We are committed to building quality mentoring in the Independence Region
Since our inception in 2015, we have supported 632 organizations directly and trained nearly 4000 people on the leading evidence and innovations in mentoring. These efforts have helped to build the quality of mentoring in the region, scaling best practices to reach 150,000 young people!
Our History
MENTOR Independence Region, formerly known as the Mentoring Partnership & Resource Center (MPRC), was launched in March 2015 to expand the mentoring field’s regional capacity to reach more school-aged children with caring, committed adult mentors, using best practices, training and professional support to achieve lifelong positive educational and behavioral outcomes for youth. We need more high quality mentoring programs and high quality mentors empowering our children and youth. Quality matters: high quality mentoring can be transformational, but poor quality mentoring can be harmful. That’s where MENTOR Independence Region (MENTOR IR) comes in.
To maximize the quality of programs and the likelihood of positive outcomes for children and youth, MENTOR IR aims to increase the use of research and evidence-based best practices in the mentoring field to improve quality in mentoring programs and equip mentors with the skills they need to facilitate the empowerment of their mentees.
MENTOR IR works directly with mentoring programs and mentors to help them become aware of the research and evidence-based practices that have been shown to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for youth. We do this through:
- TRAININGS that equip participants with the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to apply best mentoring practices. The Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring is widely accepted as the national and global standards for quality youth mentoring and represents the latest in research and practitioner-led best practices in mentoring programs
- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE that aids programs in improving their capacity and quality by providing individualized support to mentoring programs
- QUALITY MENTORING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM that provides a deep assessment of mentoring programs strengths and areas for improvement and an individualized improvement plan
- PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING that facilitates stronger connections among mentoring practitioners, increasing the likelihood of collaboration and shared goals
- TOOLS AND TEMPLATES that enhance mentoring programs’ ability to align their processes with the Elements of Effective Practice — available free on our website
- ADVOCACY for high quality mentoring, improving awareness of high quality mentoring and its benefits, which helps generate more funding and volunteers for high quality programs
- MENTORING CONNECTOR serves as a national registry of mentoring programs as well as a singular entry point for interested mentors to connect to those programs
- STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS that aim to bring resources, mentoring champions, and best practices together to close the Mentoring Gap
Learn more about MENTOR Independence Region with these downloads: About Us and Our Impact
Our History
Notable events in our history:
- September 2017 MPRC rebrands as MENTOR Independence Region
- January 2016 MPRC begins providing Technical Assistance for the National Mentoring Resource Center
- July 2105 MPRC holds its first training session with mentoring programs
- March 2015 Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region launches the Mentoring Partnership & Resource Center (MPRC), an Affiliate of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
Our Affiliations
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership serves the mentoring field by setting evidence-based standards for effective mentoring practices, providing training and technical assistance, and leading high-profile public awareness campaigns like National Mentoring Month, and bringing the mentoring movement together for the National Mentoring Summit to learn, connect and build the movement.
MENTOR Independence Region is a member of MENTOR’s national network of MENTOR Affiliates. MENTOR Affiliates are non-partisan, public-private organizations that galvanize local or statewide mentoring movements, providing the leadership and infrastructure necessary to support the expansion of quality mentoring relationships. MENTOR Affiliates serve a unique role as a clearinghouse for training, resources, awareness, and advocacy, providing the critical link between MENTOR’s national efforts and local organizations and programs.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region
MENTOR Independence Region is powered by Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region (BBBS IR). For one hundred years, BBBS IR has made a positive impact on children and communities in Chester, Montgomery, Delaware and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania and Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey by connecting caring adult volunteers with at-risk children in professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships. While BBBS IR is known for highly effective one-to-one mentoring programs, other types and models of mentoring have also been shown to make a difference in the lives of children and youth.
By powering MENTOR Independence Region, BBBS IR extends its reach and impact to more children by helping other youth mentoring organizations improve their practices. MENTOR Independence Region works in service to and collaboration with other mentoring programs in the region to improve the quality and effectiveness of mentoring by focusing on four main pillars of service: training and technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, advocacy, and data collection. Our goal is to improve the quality of mentoring in the region and the number of youth with access to high quality mentors.
