Children in the BEST Kids Mentoring Program will succeed. We believe in them and our children will grow to believe in themselves. Our positive expectations of the children include goal setting that is individualized to each child’s needs, abilities, and gifts.

Youth participation

Mentoring is a two-way street. While the mentor guides the child, the mentor also encourages the child to contribute his or her own solutions to problems and to set goals for him or herself. In this way, the child comes to accept responsibility for his or her actions, and also learns that his or her viewpoints are important and respected.

Mastery of skills

We will encourage competency in a variety of areas and provide ample opportunities for meaningful achievements. Our kids will be able to say, “I am good at something.”

Building strong social skills

Washington, DC is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation. BEST Kids recognizes that children and mentors may have common experiences, but also that each will bring to the relationship different mores and understandings of socially acceptable behavior. Actions that may seem normal in one neighborhood may seem inappropriate in another. BEST Kids Mentoring Program training is designed to make the mentors more sensitive to the culture in which these children have been raised while simultaneously enabling the mentors to help the children adopt the attitudes that will equip them to operate successfully in the larger society.

Having fun

More than anything else, we endeavor to make our mentoring program fun for both mentors and mentees.  Our staff and advisors attempt to provide mentors with constant support in the form of ongoing trainings, troubleshooting advice, recommendations for fun 1:1 activities and mentor outings.  We also strive to ensure that every peer group experience provides both good learning opportunities for the youth and time to strengthen both group and mentor-mentee bonds.