Mission: To promote, support, and build quality mentoring relationships by elevating the capacity of programs, systems, and policies that foster proven results for Iowa.
Vision: An Iowa where every young person has the supportive, caring adult relationship needed to grow and develop into thriving, productive, and engaged adults.
Role of a MENTOR National Affiliate
Mentor affiliates are non-partisan, public-private organizations that galvanize local or statewide mentoring movements, providing the leadership and infrastructure necessary to support the expansion of quality mentoring relationships. Affiliates serve a unique role as a clearinghouse for training, resources, awareness, and advocacy, providing the critical link between MENTOR's national efforts and local organizations and programs that foster and support quality mentoring relationships.
Affiliates are focused on the following key priorities:
- Advance the quality of the local mentoring field by building relationships with new and existing mentoring programs and provide capacity building trainings and technical assistance grounded in evidence-based approaches.
- Engage with a wide variety of public and private stakeholders to increase both the number of volunteer mentors as well as resources for the local mentoring field.
- Collect data on a regular basis to describe the impact of mentoring in the broader community and identify gaps in the range of services needed.
- Expand public and private support and investment in mentoring through public awareness and advocacy efforts that foster communities and prioritize quality youth mentoring. Mentoring partnerships have developed solid, field-tested solutions to some of the mentoring movement's greatest challenges.
History:
Beginning in 2001, Iowa MENTOR, also known as the Iowa Mentoring Partnership (IMP), became a program of the Office of Drug Control Policy. From 2003-2004, the IMP was housed within the Iowa Department of Public Health and in 2004, the organization became an independent 501(c)(3) program that was housed within Iowa Health Systems. Finally, in November of 2005, the IMP became a state government program and division of the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service (ICVS).
Leadership:
Iowa MENTOR is led by staff members of Volunteer Iowa and AmeriCorps VISTA members. The members of our leadership council also play a pivotal leadership role within the organization. Elected board members commit to a two- to three-year term in which they create and accomplish specific statewide mentoring goals. Each member also provides a voice for the concerns and ideas of certified programs in his or her region.