Organization Overview

iMentor provides youth in underserved communities with mentors who help them develop the leadership, career, and social skills that they need to graduate high school college-ready and succeed in college.  iMentor’s curriculum leverages email communication and in-person meetings to build effective mentoring relationships.  Students are enrolled through school partnerships that ensure every student in the school benefits from mentoring.

Requirements

• Lives and/or works in the area
• Age 21 years or older
• Holds an Associates' Degree or higher
• Flexible evening schedule (available for monthly mentor/mentee events that are held 6-8pm Mon-Thu and occasionally 1-4pm Sat) Note: 2-4 week advanced notice is given for all events. In Chicago, some pairs meet during lunch time at the school. Chicago mentors will be asked during our screening process if they have the ability to meet during the day. 
• Travel to mentee’s school for core events. Occasionally, events may be held at an alternate location.

Commitment Time

• 3 or 4 year matches available
• Mentors write their mentee an email at least once a week (1 hour) and meet their mentee once a month at a set event (2 hours)

Areas of Focus

• High school graduation and college readiness, college persistence, financial aid process assistance, leadership skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, verbal and written communication, additional “soft skill” development.

Qualifications

• Sincere desire to be personally involved with another person to help him or her achieve academic, personal, and career goals;
• Proven ability to be consistent and reliable;
• Proactive about communication and correspondence;
• Ability to communicate with teenagers in an open and nonjudgmental way;
• Ability to offer advice and unconditional support;
• Possess good judgment and a positive/motivational attitude;
• Strong listening skills and writing skills;
• Ability to establish a relationship based on candor and respect;
• Holds self and others to high standards and expectations;
• Interest in needs and concerns of persons with internal and external barriers to college success;
• Holds the belief that every student can succeed in college if given the access to resources and opportunity;
• Sensitivity to persons of different educational, economic, cultural or racial backgrounds’

Responsibilities

• Commitment to developing and maintaining a mentor relationship for full length of the match;
• Attend initial mentor orientation
• Engage in ongoing support sessions throughout the length of the match, as needed;
• Consistently write weekly emails based on writing prompts (once a week all year until end of the match);
• Attend all core events (once a month from Oct-Jun) to establish a working relationship and support mentee in academic and personal success;
• Over the summer, continue to write weekly emails based on writing prompts and arrange meetings with mentee at the iMentor Office;
• Promptly respond to all communication from mentee and program manager;
• Proactively schedule phone conversations with the program managers when requested;
• Contact program managers for support and guidance when necessary

The Impact for Mentees:

By developing strong mentoring relationships with mentees, mentors in the iMentor program have the potential to drive a number of critical outcomes for students, including:

• College Readiness: Mentees increase the desire to attend college and develop the tools to get there
• Future Connectedness: Mentees increase interest in, connection to, and hope for the future
• Precursors to Academic Success: Mentees increase behaviors and attitudes associated with academic success.
• Precursors to Personal Success: Mentees increase behaviors and attitudes associated with personal success.

When these results come together over the course of a mentoring relationship, mentees’ lives are changed forever:

• An increase in on-time high school graduation rates
• An increase in “college-ready” rates among mentees
• An increase in college acceptance, enrollment, and persistence rates

The Impact for Mentors:

As a result of their experience with iMentor, mentors become more knowledgeable about education and community issues. They may also become more passionate about education reform and become more likely to participate in activities designed to address short and long-term issues necessary for social change. Additionally, nearly half of iMentor’s mentors have reported increased job skills and higher job satisfaction.

Hear directly from our mentors!

• “I think working as a mentor has helped me sharpen my ability to identify problems, and help formulate a plan for solving those issues. There is a lot of cross-over between personal and social issues, and issues that could arise in work with clients or co-workers.”

• “I think my professional life has improved because iMentor has given me the chance to practice being a role model and all the responsibilities that come with it. 

• “I have met other colleagues at my company who are mentors with iMentor and we have connected both personally and professionally which benefits both of us. I am also more aware of what my colleagues give back to the community which makes me proud of the firm that I work for.