Last week, CiviCore had the opportunity to interview Dr. Susan Weinberger, a nationally recognized leader in the subject of Mentoring.
Dr. Weinberger (aka. "Dr. Mentor") is the former Chair of the Public Policy Council of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, and is a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Justice on their mentoring initiatives. Amongst other accolades, she also traveled to the White House in 1993 to receive President Clinton's coveted Volunteer Action Award for her work in mentoring.
We would like to thank Dr. Mentor for taking the time to chat with us, and for all the good work she does in the mentoring field. Below is the transcript of our interview:
- Are you seeing any new trends in mentoring that are showing positive results?
Funding for mentoring in the future has already begun to focus on involving not only the mentor and mentee, but the family of the mentee as well. I believe this could be the “win win” of mentoring. When parents – or better yet families which include extended families, guardians, caregivers, grandparents and great grandparents – are involved in mentoring we will make great gains. My recommendation has been to invite “families” three to four times a year to events with mentors and mentees. Topics in addition to good food, baby sitting for younger children and transportation include suggestions around how to read to your own child, dealing with conflicts and their resolution, depression, bullying, goal setting and how to work on improving attendance and getting involved at school with a child’s teachers. This will be the future of mentoring.
I created a F.A.M.I.L.Y. mentoring series many years ago. The acronym stands for Families And Mentors Involved in Learning with Youth. It invites families to not only come together with mentors and mentees but offers opportunities for the families to advance personally and professionally. This means presentations on how they can earn their GED or write a resume and apply for employment. What a wonderful thought for the future of mentoring.
2.) What are the most important things nonprofits should consider when thinking about evaluation? Why?
Evaluation is not a dirty word. It is instead a great opportunity to consider strengths and program achievements and areas that need improvement. As soon as mentoring programs stop shying away from the value of evaluation and understand the benefits, their initiatives will grow and strengthen. Funders want to know: “how do you know that your program is working?” Evaluation answers the question. Strong evaluations bring in the money!
Programs must conduct both process and outcome evaluations. If a mentoring program does not have the money to conduct what may be an extensive evaluation, there are many local universities with departments that are happy to conduct the evaluations, report the results and get credit for doing so, usually pro bono.
3.) What are some of the biggest challenges you see organizations face with regard to evaluation?
There is such a fear which should not be. Evaluation is a critical component of a successful program. Cost of the evaluation is often prohibitive but it does not have to be. My own company has so many pre-post surveys for mentors, mentees, educators and parents that yield wonderful results and are used for applying for state and federal grants. It should not be an issue. I think the biggest challenge is that mentoring coordinators are hired to recruit, screen, train and match mentors with mentees. That in itself is a daunting assignment. Then they are told that they not only have to supervise and monitor the matches but they have to fund raise, market the program and oh my gosh – gather data and conduct a yearly evaluation, too. Coordinators are just not adequately trained to do all of these assignments. This is a big challenge and it does not have to be. Companies like mine provide technical assistance, training and guidance to make a challenge a delight.
4.) From your perspective, what are the important things to consider in implementing database technology in a mentoring organization?
This is a no brainer. Gathering data about every facet of a mentoring program is critical to success. Federal grants require it. Local funders insist on it. Today there is absolutely no question that at your finger tips has to be all the important data collection to give you information from the completion of the screening process and when a match is made to school attendance, grades, and every piece of data to track a program. I am not sure that any mentoring program can be effective today without database technology. I was not asked to say this but I am so thrilled with the hundreds of mentoring programs that use Civicore’s database technology and have all the needed information at their finger tips.
I remember in the old days of mentoring if a coordinator was asked how many male VS female mentors they have, the average length of a match, or how many match closure were made in any given year, they would stare in to space. My we have come a long way.
5.) You travel more than anyone we know. Where does your energy come from?
I attribute my drive, my energy, my excitement to one seven letterword – PASSION. I believe so much in the power of mentoring. Multiple mentors in my life contributed to my success from an early age through college and beyond. My own involvement with my mentee for 16 years cemented my belief in how mentoring can make a difference. If I did not believe, if I did not have passion, I could never get on a plane every day, every week to share my wisdom and enthusiasm with people all across the world. It is so exhilarating. I also believe that every child in America that could benefit from a mentor deserves one. I cannot do it alone. I am a grandmother of five grandchildren. I am in the twilight years and I need to ensure that others carry on the passion. I am working at this every day and so happy, blessed, thrilled, and thankful for this wonderful journey.
