Tampa Bay Mentor Match - Recently Updated Pages

Mentors currently available...

TMWillingham — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:33:40 CDT

Mentors are currently available and willing to speak with or guide children in these interest areas:

Visual Arts - drawing, painting, pen and ink, printmaking, illustration, theater arts (set and prop design, construction and painting, costume making)
Writing - journalism, book manuscripts
Home Economics - sewing, knitting, baking, crocheting
Medical field - Maternal Newborn nursing, childbirth education, infant/child safety ; Pyschology - counseling pyschology
Business- entrepreneurs, creating and running a small business
Tutoring - while not "mentoring" in the classic sense of the word, tutors listed here are willing to help youth with various academic subjects at no cost.

All About Mentoring

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:43:16 CDT

To mentor is to serve as a trusted counselor or teacher interested in academically or socially nurturing a less experienced individual, often in an occupational setting, but increasingly in community settings as a way to reach youth. Youth mentor programs are often designed for disadvantaged youth, or available only in schools or other government programs. Tampa Bay Mentor Match seeks to bring mentoring into common use in our everyday communities.

The best mentors combine professional competence, experience, the ability to communicate, and most importantly the ability to listen and support.

Some facts about the benefits of mentoring:

A study by Proctor and Gamble of mentoring in Cincinnati schools showed that young people with mentors were more likely to:

Stay in school
Attend classes
Be less disruptive when attending class
Get better grades
Go to college

In 2005,the MENTOR organization conducted the second Mentoring in America poll to assess the current state of mentoring in the U.S. While the full report provides an in-depth summary and explanation of the findings, highlights include the following:

3,000,000 adults have formal, one-to-one mentoring relationships with young people; an increase of 19% since 2002.
96% of existing mentors would recommend mentoring to others.
44 million American adults who are not currently mentoring a young person would seriously consider it.
While the average mentoring relationship lasts 9 months, 38% last at least one year.

While formal mentors work with the help of an organization or structured program, informal mentors do so without any support or training from an organization. The vast majority of mentors (71% ) work informally; the remaining 29 % are formal mentors.

Some of the reasons people want to mentor include:

A desire to help young people succeed: 82 percent.
A desire to make a difference in someone’s life: 76 percent.
A desire to give back to the community: 43 percent.
Religious and spiritual reasons: 27 percent.
Someone helped when he/she was young: 22 percent.

In Best Practices in Mentoring, at the Institute of Physics, the most successful mentor is described as someone who:

listens 'actively'
questions and finds out what is important to others, exploring their skills, aptitudes and aspirations
challenges assumptions and acts as a sounding board
helps someone less experienced to learn by allowing minor errors, but will endeavour to prevent them making major errors
recognises when the mentee should be identifying a need for other sources of help (such as from an institution), and
has appropriate training and experience for the role

The most successful "mentee" is described as someone who:

understands that the role of the mentor is to challenge and encourage but not to provide answer
guards against becoming dependent on the mentor
approaches each mentoring session fully prepared and interested

A successful mentoring partnership depends upon families, youth and mentors :

establishing ground-rules are established at the beginning of their relationship, that may include timings and format of mentoring sessions, the expected length of the commitment and methods of communications, and how involved a parent will be
and discussing the responsibilities and expected outcomes of the mentoring relationship, including any specific results the mentee hopes to gain from the relationship, and what the measures will be for these.

Working together, both mentor and student can be mutually enriched by their experience.

Tampa Bay Mentor Match Agreement

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:37:58 CDT

To join this Wiki, as a mentor or as a student, send us a note at info@learningis4everyone.org . Below is a copy of the message that everyone joining this wiki receives, and to which he or she must respond within three days in order to remain a participant in this effort.

