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Our Beginnings
In 1997, San Diego
County sent a delegation to Philadelphia to attend the
"President's Summit on Youth, America's Promise,"
Chaired by Colin Powell. One of the major goals identified
by participants to that Summit was to "support America's
youth by providing each child with a caring and stable
adult." Inspired and wanting to make a difference,
the San Diego delegation returned home to organize a youth
mentoring collaborative where knowledge and other resources
could be shared.
A local organization called the Children's Initiative
spearheaded an effort which resulted in a core group coming
together to develop The Mentoring Coalition of San Diego
County. Since 1998, area program managers and administrators
have met monthly to network with each other for the purposes
of education, training, and to share leads on volunteers,
as well as the financial resources needed to sustain individual
programs.
Accomplishments
Brimming with an
inclusive and collaborative spirit, the members of the
Coalition are proud that among the nearly 30 youth mentoring
coalitions in the state, ours is one of the best attended.
Coalition staff has also worked to improve California's
mentoring efforts by helping state agencies to revise
the Quality Assurance Standards approval process for individual
mentoring programs.
In addition, over the past few years the Coalition has
promoted best practices by implementing approximately
20 workshops for program managers, plus a great number
of "mini-workshops" during our monthly meetings.
A non-profit charitable organization, the aim of Mentoring
Coalition of San Diego County is to continue support individual
programs by encouraging them to work together for the
good of the young people in our region.
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