Sunday, January 31, 2021

Mentoring Summit - in Tweets

 The annual National Mentoring Summit was held this past week, in a virtual format due to Covid19.  I've attended the summit in past years and I really like this format, because of the low cost (no travel or hotel expense) and the ability to get up close with speakers.  The link above points to the Summit website, but since  there was a registration fee, I don't think others can view the presentations, at least not yet.

However, the Instagram page for the Summit does have some of the videos.


As I watched Summit presentations I shared some via Twitter.  Below are just a few Tweets that I posted. Visit this link and scroll through all of the posts for #mentoringsummit. 

The opening session provided many reasons organized youth tutor/mentor programs should be supported. 

I enjoyed the workshop of the Million Women Mentors. In this workshop Jay Flores shared ways he is engaging youth in STEM learning. His videos could be used by anyone.  I shared some of my own ideas.  I did not see any discussions talking about availability of mentor-rich programs in all high poverty areas, nor platforms where the types of programs are separated into specific categories as I've tried to do since 1994.  Then, the four speakers in this panel shared thoughts that could be part of any tutor/mentor program orientation and on-going training of volunteers. Thank you @AricHamilton @aniyaspeaks @_GabiBello_ and ⁦@ClintSmithIII   Then, two youth leaders from HeartsSmiles in Baltimore demonstrated the potential of youth as spokes persons and leaders of any program. 

This last Tweet shows two professional basketball players talking of the importance of mentors.

There was much more. On Twitter I responded to a question raised by the America's Promise Alliance. This is my final Tweet There's much more. Browse through the Twitter thread yourself, or visit the Instagram page. When there is a release of all of the Summit workshop videos I'll update this blog.

I would love to find blog articles by other people who attended the Summit and are talking about "what we need to do"  

I'll close with this question:  "How can we do this better?"  How do we take what was shared in the Mentor Summit and use it to help existing youth tutor, mentor and learning programs constantly increase their impact and how do we help new programs form where more are needed?  How do we influence donors to make more flexible, long-term funding commitments, reaching every program, and every high poverty zip code. 

I don't have the answers but if the conversation is not taking place, we'll never get to where we need to be. 


Thank you for reading.  Good luck as we move further into 2021.  
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