**We urge everyone participating in Tampa Bay Mentor Match to be familiar with this information, and to be sure that any mentor or family with whom you are working is familiar with it, as well, and agrees to the terms set forth here. We also urge families and mentors to be clear in their expectations of one another, to follow common sense safety practices and to do whatever it takes for you to feel confident of the intentions and goals of the people with whom you intereact (here and anywhere!). **

If, at any time, you do not feel comfortable about a situation or an individual,do not proceed with a mentoring arrangement. Visit Safe Kids for more resources and information about Internet safety. You may also wish to adapt for your own use our suggested Family-Mentor Agreement.

That said...
___________________________________

Welcome to Tampa Bay Mentor Match!

We're glad you’re interested in community mentoring. Please read the following carefully:

Our wiki directory and resource is designed to facilitate connections between people willing to act as mentors to youth in the Tampa Bay area, and families seeking mentoring support for their children.

Learning is for Everyone acts only as directory clearinghouse for this project, and accepts no responsibility or liability regarding private arrangements between families and mentors.

⁭**All mentor agreements are private arrangements between mentors and families, and the use of common sense and due consideration to the safety and well being of all parties is completely up to families and mentors.**

⁭Please do not advertise any services or products on Tampa Bay Mentor Match, or to youth and their families.

⁭All mentoring is provided free of charge, on a volunteer basis, in the interest of the greater good, and should not imply or encourage anything beyond imparting knowledge and information to youth. Although mentors are welcome to include a link towork, if you have a business or service, so MentorMatch visitors can learn more about your professional history or services at your own webpage, **mentoring is not to be used as opportunity to solicit business**.

⁭Any mentor reported to be actively soliciting for any sort of business or service, or self-promoting instead of selflessly mentoring, will be removed from the directory. That said, any arrangements for services, classes or other business, *initiated by families*outside of the mentoring relationship, are purely between those volunteering mentoring services and families acting as consumers of their professional services.

You will be asked to sign and date a copy of this statement, acknowledging that you have read this message and agree to take complete responsibility for your ethical participation in this community project and that you agree to hold Learning is for Everyone harmless in any actions between mentors and families.

We must receive this statement from you before you can be a mentor, participate as a student or family, be part of our Wiki, or be listed in our Mentor Match Directory.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We think this is an important and promising project, and we believe reasonable adults and families can be trusted to make intelligent decisions about their community involvement and their interactions with one another.

After you've sent in your statement of agreement, we’ll send you an invitation to our Tampa Bay Mentor Match Wiki where you can update your profile, list your field of expertise or your children's youth interests, the geographical area you live in or are willing to mentor in, and then start connecting with one another. Just click the EasyEdit button to get started.

Terri Willingham
info@learningis4everyone.org

Welcome to Tampa Bay Mentor Match

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:37:04 CDT

Tampa Bay Mentor Match is a community project of Learning is for Everyone *, a nonprofit education resource group working to empower families and learners through information and networking, on the web and off. We believe that by pooling our collective intelligences together, our kids potentially have access to some powerful learning resources we can't achieve alone. The opportunity to spend time with someone who shares a child's interests or career goals provides a more meaningful and enduring education that any classroom can provide.

Spending time with an expert mentor – once a week, once a month, for an occasional lunch out, or for a day with someone where he or she works – can:

1) Help guide interested kids in their learning and practice choices,
2) Connect them at the community level with respect to their interests,
3) Give them adult perspectives different from those in their own families;
4) And gives them a realistic, hands-on look at careers and interests.

Mentoring is also a more realistic way for experts to help – it's certainly less time consuming than teaching a class, it's more personal, and certainly potentially more meaningful and enduring. Just the fact that you're not working with a group, but more one on one makes it easier for kids to ask questions, and for experts to give more contextual replies and guidance.

So where are we going with all of this? We're going to YOU.

Whatever you do, you can rest assured that some child, somewhere in our community, is interested. If you're willing to act as a mentor to youth in our community – and you determine completely what that means with respect to your time and energy – all you have to do is complete a profile and read and sign a copy of the Tampa Bay Mentor Match Agreement.

