The National Mentoring Project: An Initiative of Leadership Foundations of America in Partnership with Northwest Leadership Foundation

Leadership Foundations of America (LFA) will work strategically with its 16 affiliates across the country to develop capacity-building plans, provide tailored training and technical assistance, and funding in the amount of $1,000 per additional mentor/mentee relationship to expand the use of evidence-based mentoring programs to high-risk children, ages 6-18, in communities of disadvantage across the United States. Each local Leadership Foundation will be using the SMART system to explore the distinct needs of high-risk young people in their communities to assess areas and population, name of organization, current mentoring efforts, program expansion efforts, collaborative partners, number of proposed new mentor matches per year, and distinct mentoring program to increase Latino and African American male mentors. The National Mentoring Project will collect and report on data elements at four different levels of evaluation: 1) a process evaluation to determine the effectiveness of LFA and Northwest Leadership Foundation in operating the project; 2) information to determine if the project is effective in building the capacity of smaller faith- and community-based groups to offer mentoring services; 3) the level of effectiveness in groups expanding their mentoring services in communities of disadvantage; and 4) special outcomes set by each site to determine impact in a child's life. The LFA will submit quantitative information, including how many programs have increased their capacity and expanded their mentoring services. Mentee caregivers, partners, congregations, community groups, and mentor volunteers will be involved in the evaluation process and will have opportunities to recommend program changes. A comprehensive list of capacity-building outcomes for each site will be collected and reported to OJJDP. CA/NCF