What's New @ iMentor

What do you think classrooms will be like in 20 years? That was just one of the questions our CEO, Mike O’Brien, posed to panelists last night at our iConnect event held at the Google NYC offices on the future of education. Mentors, supporters, and community partners came together to learn about innovations in education and how citizens can help support our students and schools.

View photos of the event here.

Mike was joined on stage by Charles Best, founder and CEO, DonorsChoose.org and iMentor board member; Greg Gunn, entrepreneur in residence at City Light and Co-Founder Wireless Generation; Sue Lehmann, board Member of Harlem Children’s Zone and Teach For America; and Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures. The panelists joined in a lively discussion about making school relevant to students’ lives and career goals, improving curriculum, and integrating technology in and out of the classroom. Our mentors also had an opportunity to ask tough questions about replicating successful school models, college access, and the best advice they can give to their mentees.

Thanks to Google, our panelists, participants, and audience for collaborating on this unique learning opportunity and for making the event a success.

We are proud to be one of the six recipients of the Lumina Foundation's NextGen prize, which is funding projects that are helping students from low-income communities reach their college goals. The Lumina Foundation put together this great video about all six projects, including iMentor's work to improve our online platform that connects thousands of volunteers with young people in multi-year mentoring relationships focused on college-readiness.

iMentor was recently named one of 2011's Best Nonprofits to Work For by the Opportunity Knock’s People’s Choice Awards. We are proud to add this to our 2010 recognition by The Nonprofit Times as one of the 50 Best Nonprofits to Work For.

Opportunity Knocks selected winners from nominations and essays submitted by employees. “Opportunity Knocks celebrates the rewards of working in the nonprofit sector, by honoring those organizations who do it best,” says President and CEO Karen Beavor. “The enthusiasm of our nominators for their employers demonstrates how nonprofits can not only make a difference in the community but also have an incredibly positive impact on the lives of the people that work for them.

Our staff shares a commitment not just to our mission of helping more youth succeed in college but also to supporting one another as we work toward our goals. In fact, our recent hires tell us that the primary reason they came to the organization was the mission, as well as for professional development and growth opportunities. This is true for staff members across the organization, whether they’re working with our mentee-mentor pairs, supporting our development team, or leading operations. Our own staff satisfaction survey highlights some of the aspects that make iMentor a great place to work:

• 90% feel their work enabled mentors and mentees to achieve high performance
• 90% feel their coworkers work together well to achieve the organization’s goals
• 92% of staff expressed that they have had opportunities to learn and grow at work

In recent months, our staff has participated in many events that exemplify our culture and commitment to professional development. Take Diversity Brown Bag, for example. January’s event explored topics of identity with a strengths-based perspective as it relates to our work at iMentor. We also held a “lunch and learn” session to get to know the work of our colleagues, learn about their career paths, and hear advice on building skills in their functional areas. And in February our in-house Team Fun hosted a fiercely competitive Trivia Night.

The Opportunity Knocks recognition is a welcome acknowledgment of something our staff already knows—iMentor is a great place to work.

Interested in being part of a work environment that is striving to be the best-in-sector for talent development? Check out our jobs page—we are adding roles at all levels across the organization.

iMentor is excited to announce that with the financial support of Paul Hastings LLP, a leading international law firm, we have launched a new partnership with the Secondary School for Law (SSL) in Brooklyn. With this funding, iMentor is able to engage 82 juniors in transformative, three-year mentoring relationships that will continue through students’ freshman year in college to ensure they graduate from high school and successfully transition to college.

SSL is a law-themed school that serves students in grades 6-12. The high school integrates academic tutoring, mentoring, and college guidance to help students excel academically. Students also participate in mock trials throughout the year to increase their self-efficacy and develop skills related to a career in law, such as the ability to think critically about an issue, solve complex problems, and advocate for themselves and their communities.

iMentor’s partnership with SSL is in its first year, but Assistant Principal Felicia Holtzman has already noticed a difference in student behavior. “I do see positive changes in terms of the kids’ accountability and responsibility throughout the school day,” Holtzman said. “Being able to offer [our students] the opportunity to have someone who’s consistently there for them and who they’re corresponding with on a regular basis has been really great for them.”

Students at SSL have been working through iMentor’s College Success curriculum with their mentors via weekly emails and monthly activities since the fall. During the second half of this school year, mentors and mentees will create a college roadmap and financial action plan, identify and develop leadership qualities, and research summer internship and leadership opportunities.

Mentors at SSL come from a diversity of professional backgrounds and are able to share their education and career experiences with their mentees. Shary Sanchez, a mentor and an attorney with the nonprofit organization, HIV Law Project, has enjoyed the opportunity to be a mentor to Latoya who wants to be a lawyer in the future.“It’s been great for me because when I was younger, I wanted to be an attorney,” Sanchez said. “It just makes me feel good that I’m there for Latoya so that I can help and guide her through college and be there while she’s making the decision to go to law school, because I wish that I had someone there for me. It strengthens our relationship that we have that in common.”

iMentor is thrilled to be partnering with Paul Hastings LLP and SSL, and we look forward to continuing to support our pairs so that mentees will stay on track to graduate high school ready to succeed in college and life.