And think about people you know – tap them for their willingness to mentor youth. For teens, that might include a day with the mentor, or regular visits at work, or possibly apprenticeships. For younger children, family will accompany them, or have mentors come to their homes. We build the MentorMatch directory. Families and Mentors decide all the comfort levels and parameters.

Mentors can also be part of our online school, University of LIFE :http://universityoflife.myicourse.com/ Anyone can be a "faculty" member of the University of LIFE. "Courses" can be long or short – a resource list; a couple pages of instructional material about something; a paper; a how-to. You name it, and we can do it. It's extraordinarily easy to use Myicourse, and it's completely free.

The thing is, we can do so much more than we're doing, and we can much better utilize the human capital we've got in great abundance here.

If you'd like to join us, drop us a line at info@learningis4everyone.org . After you complete the agreement and profile, you can join our Wiki, and you’re set to go.

Let's create a real learning community!

Terri Willingham
www.Learningis4everyone.org
info@learningis4everyone.org

________________________________
*Important Note: Learning is for Everyone acts only as directory clearinghouse. We believe reasonable adults and families can be trusted to make intelligent decisions about their community involvement and their interactions with one another.

All mentor agreements are private arrangements between mentors and families, and the use of common sense and due consideration to the safety and well being of all parties is completely up to families and mentors. Please read the Agreement page carefully before participating in this effort. You may also want to consider adapting our sample Family-Mentor Agreement.

Additional information about selecting mentors and accepting students to mentor, common sense safety considerations, and other resources will be added in a timely fashion, so check back often.

Suggested Family-Mentor Agreement

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:35:05 CDT

Suggested Family-Mentor Agreement

(Adapt as needed or desired)

A. Guidelines
The following are some general guidelines for the Mentor Relationship:

⁭It is the responsibilty of families seeking mentorship to take all necessary common sense precautions when connecting with a Mentor or any other adult with whom their children will be working, and to whatever degree ensures the safety and welfare of their children, including accompanying minor children who will be meeting with mentors, asking for references and/or performing background checks if so desired.

⁭Mentors are expected to take common sense safety precautions as well, including never being alone with a child.

⁭The Mentor and Participating Family should decide whether email communication, phone calls or face-to-face meetings work best for both parties.

The Mentor Relationship is intended to be a flexible arrangement, entered into freely by both parties, and which may be terminated by the Mentor or Participating Family at any time.

⁭The Participating Family should be aware of and respect the fact that the Mentor may have a mentoring relationship with more than one Participating Family.

B. Mentor Covenants.

⁭ Mentor represents and warrants that Mentor has the legal capacity to enter into this agreement.

Mentors (including all members of Mentor’s family, as applicable) participating in the Mentor Relationship program agree to keep all information obtaining in the course of the Mentor Relationship confidential. Mentor agrees that, upon any termination of the mentoring relationship, to return any and all documents or materials provided to Mentor (if any) to Participating Family if so requested.

Mentor agrees that all mentoring services will be provided free of charge to Participating Family. Mentor’s services are strictly on a volunteer basis.

C. Participating Family Covenants.

⁭ Each person executing this Agreement on behalf of Participating Family represents and warrants that he or she has the legal capacity to enter into this agreement.

Participating families and students pledge to treat mentors with respect and courtesy, honoring mentors’ time and skills with promptness and attention.

Participating students, with the guidance of their families, pledge to take responsibility for their own learning and growth, recognizing that mentors are simply providing guidance for individual pursuit of knowledge.

D. Disclaimers
Participating Families and Mentors acknowledge that Learning is for Everyone’s role is simply to connect the Participating Family with Mentors who have registered their interest in providing mentoring services. Learning is for Everyone has not performed any background checks on any Mentors, and makes no warranty that any particular level or quality of mentoring services shall be provided.

