>> Latest MCG Updates

It's a busy time of the year at MCG as we are helping both school- and community-based programs get up and running, as well as assisting in several major new mentoring initiatives across the country. You can see an updated list of where we will be training and speaking in the sidebar to the right. See below for the latest news on our work around the country.

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SGI QUARTERLY FOCUSES ON MENTORING

The January 2010 issue of SGI Quarterly, the magazine of Soka Gakkai International (Number 59) features "Mentoring: A Path of Growth." A number of interesting articles include interviews with famous people who have been influenced by their mentors. Among them are Tolstoy and Ghandi as examples. I wrote the guest feature, "Youth Mentoring: An Idea Whose Time Has Come," for the edition. I invite you to read the contents on http://www.sgiquarterly.org.

WRAP UP: 2009 NORTHEAST REGIONAL MENTORING CONFERENCE

The first ever Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference opened with a Thursday evening reception on October 15 followed by a full day of keynote addresses, workshops and a panel discussion with state partnership directors on October 16, 2009.

The event attracted more than 200 mentoring program participants from all of the New England states and New York. Some traveled from as far as Canada, California, Virginia and Tennessee to network and learn.

The premiere event sponsor was Webster Bank, a leader in work release for employees to become mentors from their branches in CT, MA and RI. Swarovski was the reception sponsor.

A wide range of topics included Cultural Competence, Role of Business, Evaluating your Program, Marketing and the Media, Mentoring Children of Prisoners, WI-Mentor, and Fundraising Strategies and many more.

Perhaps the most unique part of the conference was that every state partnership took responsibility for the many details that make such an event successful. This was a dream of mine for a very long time and I am indebted to the state partnership directors and their staff in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York for their commitment and total involvement. We had such a great time.

The results are in from the survey evaluation and participants want another conference. Rhode Island took the lead for 2009. It looks like Massachusetts is willing to host the next one in 2011. Stay tuned!

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EVALUATING YOUR MENTORING PROGRAM

Among the services Mentor Consulting Group provides is evaluation. Feedback from clients with whom we have worked suggests that evaluation that has been designed with realistic process and outcome performance measures that reflect the mentoring program goals and objectives is invaluable in promoting long term program sustainability.

There are a variety of ways in which MCG can work with your program on evaluation. If you are developing a proposal in response to a solicitation from a funding agency that requires evaluation - and most all of them do these days - MCG can assist you in reviewing the evaluation requirements and help you develop a response that would be consistent with the overall goals of the application. There is arguably no part of a proposal that often gives mentoring program applicants more trouble than the evaluation. And similarly, it is often the section to which reviewers will pay particular attention. In other words, MCG can make life easier by helping you with this important part of the proposal.

Our vast experience in this area can also guide you in your selection of appropriate evidence-based practices (EBPs) and/or standardized instruments that would enable you to generate validated pre- and post-test information about the young people in your mentoring program. This information will help you demonstrate you are making a measurable difference.

In instances where you are already funded and must comply with evaluation reporting requirements but do not have staff or resource personnel to do so, MCG can serve as your external evaluator. We don't have to be onsite. Process and outcome information can be transferred electronically and we write your evaluation reports that can, in turn, be incorporated into the regular reporting forms you are required to use by either a government, foundation, or corporate funder.

MCG would be pleased to discuss how we might help you strengthen this critically important aspect of your program operation.