Jason Daniels joins us from the Evaluation Capacity Network and the Community University Partnership to share with us all about how we can use evaluative thinking in our work to improve our programs, policies and practices to enhance positive outcomes for children and youth.

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What if the answer to these and other challenges was engaging children and youth in your community?

ZCL Composites found that a mentoring partnership with a local mentoring agency accomplished far more than they expected. In addition to giving back to children in Edmonton, they received improved productivity, satisfaction, team building, active listening and training skills, and most of all, had a lot of FUN!

“In a lot of communities that ZCL operates in around 40% of boys don’t have a male role model” – Loren Jacula

We sat down with Loren Jacula, the Director, Talent Development with ZCL Composites to discuss how his company ZCL | Xerxes partnered with Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area. He is a true mentoring champion, and his enthusiasm for community development is infectious.

Our discussion touched on many important questions, the logistics of getting started, and other benefits they experienced.

After listening to Loren, we expect you’ll shelve the generic team building personality tests and call up one of our fantastic AMP Partner agencies located across Alberta.

“There is no reason (in Edmonton for example), that there are 800 kids that are waiting for a mentor…that seems silly to me!” – Loren Jacula

We know that corporate partnerships are critical to our programs to keep the lights on and hire the staff we need to operate, but what ZCL highlights is how they can be so much more for all parties involved! Corporate mentoring partnerships can be a great source of new volunteer mentors for your program, staff can be ambassadors in the broader community for your program needs, and youth get to have fun with a caring adult while learning more about the world of work.

“I see almost all of my colleagues working through lunch, no one is taking that break. But when mentoring time comes and the littles are on their way everyone just stops what they are doing because of how positive it is”. – Loren Jacula

With the AMP Corporate Mentoring Toolkit, we have two main resources to assist you. The first is for the mentoring organizations. It details how to get started, and it helps you frame your mentoring program to the corporate partner.

The second is for businesses – this is the corporate toolkit for the potential partner. Think of it as your PITCH document.

Please feel free to add your own images, logos, and personality to the document. For example, here is the customized booklet that Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Edmonton used to approach ZCL and secure them as a corporate partner. If you are an AMP partner and you need help with the design customization, email us

This Podcast describes the Aboriginal/Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (A/IYMP). A/IYMP is a 20-week, peer-led afterschool program delivered by Indigenous high school students for their younger elementary-aged peers. A/IYMP promotes wellness, resiliency, and overall positive mental health, including Mino-Bimaadiziwin (the way of the good life).

This after-school health promotion program is informed by Indigenous worldviews and practices. It builds on the strengths of its participants and helps to create healthy inclusive school communities. A/IYMP is grounded theoretically in the teachings of Dr. Martin Brokenleg’s Circle of Courage (belonging, independence, mastery and generosity) and Dr. Verna Kirkness concepts related to the 4 R’s (Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, and Responsibility). Based on A/IYMP’s early success, the team was awarded a CIHR Pathways to Equity Team Grant in 2016 to ‘ripple’ AYMP to 13 Indigenous communities across Canada.

This national expansion includes two First Nations communities in the province of Alberta. Each Alberta community is offering A/IYMP once weekly for approximately 90 minutes. Each session includes a healthy snack, physical activity, and communal relationship building. A Young Adult Health Leader at each school assists high school youth mentors to deliver the program to elementary children. While a general routine is recommended for A/IYMP (e.g., attendance, snack, physical activity, sharing), each community tailors components of the program to meet its own unique needs, teachings and cultural values. This presentation aims to describe how the A/IYMP honoured community-based participatory research principles and practices.

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This is a panel discussion will focus on setting up the CTS mentoring courses in your high school. Panel members will share their experiences and learnings with scheduling, training, matching, and supporting mentoring in their schools. Time for questions will be included in the webinar.

This is a follow up to the webinar, Mentoring for Credit: Introduction to the Career and Technology Studies Mentoring Courses, which took place on March 12, 2018. If you were not able to participate in this webinar but would like to watch it, it is available at https://albertamentors.ca/podcast/mentoring-for-credit-an-introduction-to-the-career-and-technology-studies-mentoring-courses-episode-14/

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Did you know that high school students can receive credits for mentoring? Did you know that mentoring has been proven to increase students’ academic achievement and reduce behaviour problems in school? This webinar will provide an outline of the five one-credit Career and Technology Studies mentoring courses. Find out how these courses can contribute to your students’ success in school and beyond.

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Learn the current volunteer trends happening right now based on volunteerism data collected throughout Canada and Alberta. Believe it or not, the trends are changing and perhaps not in the ways you would think. For this episode of the Mentoring Minute, we welcome Tracy Lockart, the Manager of Satellite Offices for the Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area.

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Download the resource here: https://albertamentors.ca/refugee-mentoring/

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Are you struggling to engage and recruit new cultural communities, mentors, and youth? Are you considering piloting new programs or initiatives to spread the impact of mentoring to cultural communities? We have a new resource for you!

AMP Cultural Consultant Alex Abboud will be showcasing our new resource “Mentoring Refugee, Immigrant, Newcomer, Children and Youth.

Learn about best practices and new ideas from other Mentoring agencies across Alberta. The content included in the resource came from you — our partners — through focus groups, digital surveys, and conversations with our researcher. In addition to program templates such as Conversation Clubs and Homework Clubs, we also will have tips on recruitment, retention, working with families, and much more.

The Webinar will be one hour and be a high-level overview of the resources and point you and your staff to places where you can find more information. It will be very tangible and actionable for you on a mentor and a program level.

Stay tuned! in the process of mobilizing this resource we will have other engagement opportunities — including professional development sessions available in your community!

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Fundraising is essential to the sustainability of our mentoring programs. Join special guest Danisha Bhaloo, Fund development manager with Boys and Girls Club Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton for a midsummer webinar to get you ready for the fall.

Danisha is a veteran Fundraiser, a mentor, and recognized as one of the “Top 40 under 40” in Edmonton: http://www.avenueedmonton.com/City-Life/Top-40-Under-40/Danisha-Bhaloo/. She recently took in an international conference for Fund Development professionals and will share with us her learnings — scalable tips and principles that apply to your agency whether you need to raise $500 or $500,000.

Joining us for the webinar allows you to ask questions and interact with the presenter. We encourage you to participate, share comments, links, and your own best practices.

As with all of our AMP Webinars, you can watch the video after the fact on our AMP Youtube Channel

Please submit future webinar topic requests to [email protected]

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New research published by the Change Collective in Calgary, (co-funded by the Burns Fund and the United Way of Calgary and area, with a number of agency partners and co-authors including Big Brothers Big Sisters Calgary & Area) provides a framework for enhancing natural supports as a critical lever in promoting healthy youth development. Within the mentoring movement we talk about re-framing the perception of mentoring from a “nice to have” to a “need to have” support in a young person’s life. This work emphasizes the importance of strong relationships in supporting young people– mirroring much of the important natural mentoring research we have seen emphasized by Dubois & Karcher in the Handbook of Youth Mentoring (Second Edition).

Mentoring programs can act as a bridging tie– a relationship multiplier– that can be essential to helping youth identify natural supports in their lives, and build their social capital.

On this webinar we are very fortunate to have Melissa Innes, one of the writers of the report as well as Cynthia Wild, Director of Service Delivery with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area.

Learn more: https://albertamentors.ca/6452/mentoring-helps-vulnerable-youth-enhance-natural-supports/

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