As a direct result of our 2008 strategic planning process, Mass Mentoring has established a vision for the future, and has set into place a course of action that will focus on growing quality youth mentoring opportunities statewide over the next five years.

While MMP’s plan will expand or put increased focus on our efforts in a variety of areas, advancing the mentoring movement by serving mentoring programs across Massachusetts will continue to be our primary focus.

Today, MMP serves more than 165 mentoring programs in our network – programs that are increasingly diverse and specialized in terms of populations served, mentoring goals and program models. And with current economic challenges, it’s anticipated that mentoring programs will rely on MMP’s expertise and guidance more than ever.

What’s MMP’s vision for the future? Over the next five years, the MMP team will be concentrating on four key areas:

1. Supporting and expanding effective program practices
2. Helping programs become more sustainable and accessible
3. Providing programs with guidance and support with finding qualified mentors
4. Identifying advocating, and helping to position mentoring programs for public and private financial resources

“In recent years, research has clearly shown that quality matters when it comes to mentoring,” said MMP CEO David Shapiro. “Knowing this, it’s imperative that everything we do focuses on helping programs build and support close and enduring mentoring relationships for the youth they serve. That’s the cornerstone of all our efforts going forward.”

Many initiatives have already been started to address the four targeted areas noted above. Some examples:

Supporting/expanding effective program practices – MMP’s Quality-Based Membership is underway with 17 partner programs on board. This is a multi-faceted effort that will redefine how MMP delivers services to Massachusetts mentoring programs. It has already resulted in expanded trainings for the field, as well as more opportunities for networking and idea-sharing between programs.

Helping programs become more accessible and sustainable – Using information from our biennial Mass Mentoring Counts research, MMP has identified the following communities to target with services over the next five years: Boston, Springfield, Holyoke, Fall River, New Bedford, Lawrence, Lowell, Worcester, Brockton and Lynn. These areas were identified based on unmet need related to the number of children at risk in each location. MMP will also focus on fostering collaboration between youth-serving organizations in each community to effectively expand the number of children being mentored, and to foster the exchange of knowledge and best practices. The current Lawrence Initiative for National Mentoring Month is one example.

Providing programs with guidance and support with finding qualified mentors – MMP will support mentoring programs with their recruitment efforts in three key ways:

1. By providing capacity-building initiatives, such as the AmeriCorps Ambassadors of Mentoring program or through specialized recruitment trainings;
2. By expanding statewide mentor recruitment campaigns like the Red Sox Mentoring Challenge or creating new ones, such as the Mentors of Color campaign; and
   
3. By expanding public awareness about youth mentoring statewide through increased media outreach and the development of strategic partnerships.

Helping to identify and advocate for financial resources for the field – While MMP has always worked to identify funding for the mentoring field through a variety of institutions and advocacy efforts, more emphasis will be placed on securing public funding and supporting programs’ efforts to garner funding, and other valuable resources for the field, including increased match activities. In addition, we will continue to provide mentoring programs with expertise in areas like fundraising and partnership development, and work directly with funders to provide guidance and advice on how to get the most from a mentoring investment.

How MMP’s strategic plan was developed

MMP started the strategic planning process in spring 2008. Numerous steps were taken and included:

• Securing a grant for the strategic planning process from the Boston Foundation, and hiring Wellspring Consulting to manage and execute the process.
• Reviewing and analyzing information about the national and Massachusetts youth mentoring landscape, including MMP’s previous strategic plan and research, MENTOR's research, MMP’s Mass Mentoring Counts data, and Massachusetts mentoring program longevity and funding histories.
• Interviewing nearly 50 diverse stakeholders – from board members, to MMP employees, to field experts and mentoring program leaders.
• Gaining feedback from key stakeholders on final drafts of the plan; finalizing it with the board; and developing a detailed implementation plan.

Mentoring programs that would like to embark on their own strategic planning process can tap into these resources:

Center for NonProfit Success
Legacy Consulting
Third Sector New England