Email mentoring programs

[Richard Buery]

> Victoria,
>
> For the past year, we have been operating an email mentoring program in
> New York called iMentor (www.iMentor.org).   Working closely with schools
> and youth agencies operating in under-served communities, we match adult
> volunteers with young people one-on-one based on their shared career
> interests.  Mentors and mentees communicate regularly by email and meet in
> person at group events about once every six to eight weeks.  We also
> design on-line projects designed to promote students' career awareness,
> literacy, communication skills, and basic technological skills.  Mentors
> and mentees collaborate on to complete these projects over email.  iMentor
> also conducts training workshops for teachers and other youth
> professionals and provides regular on-site support to help implement the
> program over the course of the year.
>
> A part of our mission is to provide tools and resources to individuals and
> other agencies that want to start their own email mentoring programs.  We
> are developing some web-based tools to help facilitate email mentoring
> that other programs can access and use (e.g., email accounts for students
> that can be easily administered by program staff), and have also developed
> curriculum and program materials that might be helpful to other agencies.
> (You can access some of these materials by visiting the "iMentor
> Resources" section of our web site, www.iMentor.org.)  I would also be
> happy to speak with/email anyone interested in learning about our
> experiences developing and implenting the program in New York.
>
> The Virtual Volunteering Project at UT Austin
> http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/ has tons of great resources for
> developing email mentoring programs -- including sample materials and
> program suggestions.  It also includes links to various email mentoring
> programs around the country.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Richard Buery
> iMentor
> c/o Blue Ridge Foundation
> 660 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor
> New York, New York 10021
> ph: (212) 446-3322
> fax:(212) 446-3326
> rich at iMentor.org <mailto:rich at iMentor.org>
> www.iMentor.org <http://www.iMentor.org>
>

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