Learn More: Mentoring

What is High Quality Mentoring?

High quality mentoring involves trained and supported mentors facilitating a variety of youth development and enrichment experiences, helping youth explore and affirm their identity, providing navigational support around school-to-work and school-to-college transitions, and buffer against adversity in-school, out of school, and over the summer.

Technical assistance for mentoring at PSS is led by MENTOR.

Why Implement High Quality Mentoring?

Mentoring, at its core, guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges, and supports and affirms their identities and goals. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations. Ultimately, mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity. Trained and supported mentors facilitate a variety of youth development and enrichment experiences, help youth explore and affirm their identity, provide navigational support around school-to-work transitions, and buffer against adversity in-school, out of school, and over the summer. Yet one in three young people will grow up without this critical asset.

Young people who are facing life challenges but have mentors are more likely to aspire to attend and to enroll in college, more likely to report participating in sports and other extracurricular activities, and more likely to report taking on leadership roles in school and extracurricular activities and to regularly volunteer in their communities.

See Mentoring In Action

Learn More! Additional Resources

The resources below provide additional information on high-quality mentoring.