Mission & process
mission
Provide mentoring friendships to teenagers by collaborating with businesses and partners. In doing so, we aim to help these young people create a clear vision for their futures and impact the rest of their lives.
The breakdown of the family has led to a generation of young men and women experiencing relational isolation, trauma, and a hopeless trajectory. They lack quality relationships that build a foundation of their worth and identity. Who will help them overcome their greatest personal struggles, explore and pursue their academic and career calling, establish their core values, and build a network of formative relationships for lifelong growth?
Mentoring Partners (MPC) maintains a growing team of business and community partners that excel in mentoring high school youth. We equip adult mentor volunteers to invest in the maturity of young adults in relationships, academics, career, and spirituality/values. This bridge of mutual friendship between two generations transforms at-risk youth into impactful leaders in their families, communities, and workplaces. It further equips adult mentors to be a more excellent spouse, colleague, and advocate in their community.
Process
Building Friendships and Foundation:
The relationship between young adults, their mentors, and even their parent/guardian(s) has to first establish a foundation and discover their common ground. That is why much care is taken in matching, and during the first few months they spend time in conversation over meals, recreation, and a variety of mutually enjoyable activities. Some of our best friendships are found in a competitive engagement on the bowling lane, hiking trail, or handcrafting pottery that carries a lasting memory. It is this mutually beneficial friendship that makes all that follows possible.
1
Uncertainty in career path is the number one fear voiced by students we serve. We employ the Birkman Test, followed by a consultant-led workshop to review results with teens, their mentors, and parent/guardian(s). The Birkman does an exceptional job evaluating an individual’s personality traits, attributes, and potential job pathways. Based upon the student validating results, they choose three job pathways to explore in the field. These Vocational Field Visits happen in February/March and provide an organic view of these companies through the inspired story of a dynamic employee interview. This is where young adults discover their vision and passion for an inspired career trajectory, as they meet engineers, tradesman, politicians, business executives, etc.
2
Academic and Career Exploration:
The One Year Plan:
3
In April the teen and mentor write a plan in the areas of relationships, spirituality and values, and career and academics, all based upon the student’s personal insights gained during the mentoring term. These plans are meant to guide the next season of growth, and assure the student ins guiding the process to truly make it "their plan." It is the goal of Mentoring Partners of Cincinnati to serve students until they graduate high school and launch into the next phase of life with relational strength, vocational clarity, and a belief system that is uniquely their own.
An adult matured on this foundation is unstoppable!