Mentoring Sites Gather at BGCA’s National Conference On April 27, the National Native American Mentoring program sites gathered in San Diego, California for a mid-grant training. The evening began with Michelle Morris of the Navajo Nation welcoming the group and asking each person to describe a favorite mentee, mentor, or Club member. Many sites shared poignant stories about the changes they have seen in Club members since participating in their mentoring program. Next, Deborah Yatsko, Program Administrator from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services addressed the group. She spoke about her keen interest in working with the Clubs to make each mentoring program successful. She also shared anecdotes from other HHS-funded mentoring programs and encouraged Clubs to continue progressing even if the initial phases of the first grant year have started somewhat slowly. Deborah stated that based on past experiences, the program usually takes off in the second year. Dr. Susan Weinberger, president of Mentor Consulting Group, Inc., began the formal training, focusing on marketing the program, facilitating matches, obtaining permission forms, and securing background checks. In order to stimulate new ideas among other programs, sites shared their successes. Each Club was challenged to conduct at least two new marketing efforts and to report back during the next conference call. Finally, FirstPic, Inc provided an update on the overall status of the program.  Sites have recruited more than 80 mentors and mentees and have initiated 57 matches!  It is projected that by the end of July, there will be 140 mentoring pairs.