Mentoring Initiative for Spanish-Speaking Communities                                en español

In 2004, the Mentor Center identified the need for the development and implementation of the Mentoring Outreach Initiative designed to assist local programs to develop effective minority mentor recruitment strategies, as well as to engage informal mentoring programs and initiatives in the process to strengthen their efforts in connecting young people with informal mentors.  It has been determined that there is a need to develop an initiative specifically designed to recruit mentors from the Spanish-speaking community, educate Spanish-speaking families about mentoring and provide technical assistance and resources to community programs serving the Spanish-speaking community.

There are at least 140,000 residents of Palm Beach County who are of Hispanic descent and one of the areas with the largest concentration of Hispanics is the Lake Worth/ Lantana area, with approximately 30% of their population identifying themselves as Hispanic. Currently in the Mentor Center Network of programs, only 5% of mentors are from Spanish speaking communities while over 30% of the youth being served or waiting to be served in these mentoring programs are  youth from Spanish speaking communities.

With this initiative, we are seeking input from the community to find alternative ways  to remove barriers that may be preventing Hispanics from becoming mentors. Whether is creating a committee,  developing new  marketing materials  targeting Hispanics, and by working closely with partners and stakeholders to identify potential mentors.

Become a Mentor!  
Complete our online volunteer interest form