“PARTICIPATING FAMILY”

Name: __________________________________

Signature: _______________________________

Date: ___________________________________

Phone: _________________________________

Email Address: ___________________________

ACKNOWLEDGED BY:

“MENTOR”

Name: __________________________________

Signature: _______________________________

Date: ___________________________________

Phone: _________________________________
Email Address: ___________________________

Youth Interests

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:00:51 CDT

Youth in our community have expressed interest in the following areas. If you don't see what you'd like to know more about, please let us know by writing to us at info@learningis4everyone.org with Mentor Match in the subject line, so that we can try to find mentors matching your interests:

Aquarium/Marine Biology
Birdwatching
Engineering - mechanical
Engineering - electrical
Engineering - civil
Entrepreneurship
Law
Medicine - nursing
Music - piano
Photography
Robotics
Stop Motion Animation
Writing/Journalism

Writing Mentors

TMWillingham — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:57:57 CDT

The following individuals will mentor youth interested in writing:

Terri Willingham
Location:Odessa, FL
Contact: willinghamster@gmail.com
Info: “I’m a professional writer with more than 25 years of experience. I’m a freelance journalist for several newspapers; I’m a book author (The Food Allergy Field Guide: A Lifestyle Manual for Families); I’ve been a magazine writer (trade journals, Home Education Magazine, Life Learning and others); and as an editor (member of the editorial board of the Journal of School Choice).” I will help youth online via our Youth Voice wiki. My resume and work can be seen online at TMWillingham.blogspot.com

Mentoring News

TMWillingham — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:12:48 CDT

We'll use this page to keep you updated on mentoring news and information. Check back regularly for stories about mentoring around the Tampa Bay area and the nation.

Youth Civic Engagement Resources

TMWillingham — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:50:59 CDT

This is our directory of youth civic engagement resources:

My 2 Cents for Change
Through My 2 Cents for Change, an animated website created to give youth ages 13-17 a voice in the presidential election, teens can add their thoughts on the issues they feel most passionate about, from education and healthcare to war and genocide. The site features links for teens to find out more information on the issues and candidates before directing them to "give their 2 cents," which the site then bundles and sends to the presidential candidates of the teens' choice. Also available for download is a “Give Your 2 Cents in the Classroom!” Teacher/Facilitator Guide to use the website as a c atalyst for group discussion. View the website and download the guide at http://www.servicevote.org/my2cents

Writing Resources

TMWillingham — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:58:40 CST

American Press Institute Journalist's Toolbox
High School Journalism
Internet Public Library Teenspace - Resources for Research and Writing
Poynter Online Journalism Links
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Resources for Teens
Tampa Bay News Online - News by and for youth
TeenLit
Web English Teacher
Wiretap Magazine - Ideas and Action for a New Generation
Youth Communication - True stories by Teens

Medical Field mentors

mmcorbett — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:18:31 CST

Amanda Clark
Location:Clearwater
Contact: birthingconcepts@msn.com
Info: “I am a RN with a specialty in Maternal Newborn nursing. I work at a hospital on the postpartum floor and have been a childbirth educator, lactation consultant, and infant/child safety instructor and advocate for 10 years.”

Maureen Corbett, Ph.D.
Location: 840 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701
Contact:727-826-1887
I am a licensed psychologist in private practice in St. Petersburg. My clients primarily consist of individuals and couples aged 17 and older. I am happy to talk to anyone interested in the field.

Youth Voice - Young Writers Forum

TMWillingham — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:05:26 CST

Youth Voice has been moved to its own free standing wiki: http://youthvoices.wetpaint.com/ to allow for greater range of writing and editorial support.

Please also visit the Writing Resources page.

Tutoring Assistance

TMWillingham — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:54:13 CST

Learning is for Everyone and Tampa Bay Mentor Match are partnering with Noobshelp.com, a youth run website, to help connect youth with the tutoring assistance they may need.

Noobshelp.com is a website that connects student to other students. Students who need help in certain subjects (college and high school) can contact fellow students (in their school or in the entire United State) for assistance orsuggestions on how to do homework, projects and study for tests and quizzes. Noobshelp.com has several unique features built into the website, including chat rooms (similar to Instant Messaging)for every profile, a messaging system (similar to email), a comprehensive search system, a groups system, a school system and much much more!

