Happy new week of mentoring bliss! Read below for this week’s challenge and tips. Also, school starts in a month! Now is a great time to start talking to your mentee about this and helping them to prepare.
*Just a friendly reminder – please be mindful of Dane County’s face mask order. If you are spending time indoors with your mentee, be sure that you’re both wearing a mask (We have some if you or your mentee need one). If you’re outdoors, please remain cautious and smart about your interactions with each other.
Don’t forget to follow us and tag us on social media! Look for IntentionalMentoringMadison on FB, Instagram and Twitter!
Challenge for the week:
For August, the challenges will center around the theme of Friendship. This week’s challenge is to plan an outing with your mentee and a friend or two (Socially distant/safe of course). Maybe you could bring one of your friends too! You could have a game night, play at the park together, shoot some hoops, do a craft…whatever you enjoy! Make sure it’s an activity that involves conversation and interaction. After the get-together, be sure to spend some one-on-one time with your mentee talking about what you noticed, asking questions about his/her interactions with their friends and allowing them to ask you questions about your friendships too. Have fun!
BONUS CHALLENGE: August is Advocacy Month and, according to MENTOR, Members of Congress make strong commitments to mentoring and youth development during this month. YOU can help the cause by CHOOSING to advocate on behalf of a number of legislative issues including:
- The OJJDP Youth Mentoring Grant and the importance of federal funding for mentoring.
- The Mentoring to Succeed Act to provide young people with trauma-informed care and mentoring that supports their emotional and education growth and creates critical workforce and career exploration opportunities.
- Efforts to provide emergency and long-term funding to address the ever-growing gap in access to technology and reliable Wi-Fi for students.
TIP of the WEEK: Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to develop a deep relationship with your mentee right away. Relationships take time to develop and this can be especially true when entering into a relationship with a kid who has been through or seen trauma. You showing up, being present, following through and being patient means more to your mentee than you know. When you’re feeling like you’re not doing enough, getting through enough or accomplishing enough, remember that you matter and you’re appreciated even when it doesn’t feel like it. Stay the course, be persistent and trust the process!
We love seeing photos of you and your mentee spending time together! Please share them with us via your coach or using the hashtag #intentionalmentoringmadison
Mentor Coaching Group Meeting Dates:
MARILYN: TBD marilyn@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
VAL: Tuesday, August 11th 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. val@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
ASHLEY: Thursday, August 20th 7-8 a.m. ashley@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
RYAN: Monday, August 3rd 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Ryan@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
Upcoming Events to Note
- Goodman Pool is opening AND they’re offering pool admission scholarships! Check it out here!
- If your mentee and/or their family are in need of any free meals during this uncertain time, please check out the YMCA’s post 7 Free Food Sites
- There are a lot of cool and FREE events at the Dream Bank on E. Washington St.. Check out the AmFam Dream Bank site for more info and to register.
- For a listing of local events checkout www.MadisonWithKids.com
- Free Library Events/Activities: Fitchburg Events Calendar Madison Events Calendar
- For Orchard Ridge events check Orchard Ridge Calendar
- For Toki events check Toki Calendar
- For Sennett events check Sennett Calendar
- For Cherokee events check Cherokee Calendar
- For Blackhawk events check Blackhawk Calendar
- For JMM HS events check Memorial HS Calendar
- For West HS events checkWest HS Calendar
- For La Follette HS events check La Follette Calendar
If you have a change in personal information (phone/address/email) please respond to this email or notify your mentor coach ASAP.
QUOTE of the WEEK
”It became my mission to work with young people to help show them the way, not save them! But help them understand that there are choices that can be made today that will make the difference for their rest of their lives.” ~Jose A. Aviles
All the best,
Intentional Mentoring