Project 1: The “County/City partnership that funds the Department of Youth Mentoring” project

Elevator pitch: When Eric was just born, his mom should have been able to scan city hall’s website to find all sorts of mentoring programs. She should have been able to see a clearly defined menu item called “Department of Youth Mentorship” right next to the Departments of Police, Fire and Parks. It should not be buried deep in the bowels of the website. It’s a vital, stand-alone department (or should be) and deserves to be treated as such.

Why is this so important? After all, various local mentoring programs are often funded in part by county entities, city entities, foundations, nonprofit organizations or multi-county coalitions. In smaller areas, faith-based groups or nonprofits are the hub for all mentoring. Here’s why: it’s important if this proposed department doesn’t put mentoring supports in place, it should at the very least regularly evaluate the mentoring support needs of its constituents, determine if they are adequate and regularly research innovations. This job will look very different depending on the town; for example, it may just take a part-time city manager a few hours per year in the smallest of hamlets. But it’s important work, and it needs to be done by someone who reports to a person who regularly stands for election.

Potential partners: mayors, city councilors, county commissioners, advocates for parents and youth, public education entities, mentoring agencies, youth development specialists and socially-engaged businesses.