Thank you for your interest in mentoring!
We are currently accepting mentorship applications for our 2024-2025 school-year programs!
Please note: Most of our programs staff is taking a well-deserved break for the second half of August. We’ll reach out to follow up on your application the week of September 2. Thank you for your patience! In the meantime, please hold Saturday, September 14 in your calendar for an all-day mentor training at the Y-WE office. Thank you!
Overview of programs (see more details here):
Tuesday evenings, October 22-June 3: Y-WE Create
Wednesday evenings, October 16-June 4: Y-WE Write
Thursday evenings, October 3-December 12: Nature Connections
Friday evenings, October 18-December 18: T-Parties (LGBTQ+ Affinity)
Friday evenings, January 24-March 21: Kindred Healing (Black Affinity)
Saturdays: Y-WE Grow (Fall cohort September 14-October 19, Spring cohort March 8-May 31)
Our Mentorship Model
Y-WE primarily uses a group mentorship model that allows women and girls alike to get to know a wide range of positive role models that can offer personal and professional support. Some of our youth and mentors will also be paired in one-to-one match-ups based on desires and needs.
Your primary role as a mentor is to be present and authentic, listen well and be willing to jump right in. We welcome women of all backgrounds: cultural, religious, educational, economic and sexual orientation. We seek to have mentors who closely reflect the diversity of our youth.
Representation: Y-WE centers the experience of BIPOC girls, women, non-binary and trans youth ages 13-18. Representation is a core value of our programming, so we intentionally select mentors that share key demographics with the youth we serve.
Compensation: Mentorship is an unpaid volunteer position. We recognize that there are many folks who are not able to donate their time for a variety or reasons from needing childcare to not being able to miss work. In order to make our mentorship experience more accessible we have set aside resources for equity stipends (about $100 a day) that would be paid upon successful completion of the program.
Process: New mentors will schedule a 30 zoom call with our staff. If it’s a good fit we will conduct a background check.
Mentor Orientation: Usually the first weekend of October. In addition there may be some check ins during the program as requested by program facilitators.
The Commitment: Please consider this carefully.
As a mentor, your consistent attendance is essential! Please check the dates to make sure you can attend most of the program. If mentoring is too large a commitment at this time, consider becoming a Y-WE volunteer. Our many short-term volunteer opportunities also provide meaningful experiences working with the Y-WE.
Questions?
Please contact our Program Manager, Aya Zouhri (she/her) at aya@y-we.org
Y-WE gave me strong female role models
—Y-WE Alum