Our Mentor Program provides positive female role models and strong support structures to motivated teenage girls who are ready to explore who they are and discover their community at large. Girls attending SEED in 2010, ages 12 and older, are eligible to participate in our community-based Mentor Program. The program launched in 2001 as a means of providing teenage girls with year-round support networks during the challenging teenage years.

Selected professional women are carefully screened and then matched by our Mentor Program staff with the most compatible girls. The program is a year-long commitment between the mentor and mentee. Twice a month mentors and mentees participate in fun and enriching activities throughout the New York metropolitan area. Activities range from visiting museums to tasting a variety of ethnic foods or exploring new neighborhoods.

Engaging Group Events such as a Salsa dance lesson, volunteering at a Food Pantry, Hip Hop 4 Life's Defining Your Style Workshop or Twin/Game Night counts toward one outing for that month and gives all the matches an opportunity to enjoy each other's company while having fun!


Mentor Program Testimonials

"As a single parent...I worry that my children are not getting enough attention. This program has helped me with that by giving [my daughter] a positive influence in her life to help guide her through those important years." -Parent

"The gift of personal time is and probably always will be the most important thing I can give." -Mentor

"She is like a big sister to me and our outings are always fun." -Mentee

"It is a refreshing reminder of the power of friendship. I think seeing the world through [my mentee's] eyes stays with me way more often than I expected and I appreciate this new awareness and understanding of the current issues that face teens." -Mentor

"[My daughter] uses her mentor as a tool of inspiration to succeed as a business woman. Her mentor has helped her develop confidence communicating with adults." -Parent

"I learned to believe in myself." -Mentee

"Being a mentor is not only about teaching...it's also about learning." -Mentor

"[My daughter] is more outspoken, less shy and seems to be emotionally aware." -Parent

"I like the fact that having a mentor adds just another good person in your life, allowing you to talk to them as well as get to know them." -Mentee

Mentor Program Goals

• Increase girls' sense of self worth
• Improve girls' perspective toward education
• Help girls develop and define their short-term and long-term goals
• Encourage social awareness through community service projects
• Build positive relationships and support networks with adults and peers 
  

Goals Accomplished in 2009

• Nearly 70 matches served!
• Advanced background screening checks now include fingerprinting
• The Mentor Network, established in June 2009, offers mentors peer support during the match relationship as well as bi-monthly mentor networking events. Mentor Healy Adams expressed how "great it would be to have more of a network among the mentors to share ideas and experiences." The Mentor Network events offer current mentors an additional support system and outlet to share mentoring experiences, tools for improving mentoring relationships and receive ideas for new match activities.
• Calendar Project--Mentor Jennifer Sung and her mentee Dana Mitchell began an entrepreneurial venture to help raise money for the Girls Quest Mentor Program. To encourage her mentee's goal of becoming a photographer, Jennifer created a calendar featuring photographs of the mentors and mentees from Girls Quest as a fundraiser and contributed the calendar proceeds to Girls Quest.

Accolades, Awards and Press Received by Girls Quest Mentor Program in the Past Four Years

• In February 2009, Girls Quest was awarded the Eleanor P. Eells Award for Program Excellence from the American Camp Association, a national body of 7,000 agency members.
• In December 2008, the Girls Quest Mentor Program was featured in media produced by a prominent partner in the youth development field: the Annual Report of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of NYC. 
• In addition, a match from our Mentor Program was selected to address an overflow crowd at Marble Collegiate Church in March 2008 during their Easter fundraising season.
• In January 2008, Girls Quest received a 2008 Alumni Award from Big Brothers/Big Sisters of NYC for our Mentor Program, noting our "outstanding dedication to mentoring program development." We were one of only four out of 500 member agencies selected.
• A Capstone team of NYU graduate students determined in May 2007 that our Mentor Program exceeds several national best practices for mentoring programs and meets all others.
• In January 2007, Girls Quest was selected from 400 applications as the first recipient of Snapple's "Best People in NYC" award, sponsored by the NYC Mayor's Volunteer Center. Only nominations from volunteers were accepted and we were nominated by a mentor in our Mentor Program. 
• In August 2006, ABC News' Juju Chang interviewed our Executive Director and a match from our Mentor Program in the online news program "Top Priority." Lifestyle network, LX-TV, interviewed another Mentor Program match in January 2007.

The Mentor Program has had a great impact on Girls Quest, and we expect those effects to continue and grow as we build on the program’s success and also use that success to strengthen our other programs.