Jun 17

iMentor Bay Area

iMentor, a Steering Committee member of the NCCPC, matches every student in our high schools with a committed college-educated mentor, equipped to guide that young person on their journey to college graduation.

Source: Dr. Jamal Fields, Executive Director Bay Area

AN OVERVIEW

iMentor believes that all students deserve an equitable chance to pursue their ambitions. Our program builds authentic mentoring relationships in order to bring greater equity to our students’ educational journeys. Through these long-term relationships, first-generation students of color from underserved communities increase their access to the knowledge, experiences, and resources required to succeed in college or their post-secondary pathway of choice, and to pursue their career ambitions.

By partnering with public schools serving primarily first-generation college students and providing every student with a mentor, iMentor supports students’ post-secondary journeys with a level of depth and personalization that cannot be matched by traditional advising models. iMentor’s students are 37% more likely to enroll in college and are graduating college at double the rates of their peers. Since inception, iMentor has created and supported 38,000 mentoring relationships and is supporting nearly 500 students in the Bay Area this year. At iMentor our model includes the following core components designed to provide comprehensive support for our mentees.

Whole-School Model:

We match every student with a college-educated mentor and deeply integrate our program into each school’s culture.

Long-Term Mentoring Relationships

Mentors commit to working with a single student for four years during and after high school. In high school, pairs build their relationships through weekly online communication and monthly meetings. After high school, mentoring pairs continue their relationships for two more years in a flexible way as students pursue college, career training, or enter the workforce.

Curriculum and Staff Support:

We provide the expertise and support students and mentors’ need to build strong relationships and navigate the post-secondary process, including a curriculum that guides each weekly interaction and a full-time staff member responsible for the success of the relationship.

Personalized Guidance:

Mentors gain a holistic understanding of their mentee’s individual talents, aspirations, and challenges, which allows them to provide a level of personalized support that could not be achieved through traditional school counseling alone.

iMentor has been recognized through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Robin Hood Foundation. iMentor is one of the most innovative and quickly growing organizations of its kind in the country. As a team, we are mission-focused, results-oriented, passionate, and fun. And we’re proud to have been named one of the Best Nonprofits to work For by Opportunity Knocks and The Nonprofit Times.

OUR WORK WITH NCCPC

iMentor joined the NCCPC as a founding steering committee member because of our interest in collaboration instead of competition. We understand that all of the organizations working to provide access and success in college for our bay area youth are needed and when we work together we achieve better outcomes! We are thrilled to be a part of the collective solutions to the wide array of issues facing our youth and we recognize that we can learn from and with our peer organizations as we seek to find the best path to change.

WHAT COLLABORATION LOOKS LIKE

iMentor program and mentor engagement leads participate in NCCPC activities along with our executive director who serves on the steering committee. Our leadership team at iMentor Bay Area is deeply engaged in the work at NCCPC with Chrissy Rabbitt, our Senior Director of Program, serving as our representative on the Partnership and Policy committees and Jacque Soleimani, our Director of Mentor Engagement, serving on the Workforce committee. Both are energized by the spirit of collaboration and bring back great ideas, resources and inspiration from these groups.

GOALS FOR 2022 AND BEYOND

As a member of the NCCPC our top goals for the organization are to build this coalition into a thriving and leading organization that can simultaneously advance public policy, develop sustainable and productive partnerships across non profit organizations and spread best practices in and across the field.

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WHY NCCPC AND WHY NOW

If iMentor Bay Area were not a part of NCCPC we would be left out on our own trying to connect with our peer organizations without a structure and vision for collective impact in the field. We are very grateful to be a part of this movement and excited for the future of our bay area youth.

Students, due to our participation in the NCCPC we are thrilled to offer you a wide range of opportunities to support your post secondary ambitions! Check us out at this link!