Important dates
New applications are not currently being accepted.
Overview
Child and youth mentoring is when a caring individual provides a young person with support, advice, friendship, positive reinforcement and constructive role modelling over time. This support involves teaching skills, listening and sharing perspectives and creating a sense of belonging.
Mentoring helps young people develop confidence, self-esteem and social skills. Research tells us that, over time, consistent mentorship increases the likelihood that a child or youth will complete high school and experience success in life.
Community-based service providers can apply for one-year grants to fund a project or activity that supports mentoring opportunities for at-risk youth and youth receiving government services.
Projects eligible to receive funding must meet the core objective of providing positive mentoring opportunities.
Funding
Funding decisions are based on:
- the provider’s ability to provide youth mentorship
- the overall number of applications
- the amount of funding requested by applicants
- the total Community Partnerships Youth Grants budget allocation
Based on available funding and the number of applications received, not all applications meeting the established criteria may be funded or receive the full grant amount requested.
Eligibility
Eligible mentoring program models
Community Partnerships Youth Grants support a wide variety of mentoring program models, including models described below. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. For more information on mentoring, visit the Alberta Mentoring Partnership website.
- Career mentoring
- Focuses on assisting the child, youth or group being mentored in acquiring the skills and knowledge needed to advance or begin a career path.
- Cascading/Tri mentoring
- Occurs when a mentee in one relationship becomes a mentor in another relationship, often to a peer or a younger person. All mentors in this structure require ongoing training and support. Sometimes referred to as Big/Middle/Little.
- Cultural mentoring
- Focuses on sharing the customs, values and practices of a specific culture, tradition or group with the child, youth or group being mentored.
- Cross age peer mentoring
- Occurs when a peer or youth who is older (typically 3 years or school grades higher), more knowledgeable, or has advanced skills to mentor a younger peer.
- Group mentoring
- Takes place when a group of mentors are matched with a larger group of youth, ideally with one mentor paired with 2 youth.
- One-to-one mentoring
- Focuses on providing a very personalized form of mentoring between one mentor and one mentee.
- Social skills or personal mentoring
- Focuses on supporting a particular population to address issues common to that group or to build particular behaviours and practices. Or, may involve supporting an individual or group through a critical time of change development.
- Team mentoring
- Matches several mentors working with small groups of children or young people.
- Teen mentoring
- Matches a high school or upper-middle school teen with a younger student to mentor. Matches could be 1-on-1, 1 teen with 2 or 3 younger students, 2 or 3 teens with a small group of younger students or a configuration that works for both school situations.
Eligible projects
Eligible projects must meet all of the following criteria. Projects must:
- provide services for youth up to age 25
- provide mentoring opportunities for youth at risk in Alberta or youth who are or have been in government care
- address a demonstrated need or gap in the community
- have evidence-based support or evidence of best practice for the project design or approach
- integrate effective practices for mentoring as appropriate to the project design or approach
- align with one or more of the following outcomes:
- families are supported to provide a safe and healthy environment for children and youth
- children and youth in need of child intervention are supported in order to achieve safety and well-being
- greater collaboration between government, communities and Indigenous partners to strengthen services and achieve shared social outcomes
- be supported by at least one additional community partner, as demonstrated by a letter of support from a partnering organization or community group.
The following project considerations must be reflected in the application package:
- activities or strategies outlined in the Schedule A are clearly stated and relevant to the project outcomes
- targets/performance measures outlined in the Schedule A are clearly stated, measurable and relevant to the project outcomes
- potential risks to fulfilling the deliverables of the grant are clearly stated
- mitigation strategies for the potential risks to fulfilling the deliverables of the grant are clearly stated and appropriate
- the project budget outlined in the Schedule B is realistic and appropriate
Ineligible projects
Funding must be used to support the specific mentoring program, not to support the operation of the organization.
Funding will not be approved for:
- ongoing operational costs beyond project parameters
- major capital costs
- purchase of capital assets
- purchase of personal items or gifts
- debt reduction
- projects focused on early childhood development
Eligible organizations
- Organizations must be registered with Corporate Registries.
- Organizations must insure their operations under a contract of general liability insurance, in accordance with Alberta’s Insurance Act, in an amount not less than $2,000,000.00 inclusive per occurrence. Organizations must insure against bodily injury, personal injury and property damage, including loss of use thereof.
Effective mentoring practices
Projects are expected to integrate effective practices for mentoring as appropriate to the project design or approach.
Latest research and evidence suggests that these practices are associated with effective mentoring relationships. The degree of applicability of each practice may vary depending on the type of program model.
More information is available on the Mentor website
Applicants must demonstrate how they incorporate the following elements into their program’s design or specify why elements don’t apply within their application.
Recruitment
Recruit appropriate mentors and mentees by realistically describing the program’s aims and expected outcomes.
Screening
Screen prospective mentors to determine whether they have the time, commitment, and personal qualities to be safe and effective mentors. Also screen prospective mentees, and their parents or guardians, about whether they have the time, commitment and desire to be effectively mentored.
Training
Train prospective mentors, mentees, and mentees’ parents (or legal guardians or responsible adults) in the basic knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to build an effective and safe mentoring relationship. To do so, use language and tools that are culturally sensitive and inclusive of diverse youth populations. Populations include Indigenous youth, multicultural youth, youth with mental health concerns, youth in government care and LGBTQ2S+ youth.
Matching and initiating
Match mentors and mentees, and initiate the mentoring relationship using strategies likely to increase the odds that mentoring relationships will endure and be effective.
Monitoring and support
Monitor mentoring relationship milestones and child safety. Support matches through ongoing advice, problem-solving, training and access to resources for the duration of each relationship.
Closure
Facilitate closing the match in a way that affirms the contributions of mentors and mentees, and offers them the opportunity to prepare for closure and assess the experience.
How to apply
Applications are not currently being accepted.