Empowering Disadvantaged Youth - Mentor - Freedom Employability Academy

ABOUT MENTORSHIP

Most students from low-income backgrounds do not personally know educated successful adults, who would take the time to speak with them and guide them. Just one conversation per month with a group of mentees is surprisingly impactful to motivate, help and move them along on their personally chosen path and graduate from FEA.

Mentors make a significant difference simply by taking an interest in the life of the mentee. Just being there for the mentee makes the mentee feel special.

Apart from scheduling and providing a brief profile no formal preparation is required on the part of the mentor. Mentors can provide their profile or we can use their LinkedIn profile.

The long term impact of such mentoring is incalculable. The mentored students are more likely to mentor other youngsters around them and thereby having a positive influence on those around them. Mentees perform better in interviews, work better in teams and interact better in social situations. They tend to earn more than those who have not been mentored, and even learn to handle challenges better and overcome depression. In the long run, they live more fulfilling lives.

OBJECTIVE OF FEA’S MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

The aim of the FEA’s Mentorship program is to motivate, help and move the mentees along on their personally chosen path and graduate from FEA. The idea is to better understand what professional paths are available to them, which of those might be appropriate to them, and what they need to do to get there. Concretely, by the last session of the mentorship program, every student in the class should be able to speak to what they want to do, why they want to do it, how they intend to go about it, and how they plan to overcome specific adversities they foresee.

HOW IS IT CONDUCTED

This is a Zoom based conversation for 90 min every month for 3-4 months (a total of 5 calls).

Before your session, you will receive information about the students with whom you will interact over the next several months. Their names, ages, educational background will be provided to you.

ROLE OF A MENTOR

Mentors are trusted advisers.
Mentors can help mentees reflect on the areas they can improve as an individual.
Stimulate the personal and professional growth of the mentee.
Mentors offer encouragement and help deal with adversity.
Mentors help set up boundaries and integrate positive discipline practices.
Mentors are the sounding boards to mentees ideas and can offer an empathic ear.
Mentors make a significant difference by just being present and by taking an interest.
Mentees can learn from Mentor’s experience and learn from the mistakes the beginners make.

SUPPORT FOR MENTORS

Mentorship Program Guide

FEA supports mentors by providing suggested talking points and a structure for each call, in addition to facilitating the calls.

THE MENTORING CALL

The Mentoring Program is divided into five Calls. The monthly calls are organized as follows:

Call 1

Introduction

Students and mentors introduce each other and share general questions and background

Call 2

Discovering your Career

Mentors help students begin thinking about future careers through the framework: What do you LIKE, what are you GOOD at, and what does society VALUE.

Call 3

Preparing for your Career

Mentors guide students in the beginning to think about the steps necessary to be in these careers

Call 4

Dealing with Adversities

Mentors help students imagine challenges they will face and how they will deal with them by sharing personal stories and offer personal stories and other tools

Call 5

Reviewing your Career Plan

After every call students will complete a worksheet leading up to a completed career plan. In this call, they will present these for feedback from the mentors and peers