The month of January has been designated as National Mentoring Month and Spirit Mountain Community Fund is privileged to have had the opportunity to partner with several organizations that work diligently to provide meaningful mentoring opportunities for our youth. Please join us as we acknowledge the importance of this work and recognize Oregon Mentors as one of several not–for –profit organizations who  for the past nine years have been doing exceptional work in Oregon.

Oregon Mentors began out of the national youth development campaign—America’s Promise. Led by its chairman, General Colin Powell, America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth, is dedicated to improving the lives of our nation’s youth. One of the five promises was for each child to have "an ongoing relationship with a caring adult—parent, mentor, tutor or coach." America’s Promise was launched at the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future in the spring of 1997.

A team of Oregon leaders returned from the summit determined to dramatically expand quality mentoring in our state. They convened a tri-county youth summit of more than 2,000 Oregonians, more than 700 of whom personally made commitments to participate in the initiative.

After two years of extensive needs assessment, grass-roots organizing and formal strategic planning, the Oregon Mentoring Initiative (now Oregon Mentors) was launched in January 2001 by a committed group of leaders in business and government, joined by more than fifty mentoring programs.

In direct response to what providers identified, OMI committed to five major goals: creation of a statewide database of programs; recruitment and referral of mentors; delivery of training and technical assistance to mentors and program managers; reduction of barriers to expansion; and increased public awareness of mentoring and mentoring opportunities. Today those five goals have evolved into three core areas of program support.

Current Projects

Our Board has three main goals this year: (1) participate in Oregon Mentors’ goal of recruiting 20,000 new mentors by 2010; (2) continue to assist Oregon Mentors in raising our annual operating budget; and (3) create a legislative agenda that will funnel resources towards mentoring programs throughout the state.

For more information about Oregon Mentors and to see how you may become involved, please visit their website (www.oregonmentors.org) or contact them at:

Oregon Mentors

1221 SW Yamhill St, Suite 260
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 517-8990 phone
(866) 450-4040 toll-free
(503) 517-8993 fax