MentorCity offers comprehensive, easy-to-use and cost effective online mentoring software for companies, schools and associations for their member engagement, succession planning, leadership development, and diversity and inclusion strategies. Good matching programs are sensitive to demographic variables as well as common professional interests. The assignment of a mentee to a mentor varies greatly across formal mentoring programs. Mentors may review mentee profiles and select their mentees or program administrators may match mentors and mentees.
In addition to reviewing programs, the National Mentoring Resource Center Research Boardreviews the evidence base for different mentoring practices (i.e., specific sets of tasks or strategies for implementing some component of a mentoring program). These practice reviews are conducted using a customized process similar to, but distinct from, the CrimeSolutions.gov program reviews. Many of these practices can be implemented in a variety of program models and settings.
Mentor Matchmaking Reviews
Matching Strategies Informed by Participant Characteristics: A practice that involves the intentional use of information about mentor and mentee characteristics to inform pairing mentors and mentees in programs. View Insight: Match Support for Mentors.
For each practice, we offer a detailed description of the practice and its evidence base as well as links to resources that can help practitioners implement or adapt the practice for their own programs. Practices are rated for effectiveness using the following key:
Learn more about the review process for programs, practices, and resources.
You can also nominate additional programs, practices, and resources for review and inclusion on this site.
Mentor Matchmaking
| Title* | Rating | Summary | Insights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Engagement | The positive engagement of the mentee’s parents and family in the mentoring relationship and process in order to facilitate mentor-mentee interactions, strengthen the mentoring relationship, and promote positive outcomes for mentees. | View Insight | |
| Family Support | A practice in which the families of mentees receive support that is intended to enhance mentee outcomes and/or strengthen the mentee’s family as a whole. | View Insight | |
| Matching Strategies Informed by Participant Characteristics | A practice that involves the intentional use of information about mentor and mentee characteristics to inform pairing mentors and mentees in programs. | View Insight | |
| Match Support for Mentors | A practice that involves ongoing, two-way communication between mentoring program staff and mentors in order to provide appropriate guidance, oversight, and encouragement to facilitate the development of a high quality mentoring relationship. | View Insight | |
| Mentor-Mentee Activity Guidance | The use of defined activities, which may be required or optional, to facilitate mentor-mentee interactions and shared experiences that strengthen the mentoring relationship and/or promote positive outcomes for mentees. | View Insight | |
| Mentor Retention Strategies | Support for the retention of mentors in order to facilitate longer lasting and greater quality mentoring relationships that promote positive outcomes for mentees. | View Insight | |
| Mentor Training for Cultural Competence | Training to enhance mentor cultural competence in order to facilitate effective mentoring relationships with youth from diverse cultural backgrounds. | View Insight | |
| Monitoring and Evaluation | Routine collection of information as it pertains to mentoring relationships within a program (monitoring) and more systematic collection and analysis of information to assess varying aspects of a program (evaluation). | View Insight | |
| Pre-Match Mentor Training | A practice in which mentors receive structured guidance and instruction before beginning or very soon after having begun their mentoring relationships with youth; the focus is on program orientation, expectations, and general skill and knowledge development for effective mentoring rather than addressing the needs of particular mentors or relationships. | View Insight | |
| Post-Match Mentor Training | A practice in which mentors receive structured guidance and instruction after having begun their mentoring relationships with youth; the focus is on general skill and knowledge development for effective mentoring rather than addressing the needs of particular mentors or relationships (for more individualized support, see Post-match Mentor Support). | View Insight | |
| Strategies for Preventing Peer Aggression, Bullying, and Victimization | Intentional program efforts to develop behaviors, skills, and attitudes that reduce or prevent engagement in (1) aggressive or bullying behavior and (2) experiencing victimization by peers. | View Insight | |
| Strategies for Recruiting Male Mentors | Strategies to increase the number or proportion of male volunteers available to mentor youth. | View Insight | |
| Strategies for Setting and Working on Mentee Goals | A practice that involves strategies to support mentees with setting and pursuing personally relevant goals. | View Insight | |
| Support for Match Closure | Support for healthy closure of mentoring relationships to affirm the contributions of both the mentee and mentor and promote positive outcomes for the mentee. | View Insight | |
| Support for Mentor Advocacy | A practice that involves helping mentors to take actions on behalf of their mentees outside of the mentor-mentee relationship (i.e., the time they spend together). | View Insight | |
| Support for Youth Thriving | Intentional program efforts to cultivate attitudes, skills, and behaviors among mentees that are widely understood to be centrally important to young persons’ positive development and capacity to reach their full potential. | View Insight | |
| Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) | A practice of supporting youth with engaging non-parental adults from their social networks (e.g., teachers, family friends, extended family members) in mentoring interactions and relationships. | View Insight |