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January is National Mentoring Month!
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January is National and Michigan's Mentoring Month, the time to celebrate and spotlight the importance of being a mentor and the need of children to have a caring adult in their lives. You can visit the National Mentoring Month site to find more information, or Mentor Michigan to find the 2011 Michigan Mentoring Month toolkit.
Be sure to tell your mentees and their parents about Thank Your Mentor Day- January 25, 2011. Some programs plan a group gathering to celebrate the day. Many site-based programs work with youth to create cards or other tokens for youth to give to their mentors. Other programs send a note to parents letting them know about the date and sharing some ideas to make the day special. Whatever you do, be sure to thank the mentors in your program on January 25th! |
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Register soon for these great professional development opportunities!
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Increasing Cultural Competency in Mentoring Relationships
When: February 4, 2011
9:30 am- 4pm
Where: NorthStar Cooperative,3655 Forest Rd, Lansing, MI
Mentoring relationships often bring together individuals with diverse cultures and backgrounds. It is important to be aware of one's own values and beliefs when entering into a relationship with a young person whose experiences may color his or her world differently in order to move forward with a friendship based on mutual respect. This interactive workshop will begin with activities and discussion related to adultism, stereotypes, poverty, and cultural competency. In the afternoon, we will move into a train-the-trainer format and share resources and curriculum that can be used when training volunteers, participants or staff members.
Register now! Increasing Cultural Competency in Mentoring Relationships is session number 7040.
NEW: Virtual Micro-course: Matching, Monitoring, and Match Closure
When: Begins on February 7, 2011
Be the first to experience the popular Matching, Monitoring, and  Match Closure workshop in a new on-line format. Participants will log in to the course a few times each week to view presentations, read materials, and interact with colleagues around the state. Log in at times that work for you! Participants will learn strategies for making and monitoring mentee-mentor matches, examine ways to support and recognize matches, and learn the importance of using a formal match closure process and ways this process can be structured. The virtual micro-course allows participants to avoid the time and cost of travel while maintaining the group discussion and interaction that is vital to the learning process. You will have a chance to share your experience and ideas and learn from others.
Register soon! Matching, Monitoring, and Match Closure is session number 7041.
Targeted Volunteer Recruitment
When: February 23, 2011
9:30 am- 4pm
Where: NorthStar Cooperative,3655 Forest Rd, Lansing, MI
Register today! Targeted Volunteer Recruitment is session number 7215.
Webinars
We have a long webinar schedule in February and March due to the expansion of 4-H mentoring nationwide. To register or learn more about these webinars, click here and then click on the session name to read the description.
Tips and Tools for Training Mentors Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 10am Tips and Tools for Developing Mentoring Program Policies and Procedures Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 10am Tools for Conducting Background Checks Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 2pm Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 10am Beyond Certificates and Plaques: Mentor Recognition Webinar Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10am
Social Networking: Boundaries and Professionalism
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 2pm
No Need to Reinvent the Wheel: Resources for Mentoring Programs
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 10am
Intro to Social Networking
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 10am
Advanced Social Networking
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 10am
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Looking for New Training Materials? Become a Pilot Site! | |
We are looking for mentoring programs that are willing to
 pilot activities from the 4-H Mentor Training Curriculum. Pilot sites will choose activities to utilize in mentor training and provide feedback to the curriculum design team. This curriculum includes activities that are appropriate for a variety of populations and program models. We are hoping to engage pilot sites that range in size, population served, geographic location, and program model utilized.
The curriculum is easy to follow and highly interactive. Activities are available in the following modules:
- Building the Mentoring Relationship
- Child and Youth Development
- Communication Skills
- Cultural Competency
- Setting Boundaries
Programs that are active participants in the pilot phase of this project will be recognized in the final product.
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Program Highlight: Creating Connections
| Article submitted by Andrea Villanueva, AmeriCorps Member with Creating Connections, Clinton County MSU Extension.
 Creating Connections is one of five mentoring opportunities available through Clinton County 4-H Youth Mentoring. This community-based mentoring program matches youth who have been or currently are in foster care with caring adults. All youth reside in Clinton County and range in age from 1st grade-12th grade. Many of the matches take advantage of their proximity to Michigan State University and the Lansing area; attending events such as the East Lansing Art Fair, MSU sporting events, MSU's Art and Craft Shows, or car shows held at the Lansing Center. The program keeps matches up to date with local activities/events that are affordable, or better yet free!
For more information about Creating Connections, contact Andrea Villanueva at villan17@msu.edu or (989)227-6458.
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College Access: Michigan College Access Portal
| Disclaimer: This section of the newsletter is designed for mentoring programs to use within their newsletters. Feel free to cut and paste!
The Michigan College Access Portal, or MichiganCAP, is a great new resource that you can share with your mentee. The free tool is designed for students who are looking for information and thinking about college and anyone can sign up.
The website is divided into sections which include a portfolio that saves your mentee's information that they enter, a database of colleges in Michigan, information on paying for college, and test and career planning.
The portfolio allows you to keep track of the list of colleges that your mentee is interested in, a list of scholarships that they would like to apply for, any documents such as a college admissions essay, and their profile.
The college database consists of a database of Michigan colleges that allows you to search schools based on location, academics, size, sports, and more. You can also compare undergraduate, academic, and financial information between the colleges that your mentee is interested in.
The section on paying for college includes a guide to help your mentee understand the process of learning about, applying for, and finding financial aid. There are several cost calculators that you can find in this section, including one for college costs, loan costs, and estimated family contribution. The tool also has a searchable database of over 5000 different scholarships.
The planning section offers a variety of tools. The career exploration tool uses a variety of quizzes to find out the personality of your mentee and uses that to determine what types of careers or majors they may be interested in. Once your mentee has the quiz results, they can input that information into a database that searches for careers based on the type of career pathway they would like to follow, their interests, values, and the subject they are interested in, and the education level they want to achieve (including high school, 2-year degree, 4-year degree, etc.). The test preparation tool offers information, exam dates, and practice tests for the MME, ACT, SAT, PSAT. SAT Subject Tests, and Accuplacer. The planning section also has a tool to help with finding a job, including resume and cover letter writing tips, and job searching and interview tips.
For more information about the Michigan College Access Portal or to register, visit https://www.michigancap.org/.
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Mentoring Night at the Palace-January 22
|  Come celebrate mentoring with the Detroit Pistons and the Palace at Auburn Hills!! The first ever "Mentoring Night at the Palace" will take place on Saturday, January 22nd at 7:30pm as the Pistons take on the Phoenix Suns. A special emphasis on mentoring will be present throughout the evening.
You can purchase tickets now for the January 22nd game at a discounted rate. For every ticket sold through this website, Mentor Michigan will receive $5. The money raised from the event will be distributed through a statewide funding opportunity at a later date in the form of Detroit Pistons mini-grants. Please note that when purchasing tickets, you will need to use the keyword "mentor".
This is a great opportunity to engage your matches, program staff, family and/or friends in an evening out with the Detroit Pistons! You won't want to miss this awesome opportunity to highlight mentoring in Michigan! For more information about "Mentoring Night at the Palace", visit www.mentormichigan.org.
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MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thomas G. Coon, Director, MSU Extension, East Lansing,MI 48824. This information is for educational purposes only. Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not mentioned.
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