Celebrating National Mentoring Day – a powerful tool for change
By Merossa Cofie, Project Manager, Mentoring Works
With 500 mentors across our programmes every year and growing, our mentoring offering at ELBA and the BIG Alliance continues to go from strength to strength.
Every year, we are delighted to have more partners and volunteers supporting our beneficiaries, from our young people to non-for-profit organisations, including our more bespoke programmes.
27th October marks National Mentoring Day and this year, we turn our focus on the need to continue to develop our mentoring programmes and reflect on how far we have come.
The need and interest in mentoring have especially grown in recent months in light of COVID-19, with an increased commitment from our partners to support during these challenging times.
Mentoring Works/Higher Education
ELBA and BIG Alliance’s flagship mentoring programme, Mentoring Works was established in 1996 and has since connected and supported thousands of volunteer mentors and students in London in areas that are positioned high on the Indices of Deprivation.
The programme introduces young people to the world of work and develops key skills and knowledge needed for future careers.
In 2019, we were delighted to be recognised and shortlisted in two categories at the National Mentoring Awards; for our Mentoring Works programme and for our bespoke programme with Samuel Rhodes School, supporting young people with learning needs.
This year, following the disruption of COVID-19 on students’ learning, students need support now more than ever, and we are responding to the needs of our young people, having adapted and developed resources to empower mentors and help students back on track with their learning and motivation.
“The Mentoring Works team has worked hard since March, despite the disruption of COVID-19, to adapt the programme and keep delivering remotely. We want the young people in our communities and the volunteer business mentors in our partner companies to continue to have the opportunity to connect, engage and work together on a high impact programme, at a time when support, reassurance, guidance, motivation and skills building has never been needed more. We are incredibly grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm we have seen across our networks and will strive to continue to offer robust mentoring that aligns with and addresses the needs of our young people.”
– Siân Lewis, Mentoring Works Programme Manager
Our Higher Education mentoring programme continues to support students with the skills they need as they seek employment. Our recent ‘Lockdown Mentoring’ programme, which took place from June – October 2020 for students that had internships, work placements and jobs cancelled, saw 20 students matched with volunteers from across 10 companies, with students being supported with CV reviews and job applications.
Our flagship graduate programme, Eagles, places local graduates in some of London’s leading companies within Corporate Social Responsibility. Interns are further supported with a mentor for the length of their placement and have gone on to successful careers, working in established and reputable organisations across London.
Leaders in Partnership
The charity sector has been deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis, in trying to support its communities and to continue operating its services. Leaders in Partnership, our community coaching programme, creates 1:1 coaching partnerships between third sector leaders and senior employees from the business world, to strengthen the leadership of east London not for profit organisations. Now running twice a year, the COVID-19 crisis has made Leaders in Partnership more important than ever, as leaders tackle the dual challenge of meeting increased demand with reduced resources. By taking part, volunteers offer community leaders the space to explore challenges by acting as a sounding board and providing an external perspective, giving them the support and guidance that is often hard to access in the third sector. Participants in a recent programme commented:
“I learnt so many valuable skills to apply to my role. I have become more confident in myself as a leader and have learnt more about what my strengths are and what I find difficult. The impact on our organisation has been practical suggestions around how we could increase staff engagement and get people involved in shaping our services.”
– Amelia Willett, Operations Director, Working Well Trust
“It was excellent, the programme was very well thought out and I enjoyed supporting my partner, who was engaged and committed. I couldn’t have asked for more. I was able to support my partner at a time of change both within her organisation and outside.”
– Charlotte Davis, Head of Operational Resilience, Bupa.
Parity, Moving on Up and Everyone’s Business
The employment outcomes for young black men continue to be concerning, despite improvements in their educational attainment. This is likely to be further exacerbated by the high levels of unemployment as a result of COVID-19. The Parity Project and Moving on Up (MoU) seeks to improve the employability and employment outcomes of Young Black Men, living in London and Newham respectively. The importance of role models and mentorship has led to the development of a mentoring programme, utilising the skills and expertise of corporate volunteers and raising awareness of the vital access to sustainable career opportunities. Parity has been recognised for its work in youth employment and “doing the best work to challenge discrimination.”
“The Parity mentoring programme helped me in building my confidence and networking skills. Being a student from a non-traditional background, I knew nothing about the corporate world but my mentor helped me in navigating the financial services and preparing me for success in my current role. I highly recommend this programme.”
– Parity Mentee
Everyone’s Business is ELBA’s new initiative to harness the resources, expertise and opportunities of the business sector to help tackle serious youth violence and knife crime. This will include the launch of a mentoring programme to provide much-needed support for at risk young people.
Thank you for the generosity of our mentors who time and time again, volunteer their time, energy and expertise to support our beneficiaries. We are humbled by the testimonials and journeys of both our mentors and beneficiaries. We must not underestimate the power of mentoring, knowing although these connections are formed on our programmes, the impact of these relationships can last a lifetime.
Happy National Mentoring Day!
To learn more about our mentoring programmes, please visit our website here.
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