Federal Funding for Mentoring: Past, Present & Future presented by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota; April 6, 2011; features panelist Joellen Gonder-Spacek. Part of monthly Quality In Action webinar series.

1. Quality in Action Federal Funding for Mentoring: Past, Present & Future April 6, 2011 Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

3. 3 Overview Federal Funding Historical Context Sources Current Status of Federal Funding Considerations for Future

4. 4 Elements of Effective Practice Develop a financial plan Develop a program budget Determine the amount of funding needed to start and sustain the program Identify and secure a diversified funding stream needed to start and sustain the program Determine the amount of time each funding source can be expected to provide resources Establish internal controls and auditing requirements Establish a system for managing program finances.

5. 5 Why Support Sustained Federal Funding Without increased funding, mentoring organizations will never be able to recruit, train, and support all of the mentors necessary to bridge the mentoring gap. In a survey conducted of 1000 mentoring programs across the country, 78.8% admitted that fundraising is very or somewhat difficult for their program, and 53.8% of programs are concerned that they will have to shrink in size or end their operations due to lack of funding. Existing federal grant programs for mentoring competitively fund the highest quality applicants that demonstrate sound and effective mentoring plans and practices, and provide flexible grant funding to best address local needs. This funding promotes local control and rewards high quality and effectiveness Invest in the Future of America's Children: Support Funding for Mentoring

6. 6 Joellen Gonder-Spacek Executive Director, Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

7. 7 Historical Context President Bush proposed elimination of Mentoring for Success funding and reduction in Mentoring of Children of Prisoners Obama proposes elimination of Mentoring for Success funding based on controversial school based mentoring study President Bush requested $450M over 3 years Depart. Of Education and Dept. of Health & Human Services Mentoring for Success Act-$50M Congress preserved $100M for Mentoring for Success & Children of Prisoners Obama preserves Children of Prisoners funding for $50M Secured $50M each for Mentoring for Success & Children of Prisoners Mentoring for Children of Prisoners Program-$50M

8. 8 Forms of Federal Funding Contracts-between federal, state, & local gov’t and private or public agencies require provision of specified services & performance standards Formula or block grants-usually administered by states or localities & offers flexibility for program goals & needs Discretionary or project grants-fund targeted program activities from preventing juvenile delinquency to providing education enrichment. Competitive grant process and administered by federal agencies.

9. Sources of Federal Funding for Mentoring 9

10. 10 CurrentStateof Federal Funding

11. 11 Current State of Federal Funding

12. 12 Current State of Federal Funding

13. 13 Recommendations for Future Redesign of Public Funding Federal agencies invest only in evidence based best practices for youth mentoring Scientifically based resource tool to track mentor program outcomes Federal mentoring council representing all federal agencies investing in youth mentoring to establish progressive research agenda and common outcomes Creation of regional hubs or intermediaries to conduct research, disseminate funding, & provide TA and training best practices Expand deployment of AmeriCorp, SeniorCorp, and VISTA’s to support mentoring program quality & capacity

14. 14 Resources Advocate for MentoringIn this section, you can learn about critical public policy issues facing mentoring and contact your members of Congress Contacting Your Legislators Legislative Process Other IssuesIn addition to efforts to increase funding for mentoring and streamline the criminal background check system, MENTOR works on other issues that can benefit mentoring or raise its profile No Child Left Behind Mentoring For All Act Mentors for Foster Care Youth House Mentoring Supports Form Caucus

15. 15 Resources Find valuable and practical research in areas such as mentoring, nonprofit capacity building, and family systems support. In the Arena (ITA) is a virtual community where practitioners can interact with others who also design, develop, launch and maintain programs to benefit the needs of national, international and local communities. Established in 1991, Dare Mighty Things is a consulting and training firm with offices in VA, NH and NY. DMT partners include government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and institutions who are charged with, or take on the responsibility for, delivering support services to underserved or at-risk populations within our society.

16. 16 Resources We improve the quality of life in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and in the 23 sovereign tribal nations that share the same geography by strengthening organizational, community, and individual leadership. Learn more about the Bush Fellowship Program.

17. 17 Resources The Humphrey School of Public Affairs inspires, educates, and supports innovative leaders to advance the common good in a diverse world.

19. 20 Other Resources This presentation & otherswww.slideshare.net/traininginstitute MPM Trainingwww.mpmn.org/traininginstitute Web sites & PDFswww.delicious.com/traininginstitute 20

20. 21 Next Quality in Action Webinar May 4 - Mentor Program Evaluation This month's webinar will feature tips for mentoring program evaluation and a live demo of the Oregon Mentors Evaluation Instrument Toolkit, a collection of downloadable evaluation instruments, surveys, scales, and questionnaires designed to provide youth mentoring programs with increased access to reliable evaluation tools. Panelists include Mike Garringer, Resource Advisor/Web Designer with the National Mentoring Center and Celeste Janssen, Program Manager with Oregon Mentors. 21