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Raising the Bar: Strategies for achieving greater impact through effective collaborations

Mary & Camille (Class of ‘12)

Presenters

April Klics

Associate Vice President of Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star

Regina Leslie

Director of Education Programs, Capital Partners for Education

Presenters

Adrienne KupperManaging Director of iMentor Interactive

Hanh TranDirector of Partnerships

James WilsonDirector of Outreach

Nadia KhanPartnership Manager

Introduction

Think of a time when you had a great partnership. What’s one word or phrase that captures why it was success?

Think of a time when you had a failed partnership. Choose one word or phrase to describe why it didn’t succeed.

Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know and answer two questions:

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Fausto (Class of ‘12) & Corey

About iMentor

iMentor NYC is our school-based mentoring program that matches high school and college students in one-to-one relationships with college-educated mentors. Mentor-mentee pairs are matched for 3 or 4 years and exchange weekly emails and attend monthly in-person events based on iMentor’s evidence based curriculum. During the 2013-14 academic year, iMentor will serve 3,000 students through partnerships with 18 schools in NYC.

iMentor Interactive is our national program that brings iMentor’s effective mentoring model to communities nationwide. We provide curricula, technology tools, and consulting to non-profits so they can implement their own effective mentoring programs focused on college success. During the 2013-14, we will serve over 2,500 students in 12 states.

iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower students in low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.

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Eric & Zachary (Class of ‘12)

CPE helps motivated, low-income high school students in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area overcome the academic and social barriers that might otherwise prevent them from enrolling and succeeding in the colleges of their choice.

CPE empowers students to reach their full potential in high performing charter and private schools through a unique combination of one-on-one mentoring, individualized staff support, college and career readiness programming, and scholarships. By complimenting the rigorous education in some of DC’s top high schools with additional services, CPE levels the playing field between our students and their upper-income peers.

Partner Program: Capital Partners for Education

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CPE was founded in 1993 and began its partnership with iMentor in 2012.

Program Details

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o Grades served – Grade 9 through college freshmen o Number of pairs – 156

o Length of Match - CPE requires a minimum two-year commitment to work one-on-one with a student through weekly emails and monthly outings.

o Students served - CPE seeks out motivated students from under-resourced Washington, D.C. area neighborhoods with failing public schools.

o Staff Support – Student-Mentor Coordinators provide ongoing pair support

o Curriculum - CPE uses iMentor’s curriculum weekly for weekly email communication. Quarterly workshops are a hybrid of iMentor curriculum, career readiness and employability skills building curriculum provided by and facilitated by Urban Alliance and personal finance and financial literacy skills facilitated by a local investment group, Good Life Investments.

Impact of Partnership

CPE Partnership Vetting Process

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• Meaningful: For the first time, it will enable CPE to serve students remotely and is designed to spark meaningful conversation between mentors and mentees.

• Efficient: By eliminating paper applications and matching students and mentors more quickly and efficiently, CPE anticipates a 40% increase in staff efficiency.

• Customizable: Curriculum is customizable and will align with our workshops.

• Innovative: A cutting edge tool, CPE is the first organization in the DC area and one of only 13 nationally to be using iMentor.

Partnership Support Structure

• Weekly phone check ins for the first year, transition to bi-weekly check-ins

• CPE staff frequently emails and calls iMentor Partnership Manager with technical questions, to provide programmatic updates and seek recommendations

• CPE frequently takes advantage of iMi Learning Communities as well as following up with individual iMi partners directly.

mentor2.0 is Big Brothers Big Sisters’ technology-enriched one-to-one youth mentoring program directly targeting high school students. Through partnerships between Big Brothers Big Sisters, schools, companies and individuals, mentor2.0 will support high-impact mentoring relationships, aimed at providing high school students with the support and guidance they need to graduate high school and succeed in college and the workforce.

mentor2.0 maintains the fundamentals of quality mentoring Big Brothers Big Sisters is known for through one-to-one relationships, providing professional relationship support and maintaining a focus on safety for the benefit of the mentee and mentor. mentor2.0 expands this by using technology for much of the interaction between the mentee and mentor, reducing the in-person time commitment to once every six weeks, and supporting the customized curriculum guide throughout the match interaction.

Partner Program: Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star

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BBBS Lonestar’s mentor2.0 program launched in fall 2012.

Program Details

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o Grades served – Grade 9 through Freshman year of college. o Number of pairs – 630

o Length of Match – 4 year program (9th grade – 12th grade) or 3 year program (11th grade – Freshman year of college)

o Students served – High school students at partner schools in Dallas and Houston

o Staff Support – Partnership Specialists provide ongoing pair support

o Curriculum – BBBS Lonestar uses iMentor’s curriculum weekly for weekly email communication and monthly events.

Attendees will be presented with examples of challenges that arose during the Capital Partners for Education and BBBS Lone Star partnerships and will be asked to share their initial thoughts on how to handle the challenges that arise within the scenarios.

Partnership Scenarios

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Scenario 2

Scenario 1

Elements of a successful partnership

• Robust Vetting process

• Open Communication

• Clearly defined roles

• Aligned goals

• Trust and respect

• Collaborative learning and sharing between partner organizations

Mary & Camille (Class of ‘12)

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Questions?

Ryan and Dyhaun (Class of ‘12)Stephanie & Emani (Class of ‘12)