Mapping Youth Mentoring Network Partnerships

By Diana Whitton, Lynley Yeo and Alison Hine June 2009

Numerous programs have been developed to meet the needs of youth through mentoring. These programs are coordinated by a range of service providers throughout Australia. To ensure their success, the providers’ directors establish a range of partnerships, both formal and informal. This study aims to identify factors which contribute to the development of partnerships which contribute to the sustainability of mentor relationships.

This study adds to limited existing research into how partnerships between organizations are developed and sustained to help meet the needs of young people in Australian today

Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF, 2.95mb)

Mentoring Matters: The State of Play of AYMN Registered Programs National Survey Findings 2009

The following paper provides a brief overview and comment about the state of play of youth mentoring programs that were registered with the Australian Youth Mentoring Network as at July- August 2009. Key findings include:

• 13,388 young people were mentored by AYMN registered programs in 2008. This number increased by 31.5% in 2009 to 17,607 young people
• The top priority for mentoring programs is to increase the young person’s personal growth with 62% of respondents rated this as their first priority
• 26 programs (18%) will have their primary source of funding cease by the 31st of December 2009
• Only 12.7% of all programs believe they will be able to sustain their program if their primary source of funding disappeared
• 65% of programs reported issues with staff and volunteer morale because of uncertain funding.

Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF, 535kb)

Building Critical Social Infrastructure: The business case for expanding suport for school based mentoring in Australia

Many Australian school based mentoring programs are vulnerable. Programs usually survive on short term funding cycles and they are most often in special grant categories, rather than part of the mainstream education budgets. Sustainability relies on adequate funding over an extended period in order to build and maintain a pool of effective mentors.

This reports discusses the rationale for school based mentoring in Australia and provides an overview of mentoring in Australian schools. It proposes a 10 point plan for developing a national school based mentoring strategy which can be achieved by:

• Strengthening national policy settings and leadership
•  Increasing government funding
• Improving program sustainability and impact
• Understanding and promoting good practice

Click here to download the report (PDF, 1.17Mb)

Mentoring Matters: YMN Registered Programs National Survey Findings 2007

The Mentoring Matters report has four key findings:

• Most programs believe that mentees are motivated to participate in mentoring by having someone who supports them and provides friendship (56%). This is followed by careers guidance (17%) and to develop skills and work experience (15%).
• More than a third of mentoring programs’ funding ceases on the 31st December this year (35%). Only 2% of programs have access to an ongoing funding arrangement.
• An overwhelming majority of program practitioners believe that there are NOT enough resources and services accessible in their community for children and young people (74%).
• Funding is the largest factor identified to assist in developing mentoring programs (26%). This was followed closely by professional development and training (21%), networking (13%) and promotion of mentoring including sponsorship (11%).

Click here to download a copy (PDF, 586kb)