"Mentoring works because it guarantees a young person that there is someone out there who cares about them. "

OUR MENTORING APPROACH & PROGRAM OVERVIEW

M.A.N.U.P operates two types of mentoring programs: in-school and community-based. Our mentoring programs provide youth with compassionate adult mentors, increased access to community resources, and interactive employment and life skills training. We use learning community sessions and group mentoring as a our primary strategies to develop the youth mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. Adult mentors are also matched with up to 5 youth, based on shared goals and interests, to ensure the youth become resilient, healthy, and contributing community members.  The mentoring programs generally drive positive outcomes for youth in the following areas:
  • Employment and entrepreneurship skills
  • Healthy decision-making and social awareness
  • Self confidence, self-worth, and self efficacy
  • Mental, physical, and emotional health
While every mentoring program drives similar outcomes, M.A.N.U.P. tailors each program to address the specific need of the youth being served. As such, the in-school and community-based programs each have unique focus areas in addition to those above. 

Program Focus Areas

In-School Programs
Academic excellence
Behavior excellence
Improved attendance
Community-Based Programs
Employment and Entrepreneurship
Conflict Resolution
Social Activism

Program Components

​Icebreakers and Team-Building Activities 
Youth participate in interactive team building activities designed to clear the way for learning. The games create a safe space where youth feel comfortable speaking freely with each other and facilitators. These games are used to kick-off sessions and revisited on an ad-hoc basis to keep the youth engaged. 

Learning Community Sessions 
Youth participate in group trainings and interactive activities that are developed using evidence-based curriculums and align with youth development best practices. Activities are presented in a learning community format and facilitated by a M.A.N.U.P. staff, mentor, alumni or guest speaker. By integrating key elements from a traditional learning community format along with group games that boost mental skills, memory and logic, these sessions allows us to keep the youth engaged and excited while focused on the program outcome areas. 

Group Mentoring Sessions
Youth and their matched mentor(s) meet in small groups to have in-depth conversations about the concepts presented during the Learning Community Sessions and discuss personal challenges and successes. The mentor serves as thought-partner with youth in these conversations, helping them to process their own experiences with a critical mind. Mentors often share personal perspectives and insights that help the youth think more critically, provide them with trusted guidance, and support them in becoming better problem solvers.

Special trips
All of our community-based programs incorporate local trips as educational experiences and fun incentives for youth to stay engaged through program milestones. For example, M.A.N.U.P. has taken youth to the see movies that are then used as critical discussion topics. In addition, we host bowling trips that bring together youth from multiple program locations to celebrate the completion of a strong academic year.