Mass Mentoring Partnership’s Quality Based Membership program, formally launched in 2009, was created to promote high-quality best practices among youth mentoring programs.  As of February 2010, there are 100 member programs at the Affiliate, Associate Partner or Partner levels.

We plan to continue increasing this number in 2010, and longer-term, we want every program we interact with to become a member of MMP -- with all of our services and resources targeted to those programs.

As of January 2010, MMP will make some benefits available exclusively to programs in membership, including the basic Affiliate Member level.  Benefit changes for programs include:

• Mentor referrals – Programs must be at least an Affiliate Member in order to participate in mentor recruitment campaigns and receive mentor referrals
• Match activities – Programs must be at least an Affiliate Member in order to receive match activity tickets (such as for Mentoring Night at Fenway, Patriots “Match of the Game”, Celtics games, etc.) and special opportunities connected to match activity events.  Associate Partners or Partner Members may receive priority in some instances.
• AmeriCorps Ambassadors of Mentoring – Programs must be at least an Affiliate Member in order to be awarded a placement of an Ambassador of Mentoring, programs must be at least an Affiliate Member.

MMP is excited to promote high-quality standards in Quality Based Membership and identify even more resources available to programs in membership.

What is Quality Based Membership?

Quality Based Membership with MMP is a free, nationally studied process for Massachusetts youth mentoring programs to acknowledge and receive recognition for what they are doing well. Created in part because programs and funders requested an objective way to assess program quality, it also helps youth mentoring programs identify practice areas that could be more effective. MMP provides support throughout the process to help programs achieve the highest partner level.

Quality Based Membership:

• Provides a meaningful “indicator of quality” for youth mentoring programs;
• Benchmarks program practices against national standards of excellence; and
• Demonstrates program commitment to excellence to potential mentors, funders, parents, and community partners

Benefits of Membership

Benefits vary depending on the level of membership, and include eligibility for MMP mini-grants, mentor referrals, discounts on registration for MMP trainings and workshops, priority for in-kind donations of admissions, tickets and match activities, a listing in MMP’s online program directory, and access to an exclusive section of the Web site.

Mentoring programs can pursue three different levels of Quality Based Membership:

• Partner: Partner members are formal youth mentoring programs and organizations that have completed a program self-assessment to benchmark their program practices. Partners demonstrate adherence to designated standards, have completed all other requirements for membership and MMP support is completed.
• Associate Partner: Associate Partner members are formal youth mentoring programs and organizations that have been in operation for at least one year. In addition, they are either in the process of conducting a program self-assessment, or have completed the self-assessment and are actively working to meet designated standards. MMP provides training and customized technical assistance to support programs throughout the process.
• Affiliate: Affiliate members represent a broad range of program models, including those that are newly established within a larger non-profit agency or school, small and/or grassroots mentoring initiatives, or more formal programs that simply need an entry point for membership with MMP.

Membership process

All programs start on the road to membership as an Affiliate by completing the online membership application.

MMP has made the membership process straightforward and easy to follow. Here are the three steps for getting started:

1. Before you submit an application, preview it here or request a copy from MMP (see contact information below).
2. Complete and submit the application online. All programs start with the application regardless of desired membership level. (Hard copy of the application is available.)
3. Receive email instructions from MMP on next steps, including completion of the self-assessment.

For more information, please contact Linda Peterson, manager of training, at 617-695-2436 or lpeterson@massmentors.org.

Mass Mentoring Partner members

Mass Mentoring Associate Partner members

Mass Mentoring Affiliate members