The Youth Mentoring Network turned 2 this week. This doesn't just mean that a website has been in operation for 24 months, it means much more than that.

For the past 2 years the youth mentoring community has been actively working together to build the quality of youth mentoring in this country by sharing resources, participating in forums, attending workshops and creating national benchmarks.

When I first started in this role, best practice and benchmarks were not something people were talking about. It was considered a nice idea but people were too busy running the program to even consider implementing standards.

Two years on and the sector has changed and for the better. A fantastic example of this change was seen when we launched the National Benchmarks last year and over 500 people provided feedback to the final document. This is proof that the sector is maturing and quality standards, best practice, evaluation and research are now seen as crucial elements of a successful program and no longer seen as a luxury only spoken by those in larger organisations.

The sector though is about to go through another change. Program funding is starting to come to an end, there is a new Federal Government and youth issues are being given a more prominent focus in the media. We as a Network of organisations need to see how we can turn these events into opportunities and ensure mentoring moves forward and is seen as an essential part of youth development along side education, skill development and career. 

The Youth Mentoring Network will be working on this over the next 18 months and to ensure you are on top of all the developments we have added a new section to our monthly newsletter called In the Loop. I suggest that you take a few moments once a month to read through this information.  There will be announcements of how programs and individuals can become more actively involved and many opportunities for people to provide feedback and suggestions.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support the YMN over the past two years. The next 18 months will prove to be a very exciting time for our sector and I look forward to working with you as we move forward into our next phase.

Kathleen Vella

Executive Officer