I (Spencer Simonsen) and my friend (Nana Amfo) decided to start Noobshelp.com for a variety of reasons, mainly to spread the wealth of knowledge we and others at our school have to those who need it most, people who struggle in certain subjects. The project has been in the works for over five months but we believe we finally (almost) have the site we want. It has the potential to be a life-saver for those in need of educational assistance and tutoring.

VOTE 08!

TMWillingham — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:41:56 CST

By Andrea Willingham, Youth Voice Writer
Published January 17, 2008

With the presidential elections right around the corner, the results are in for the first Primary elections of the year.

For the Republican Party, Governor Mike Huckabee won the Iowa Caucus with 34% of the vote, on Thursday, January 3rd, followed by Governor Mitt Romney, with 24%. Tying for third place were Senators John McCain and Fred Thompson, at 13%.

To many peoples’ surprise, Senator Barack Obama took the lead for the Democratic Party in the Iowa Caucus, with 37% of the vote. He was followed closely by Senator John Edwards, with 30%, and Senator Hillary Clinton with a total of 29%.

On January 5th, Governor Romney won with 66% of the vote in the Wyoming County Conventions. With 25% of the vote, Senator Thompson came in second, followed by Representative Duncan Hunter, with 8%.

Senator Clinton won the New Hampshire Primary on January 8th, with 39% of the vote. She was followed closely by Senator Obama, at just over 36%, and Senator Edwards with 17% of the vote.

And finally, Senator McCain won the New Hampshire Primary by 37%, for the Republicans. Governor Romney received 32%, and Governor Huckabee came in third with only 11% of the vote.

The Republican Party’s numbers are all over the board, with Huckabee, Romney, and McCain each taking a lead in the three state primaries thus far. The Democratic Party, however, seems fairly consistent, with Obama and Clinton keeping just ahead of Edwards.

While they fiercely campaign for the position of Commander in Chief, it is ultimately up to you to decide. How will you vote for in the ’08 elections?

--------------

Resources:

Election results: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008#Election_results

Project Vote Smart: http://www.vote-smart.org/

Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

Youth Voice features: Tampa Bay News Online

TMWillingham — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:52:44 CST

Tampa Bay News Online is a teen owned and operated news website, and streaming radio in Tampa Bay, with additional offices in Lakeland and Sarasota. Teens ages 13-18 update the website daily and produce a live webcast Saturday nights at 11PM EST.

The online news site was developed by Sickles high school student, Ryan French. You can read all about him in his bio at Tampa Bay News Online.

We hope to be working closely with Ryan and Tampa Bay News Online as we further develop our youth writing mentorship section.

Mentoring Resources

TMWillingham — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:03:41 CST

Here are some tools and resources to help you to learn more about mentoring:

Mentoring Research: http://www.edmentoring.org/online_res4.html
Sample Mentoring forms: http://www.edmentoring.org/forms.html
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) National Mentoring Center resources: http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/web_resources.php
Natural Mentors Help Mold Lives of Teens, Study Says: http://www.mentoring.org/program_staff/research_corner/natural_mentors.php

Business Mentors

imakebelieve — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:56:22 CST

Laura Johnson
Location: Seminole Heights
Contact: imakebelieve@verizon.net
info: "I am the owner of a small home based business that specialized in children's birthday parties. I created my company completely from scratch and do all of my own marketing, web design and day to day running of the business. I've been in business for more than 6 years. My website is www.makebelieveparties.com . I would be happy to mentor someone interested in starting their own business."

Home Economics

TMWillingham — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:07:02 CST

The following individuals can mentor youth in Home Economic related interests:

Crystal Cipriani
Location:S. Tampa
Contact: uumom2many@yahoo.com
Info: “I'd like to be considered for perhaps teaching some older (maybe 8-9 and up) some home economics type things like basic sewing, knitting, baking, crocheting."