14: Community Engagement

Standard of Practice: Programs should forge meaningful community partnerships and participate in other engagements to inform key program development and implementation activities and ensure the program is embedded in the historical and social context of the community and the individuals they serve.

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Practices Supporting this Standard

The program engages with other mentoring organizations, youth-serving programs, and service providers, and establishes formal partnerships as needed.

This practice can involve both informal relationships with other organizations and youth-serving professionals (e.g., professional networking, attending community events) as well as more formal partnerships in which service providers work together collaboratively (e.g., formal referrals of youth and families to other providers, conducting a conference or volunteer fair with other local organizations). Formal partnerships should be governed by a Memorandum of Understanding that details the roles and responsibilities of each party.

The program implements strategies to learn about the community it serves and incorporate its history and lived experience into its organizational values and programmatic decision-making.

Meaningful partnerships and collaborations with individuals and community groups, especially those who historically or currently experience marginalization or trauma, can offer important insights that will inform relevant and culturally responsive programming. Programs should regularly seek input from these individuals and organizations, and work to integrate this feedback into program operations whenever possible.

The program engages in activities that promote mentoring in the public and private sectors and builds long-term community awareness and interest in supporting young people.

Mentoring professionals, particularly program leadership, should be involved in activities that build awareness of mentoring at a community or regional level. These activities can help secure adequate resources from public and private sources for both the program and other mentoring providers, creating a healthy ecosystem of mentoring options for the community.

Because there is tremendous diversity in how and where mentoring is delivered to young people, here we offer additional practices and recommendations related to this Element for some common mentoring contexts. Readers should note that there may be overlap in the following categories (e.g., a peer mentoring program in a school or a Boys & Girls Club offering a group mentoring program on-site) and read all that may be relevant to their work.

Generally, the practices noted at the beginning of this Element will be relevant and sufficient for most types of mentoring programs, including group and peer models, school- and site-based programs, and informal mentoring offered through youth development organizations. It is worth noting that for programs embedded in broader youth-serving settings (e.g., schools, youth development organizations, juvenile justice settings), the notion of “community” exists at two levels: the community within the institution or organization itself, as well as the broader community (e.g., neighborhood, city, school district). In these program settings, it will be important for mentoring program staff to promote and advocate for the program within the organizations or institutions where they are housed. This can involve sharing progress and achievements with site staff, advocating for meaningful input into resource development and budgetary processes and decisions, and contributing meaningfully to the organization’s broader evaluation efforts. Mentoring professionals in these settings should also engage in collaborative and promotional work outside of the organization, but their first priority should be sharing information with and engaging their colleagues within the organization where the program is housed.

E-mentoring programs will likely have a different definition of “community” due to the virtual nature of their services. While they may still engage in practices that engage and recruit mentors in “the real world,” the main communities they will engage in are likely to be online ones that they have cultivated over time.

  • Is our program a trusted partner in the community? Why or why not?
  • What do we know about the communities in which we operate? Where are our knowledge gaps and how can we fill them? Who on our staff can build bridges to segments of our broader community?
  • What activities do we engage in to encourage individuals in the community to learn about our work or to join our program as staff or mentors?
  • Who on our staff can coordinate our involvement at community events? Do we have a calendar of upcoming events where we should have a presence?
  • What activities, information, or resources does our program need to create meaningful community partnerships?
  • How do we network with other mentoring programs and providers? What support does our staff need to enable them to do more outreach and engagement?
  • What opportunities do we have to engage in advocacy efforts? Do we understand the ethical and legal guidelines that we’d need to follow if we got more involved?
  • Youth, caregivers, and mentors can help build connections to other community organizations and suggest events where the program may wish to engage in outreach.
  • Youth, caregivers, and mentors can provide oral histories or community background that can help inform program design, particularly in avoiding prior mistakes made by other providers.
  • Community partners, elders, or leaders can be invited to support activities such as strategic planning, public awareness campaigns, or staff development trainings.

Programs may want to set benchmarks and track progress around metrics such as:

  • Number of community outreach events or engagements participated in.
  • Number and composition of formal agreements with other providers or organizations.
  • Number of referrals made to other providers or organizations.
  • Number of youth and mentor referrals received from other providers or organizations.
  • Number and type of advocacy actions taken.
  • Number of staff whose backgrounds represent the community served by the program.
  • Number of mentors whose backgrounds represent the community served by the program.
  • Number of formal opportunities for community partners and stakeholders to provide input into our work (e.g., surveys, forums, etc.).

Community Toolbox. The University of Kansas.
Find a variety of step-by-step guidance, resources, and tools for community-building. 

How to Create a (c)(3) Advocacy Plan. Alliance for Justice via MENTOR Virginia. 
Fact sheet for nonprofits with a sample advocacy plan.

MENTOR Advocacy Resources.
A variety of tools and resources to help advocates stay informed about issues impacting mentoring, how to identify and apply for federal funding, training opportunities, and more.

Trauma Training Facilitator’s Toolkit. Communities In Schools.
A guide developed for educators that can help design trauma-informed training for mentors.