“Educating, engaging and empowering local mentoring programs”

Mission: to develop alliances in association with the mentoring community, which will increase the quantity and quality of mentoring relationships for children and youth in Los Angeles County.

Goals: to build competency and capacity among mentoring programs by forging  partnerships, sharing resources, and creating a mentoring community of quality programs with diverse mentoring models; and, to promote  the development and expansion of mentoring opportunities for at-risk children, system-involved youth* and young adults transitioning from foster care.

Members include:

• Mentoring and youth development programs
• County Departments providing services to children and youth
• Agencies, programs and individuals that advocate for youth and/or provide support to the mentoring community

Membership Benefits:

• Access to mentoring resources and experts
• Networking to leverage resources and promote program sustainability
• Program peer to peer mentoring and assistance to improve program capabilities
• Train the trainer opportunities
• Community outreach and recruitment events

Projects:

• Collaborative sustainability through grant writing/sponsorships and data sharing
• Program needs assessments through surveys and focus groups
• Public awareness campaigns (e.g., National Mentoring Month) and advocacy
• Development of a mentoring resource directory and website, www.ICAN4kids.org   

*Includes court dependents and wards served by the Los Angeles County Departments of Children and Family Services and Probation