Why Become a BEST Kids Mentor?
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When you volunteer with BEST Kids, you re-direct the path of a youth in foster care. By cultivating a long-term relationship based on consistency, trust, and quality-time spent together, mentors help to build social and emotional wellness, develop life skills, and expand the world view of their mentee.
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What’s It Like to Be a BEST Kids Mentor?
Foster care children nationwide average three foster family placements, but children in Washington D.C.’s child welfare system often fare much worse. These children have many adults revolving in and out of their lives. In order to fill the need of consistent adults in the youth's lives, BEST Kids requires mentors to commit to one year of mentoring. As a mentor, you may be their only consistent, caring and competent adult between their foster care placements. BEST Kids encourages mentors to participate in the program beyond the one year commitment; the longer a mentoring relationship lasts, the more powerful the impact.
Match Meetings: When you are officially matched with a mentee, you will be assigned a Mentoring Support Specialist who will reach out to coordinate a match meeting with you, your mentee, and their caregiver. The match meeting is a chance for you and your mentee to meet one another, break the ice, establish how you want your match relationship to look, and plan for your first outing. Our staff will be with you at this meeting and will help you coordinate the logistics and support you along the way.
Monthly Outings: Matches participate in activities that both parties will enjoy and are decided upon by both the mentor and mentee. Some favorite outings have been ice skating, bowling, visiting local museums, and attending cultural festivals. Mentors also attend pre-match and on-going training sessions that both prepare and support them throughout the match.
Weekly Contact: BEST Kids mentors spend ten hours a month with their mentees and maintain weekly contact in some form. While in-person contact is preferred, weekly contact can consist of a phone call, postcard, email or text; anything that lets the mentees know their mentors are thinking about them.
Peer Groups: On the second Saturday of every month, mentors and mentees attend Peer Group events. There are four Peer Groups that split mentees and mentors into their appropriate age groups (6-10, 11-13, 14-16, and 17- 21 years old). Mentees and mentors meet other matches in the program and engage in age-appropriate experiential learning activities. Some of our past Peer Groups include STEM experiments, volunteer or career days, rock climbing, canoeing, improv comedy workshops, and sporting events.
Mentor Reporting: Every month, mentors record the time spent with their mentees through a simple online database. This helps BEST Kids track the progress of the relationship, gain feedback on quality assurance, and ensure that all outings are safe for you and your mentee.
Have more questions? Read our Mentor FAQ page or reach out to the BEST Kids' Recruitment and Admissions Coordinator directly.
Monthly Outings: Matches participate in activities that both parties will enjoy and are decided upon by both the mentor and mentee. Some favorite outings have been ice skating, bowling, visiting local museums, and attending cultural festivals. Mentors also attend pre-match and on-going training sessions that both prepare and support them throughout the match.
Weekly Contact: BEST Kids mentors spend ten hours a month with their mentees and maintain weekly contact in some form. While in-person contact is preferred, weekly contact can consist of a phone call, postcard, email or text; anything that lets the mentees know their mentors are thinking about them.
Peer Groups: On the second Saturday of every month, mentors and mentees attend Peer Group events. There are four Peer Groups that split mentees and mentors into their appropriate age groups (6-10, 11-13, 14-16, and 17- 21 years old). Mentees and mentors meet other matches in the program and engage in age-appropriate experiential learning activities. Some of our past Peer Groups include STEM experiments, volunteer or career days, rock climbing, canoeing, improv comedy workshops, and sporting events.
Mentor Reporting: Every month, mentors record the time spent with their mentees through a simple online database. This helps BEST Kids track the progress of the relationship, gain feedback on quality assurance, and ensure that all outings are safe for you and your mentee.
Have more questions? Read our Mentor FAQ page or reach out to the BEST Kids' Recruitment and Admissions Coordinator directly.
Becoming a Mentor
- Must be 21 years old or older
- Intend to be in the area long enough to fulfill your minimum 1 year commitment
- Have access to a reliable vehicle; either you own a car or have a subscription to Zipcar, etc.
- Provide a clean driving record and clean criminal background record
- Willing to be consistent, have an open mind, and have fun!
- Complete COVID-19 vaccination required
- The first step in becoming a mentor is to fill out the online Mentor Application. Please be sure to fill out all the questions, including references, previous work experience, and any volunteer experiences.
- Once BEST Kids receives your application, we will review it and contact you within one to two business days.
- If BEST Kids determines that you are eligible for our program, we will schedule an in-person interview with you. The interview will take about 30-40 minutes.
- After the interview, we will review your references, application and interview materials. If accepted, you will receive an email informing you to begin the clearance process. This process takes 4-6 weeks to complete. Please review the BEST Kids Clearance Timeline. We will walk you through the process and offer additional assistance if needed. Remember, if the clearance process is done in a timely manner, you are only a few weeks away from beginning your journey as a mentor!
- Please read the Mentor Requirements and Responsibilities to understand what is expected of you once you begin mentoring.
- 94.4% of caregivers report seeing an increase in critical life skills in their child as a product of mentoring.
- After a year of mentoring, 100% of mentors and caregivers report that the youth feel increased support in their everyday lives.
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Know someone who would be a great mentor? Refer them here and we will reach out to tell them more about BEST Kids!
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