>> 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. See below for the latest news on our work around the country.

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MCG FEATURED IN FALL ISSUE OF BUSINESS & LEGAL RESOURCES

We are thrilled to let you know about three articles we authored for this outstanding trade journal, exploring how employers can use mentoring to improve internal collaboration and job satisfaction, supplement traditional employee coaching, and empower employees to make a difference by mentoring youth in the community.

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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.

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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.