UPCOMING TRAINING/EVENTS

The most important issue for all mentoring programs is to attract and retain good men.

We found many men are hesitant to interact with teenage boys. Our experience is that men remember their teenage years as a difficult period in their life. In addition, the idea of spending unstructured one-on-one time with a teenage boy is daunting.

We developed a powerful training that addresses this issue, educates men about our program and the need, and inpsires and motivates adult men to show up for teenage boys - and themselves.

We take men back to their teen years by sharing teenage stories, revealing teenage secrets, and remembering the glory, discovery and difficulty of these years. This process of "reclaiming their teenager" gives men a new perspective about teenage boys. They learn that being of service to boys helps them to be better men.

This 24-hour training not only helps solve the problem of recruiting and keeping men volunteers, it also helps men grow and become better men.

The job of men who choose to become Mentors after this training is as follows:

• Mentors must pass an FBI background check
• Mentors guide, support and reinforce healthy behaviors
• Each Mentor commits to attend Community Mentoring Groups with his mentee for one full year
• Mentors are taught how to listen, accept, and admire the young men they will mentor

In Boys to Men, one-on-one mentoring is deephasized. We are building a community of men! Boys spend more time with their mentors during the Rites of Passage Adventure (ROPA) Weekend than the first six months in typical mentoring programs. After the first weekend, structured Community Mentoring Groups is the main vehicle for time spent with the Journeymen. Research shows that this type of group mentoring is one of the most effective mentoring models known.

Let us know your interest in mentoring!