of ways, we have been able to break through some of the barriers and experience tremendous growth. Much like the ways that many of your programs have changed, adjusted and grown during this same time period.

In 2004 The Mentoring Partnership, with the help of three wonderful college interns, undertook the task of measuring the quality of our local mentoring programs. This marked the first time in our region that we are able to quantify the level to which local programs meet nationally established criteria for high-quality mentoring. Thanks to the superb work of Anne St. Clair (of Notre Dame) and Kevin Orlosky & Senil Yildiz (of Robert Morris U) we determined how each of 105 programs (75% of our provider agencies) meets this criteria. The results are very good!

And as a result of these findings, we are able to clearly communicate the quality of programming in our region and identify the opportunities for continued growth.

Where do we go from here:

As a result of the individual meetings with you this past year, you have given us a clear answer to that – we must recruit more mentors to eliminate waiting lists at your agencies. The challenge is great – at the end of 2003, you shared with us the number of youth on the waiting list at your agencies. Collectively, that number is 2414 youth. We accept the challenge to achieve our vision that “No Child Shall Wait For A Quality-Mentoring Relationship” and will have a constant emphasis on Mentor Recruitment – extending National Mentoring Month throughout the next 11 months of 2005.
We will continue to deliver the services that you have identified as valuable to you and necessary for your continued success – specifically technical assistance and training – for both staff and mentors.

As providers, I would like to commend you. This is a truly remarkable story, staff and volunteers from 140+ agencies working together for the common good - successful mentoring of our youth. Our combined efforts are unmatched in any other sector and thanks to your work towards the common vision that no child shall wait for a quality mentoring relationship, we have made a difference for 13,288 youth!

Success Fund Raising from Foundations
Charles (Chip) Burke, Jr. of the Grable Foundation, Patty Beggy of Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners and Judie Donaldson of Grantmakers of Western PA presented an overview of foundation funding as well as practical tips on how to successful fund a mentoring program.

Celebrating and Relaxing
The event closed with an informal Reception, courtesy of Mellon Financial Corporation. Attendees had an opportunity to connect with each other, Eric Liu, and foundation representatives. There was plenty of great food and conversation to be shared with friends and colleagues.

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