Boys and Girls Clubs in Indian Country

National Native American Mentoring Program Coordinators Attend Annual Training

On January 19th and 20th, 2011, mentoring coordinators and Boys & Girls Club representatives gathered in Catoosa, Oklahoma, to attend the National Native American Mentoring Program Implementation Training. The training agenda included presentations related to establishing a quality and effective mentoring program, training mentors, building community partnerships, recruitment and retention in tribal communities, group discussions, and a review of administrative requirements.

The first day began with a blessing by Geri Small from the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, a welcome by Ahniwake Rose from the National Congress of American Indians, and introductions of attendees and presenters. This was followed by a morning and early afternoon presentation on Mentoring 101, Standards of Effective Mentoring, by Dr. Susan Weinberger of Mentor Consulting Group, one of the program’s national partners. Dr. Weinberger’s presentation covered many aspects associated with building and maintaining a quality mentoring program, which also included lively discussions with the meeting participants. A few of the general topics that were covered during this presentation included: training goals, quality assurance standards of mentoring, mentoring standards, effective mentoring, assessing the need for mentoring, creating an advisory board, getting the community on board, program policies, mentor recruitment and screening, the family’s role in the process, matching, mentor training, mentee training, mentoring activities, keys to program effectiveness, match supervision, program goals and lessons learned. The first day of training was wrapped up with a presentation by FirstPic staff that covered some of the administrative portions of the mentoring program.

The second day of training began with a blessing by Mike Guilfoyle from FirstPic, Inc. The morning and early afternoon sessions were lead by Mark LoMurray from Sources of Strength, Inc., another of the program’s national partners. These sessions were a combination of presentation, group discussion, interactive small group activities, and entertaining large group exercises. Some of the topics covered during this portion of the training were: mentoring from a Sources of Strength Circle, building community partners, recruitment and retention in tribal communities, and mentoring activities. The training concluded with another brief overview of some final administrative details.

The two day training session was filled with valuable lessons and ideas for the successful implementation and sustainability of the National Native American Mentoring Program. Thank you to our national partners for making it such an effective training for all participants.