Catholic Charities of Buffalo and MENTOR New York collaborate to provide students enhanced mentor services

Catholic Charities of Buffalo and MENTOR New York announce a partnership of efforts that will provide enhanced mentoring for students in Catholic Charities’ Workforce and Education Services programs.

MENTOR New York will train Catholic Charities staff, who work with students ages 16 to 24, in its evidence-based best practice mentoring services beginning this month. The curriculum equips mentors with skills to effectively support the personal and professional growth of young people, coach supervisors on managing with a mentoring mindset, and teaches how to guide young people towards engaging and leveraging mentoring opportunities while, at the same time, meeting their goals.

“As young adults navigate the workforce and find their footing, mentors are essential. At MENTOR New York, our role is to ensure that every young person has those critical mentor-like relationships with their supervisors and other colleagues, to equip them to self-advocate and gain exposure to new perspectives and experiences,” said Brenda Jimenez, CEO of MENTOR New York. “Strategic partnerships within the community are a catalyst for carrying out this vision. We are grateful to be providers of the National Mentoring Partnership through the support of the Schultz Family Foundation, which allows us to leverage this powerful partnership with Catholic Charities of Buffalo.”

Jeff Conrad, Catholic Charities Workforce and Education Services director, said, “We are thrilled to begin this partnership with MENTOR New York, and for the potential this will bring our students. This collaboration of best practices training that our staff will implement in our programming, resulting in enhanced mentorship for our students, will increase the value of our service. Mentoring can play a pivotal role in a young person’s life, particularly if family support systems might be lacking.”

Last year, Catholic Charities’ Workforce and Education Services, located at 1001 East Delevan Ave., Buffalo, assisted about 670 out-of-school or unemployed youth ages 16 to 24 with TASC preparation, scheduling the exam, employment search help, tutoring and college/training placement services.

The evidence-based, best practice mentoring services that MENTOR New York will provide are part of the National Mentoring Project, a nationwide initiative developed by MENTOR National with the support of the Schultz Family Foundation to infuse mentoring into the workplace for Opportunity Youth. The goal of the project is to provide training for supervisors/mentor and interns/mentees to help build a web of support for Opportunity Youth to strengthen their opportunities to thrive in the workplace and help build social capital that will last them beyond their internship.

To access Catholic Charities Workforce and Education Services or to learn more, go to ccwny.org/workforce or call 716-893-3500.