Further Developing and Enhancing the National Mentoring Resource Center

MENTOR will continue developing and enhancing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC). The NMRC equips OJJDP grantees and other mentoring organizations with high-quality, evidence-based resources, training, and technical assistance (TA) and promote effective mentoring programming, services needed more than ever to address a growing need for quality mentors, particularly for systems-involved youth. With OJJDP’s guidance and collaboration, MENTOR will continue enhancing a comprehensive website with mentoring resources and engaging practitioner tools, and convening an expert Research Board that reviews evidence bases for specific programs and resources while continuing to deliver high-quality TA to OJJDP grantees and the mentoring field at scale. This year, MENTOR will support OJJDP’s focus on credible messenger models by partnering with subject matter experts to surface and disseminate best practices about recruiting and supporting mentors who share the lived experiences of youth. MENTOR will also collaborate with OJJDP to expand TA to communities where gaps are identified. MENTOR will partner with OJJDP to deliver an interactive, practitioner-friendly NMRC website and its comprehensive catalog of reviews and resources, including smart tools, discussion boards, multimedia, and an interactive grantee geomap feature. It will raise awareness and continue development of best practices through practical guides and measurement tools, a Research Symposium, a professional learning community, research-to-practice videos, and an expanded Youth Advisory Council aimed at elevating youth voice. Finally, it will deliver webinars and in-person trainings, a new grantee orientation and customized supports for grantees, and over 18,000 hours of customized TA with a focus on expanding mentoring for youth impacted by substance misuse, the child welfare system and court-involvement through trauma-informed and healing-centered practices. Progress toward goals will be measured systematically using web analytics, and pre-and post-surveys measuring knowledge gained, among others. In partnership with OJJDP, MENTOR and its partners will deepen and expand the NMRC’s impact on mentoring programs that are transforming the lives of American youth, with special attention to those whose lives have been impacted by the justice system, the child welfare system, and substance misuse.

OJJDP established the National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC) to equip OJJDP grantees and other mentoring organizations with high-quality, evidence-based resources, training, and technical assistance (TA) and promote effective mentoring programming, services needed more than ever to address a growing need for quality mentors for the nation’s most vulnerable youth as well as capacity challenges across the mentoring field. With OJJDP’s guidance, MENTOR will continue enhancing a comprehensive website full of mentoring resources and tools, and convening an expert Research Board that reviews evidence for specific programs and resources while continuing to deliver high-quality technical assistance to OJJDP mentoring grantees and other programs in need. MENTOR will continue to support OJJDP’s focus on credible messenger models, juvenile justice involved youth, youth impacted by substance misuse, and youth voice through training, technical assistance, research-to-practice learning opportunities and web media, while managing the growth of technical assistance and web resources with a focus on efficiency, quality control and engagement. Project deliverables include an interactive, practitioner-friendly NMRC website with a dynamic grantee geomap, increased multi-media and a focus on youth voice, as well as a quality review of the site’s reviews and resources, including the Measurement Guidance Toolkit. A plethora of opportunities for grantees and other programs to apply emerging research to practice will be offered through a Research Symposium, interactive office hours and in-depth technical assistance with Research Board members. A series of webinars, in-person trainings, a new grantee orientation, customized supports for grantees, and over 18,000 hours of customized technical assistance will offer both broad and deep supports for the mentoring field to support its alignment with evidence-based practice and quality standards. No activities that may meet the DOJ regulatory definition of research are included. Progress toward goals will be measured systematically using web analytics, and pre-and post-surveys measuring knowledge gained, among others. In partnership with OJJDP, MENTOR and its partners will deepen and expand the NMRC’s impact on mentoring programs that are transforming the lives of American youth, with special attention to those whose lives have been impacted by the justice system and substance misuse.