We were founded in February of 2020 and received our 501(c)(3) in May 2020. We are currently working with school districts and the Family Intervention Court in Williams County. We are also contracted with Paulding County Juvenile Courts, as well as, Defiance County Ohio Means Jobs.
Our preferred Mentor age is 21 and over, however, we will make exceptions with board approval but will not go under 18. Our requirement for a Mentor is two one hour sessions with their mentee per month. That would equal a 2 hour time commitment a month to be a Mentor. We do however have mentors who meet weekly with their mentees. That is fine too! We encourage them to be as involved as they can with their mentees. To be a mentor you also have to go through a brief interview, a background check, and a training class that typically lasts around 1.5 hours. We provide our mentors with a handbook with our policies and procedures. They also receive a workbook to complete with their mentee. This workbook is broken down into sessions. This helps break the ice and helps the mentor guide the conversation with the youth. At the end of the program the handbook is to be given to the youth as a gift for reflection. After 12 months, the Mentor can choose to continue the relationship or part ways. This is assisted in the handbook. We feel it is important to help the youth with closure.
We request that Mentors never take a youth into their home one on one. We provide a list of things to do around the county that are free or at little cost. If the Mentor wants to do other activities with their youth, that is fine as well! In the packet that the parents sign to enroll their youth is a release form granting the mentor permission to take the youth in their vehicle. All mentors are required to upload their drivers license and insurance with us.
We ask at this time that a youth is not referred to our program until a mentor is secured for that area. Once we have a mentor sign up, after the interview/background check but before the training, we will reach out and inform the entity that we have a mentor ready. At that time the entity can start the process of referring a youth. They would get the packet filled out by the youth and the parent and send us that information. We will reach out to the mentor with information about the youth. At this time we do not reveal any names. Once the mentor accepts, we email the entity with the Mentor attached for an introduction. The entity would then set up the first meeting with the youth. The mentor will also be sent a link to our Mentor Portal. In this portal they will log all times with the mentee and attach any notes they may have from the meeting. The mentor will also be assigned a match support person. This person will be the contact from our organization to help with anything that comes up.
If interested, or for more information, please contact:
Phone: 419.546.1226
Address: P.O. Box 7063, Bryan, OH 43506
