4-H National Mentoring Program

The National Mentoring Program was established to support national initiatives that support the enhancement or expansion of initiatives that will assist in the development and maturity of community programs providing mentoring services to high-risk populations that are underserved due to location, shortage of mentors, special physical or mental challenges of the targeted population, or other analogous situations identified by the community in need of mentoring services. This program is authorized by the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. 112-110.

In partnership with Land-Grant Universities and the Cooperative Extension System in all 50 states, 4-H proposes to strengthen and expand mentoring programs for additional youth through three 4-H Programs of Distinction. 4-H Mentoring: Youth & Families With Promise (4-H YFP), Tech Wizards, and 4-H LIFE are recognized for implementing effective mentoring strategies with goals of reducing juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, and school failure. The three programs incorporate core principles of positive youth development to improve the well-being of at-risk youth ages 7-17, especially underserved populations of Latino, African-American and children of incarcerated parents. Identified objectives are to 1) Improve outcomes for at-risk youth; 2) Improve mentoring program administration; and 3) Improve organizational capacity. Performance measures include: number of mentors, number of youth served, mentor retention, and percentage of youth completing the program and percentage of youth exhibiting the desired outcomes. With this grant, 4-H will also add a new initiative targeting youth whose parents are in the military and youth with parents in federal prisons.

CA/NCF