What to Expect
Wondering what it would look like to bring Affinity Mentoring to a school? Here is what our partner schools can expect:
WHAT AFFINITY MENTORING PROVIDES
- An on-site Affinity staff member that facilitates and manages the program at the school
- Identification, solicitation, and recruitment volunteer mentor applicants
- Management of all operational activities including screening, training, matching, support and supervision, recognition, and closure procedures
- Management of programmatic activities including but not limited to development of policies and procedures and case management.
- Mentoring costs $1,282/match/year [National average is approx. $1600/match/year]. Affinity works with school + community partners to develop sustainable funding.
- Active participation in the community school model by collaborating with the school and community partners
- Coordination one-to-one mentor and mentee matching
- Training of all program volunteers in accordance with mentoring best practices as well as school requirements [topics include but are not limited to: the role of a mentor, literacy fundamentals, collaboration with parents and school staff, child development, cultural competency, boundaries, confidentiality, separation of church and state, prevention and reporting of abuse and neglect, match closure]
- Evaluation of the program for effectiveness of both process and outcome goals
WHAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR PARTNER SCHOOLS
- The Mentor Center is the hub of all mentoring activity around a school and it is a core part of why our model is so successful. Having an Affinity Mentoring program staff on-site at the school relieves the school staff of the day to day program management responsibilities. Furthermore, having a place to land, find resources and seek support is key for our mentors and students. Therefore, in order to be an Affinity Mentoring site, the school must provide a dedicated space on the campus.
- Identify appropriate students for referral, seek parental consent and complete referrals
- Advise on the academic and social-emotional needs of participating youth
- Assist in providing program evaluation data for participating students including grades, attendance records, discipline records, and counselor and teacher reports. [Affinity Mentoring will ensure that all applicable releases of information are on file.]
- Provide a contact person and maintain regular communication with Affinity Mentoring staff
- Cooperate with Affinity Mentoring Site Coordinator and/or designated staff
- Champion Affinity Mentoring to support sustainability and continued growth of the program
OTHER SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- The majority of students in the school are experiencing poverty [as measured by free/reduced lunch rates and/or the school’s receipt of Title 1 or 31a funds.]
- Be located in West Michigan [Kent or Ottawa County]
ANTICIPATED PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
- School application
- Site visit & initial partnership meeting
- Additional partnership planning meetings, as necessary
- Engagement of community stakeholders and establishment of community partnerships to support the new location
- Establish a Memorandum of Understanding and other required agreements or paperwork
- Funding secured for program expansion to new school
- Affinity Mentoring hires and places Site Coordinator
- Affinity Mentoring works with community partners to recruit, screen and train mentors as well as engage families, school staff, etc. in preparation for launching of the mentoring program.
- Mentor matches are made for approved volunteers and students.
- Mentoring begins!
APPLY TO HAVE AFFINITY MENTORING JOIN A SCHOOL
We’re hearing from many school administrators that there is a great need for a partner to provide and manage trained volunteers to support their school. So, we are currently building a multi-year expansion plan to add more sites throughout West Michigan in the next few years. If you would like to explore bringing Affinity Mentoring to a school and/or to be considered in this strategic expansion plan, please complete the application.
PREVIEW THE PARTNER SCHOOL APPLICATION
START THE PARTNER SCHOOL APPLICATION
Questions? Contact us:
Cassandra Kiger, Executive Director
ckiger@affinitymentoring.org
616.209.8435