Business Mentoring Partnership

It’s a unique opportunity for your business and employees to make a difference in Cincinnati. Join the ranks of Cincinnati Bell, Fifth Third and Luxottica who support and encourage their employees to be mentors in Cincinnati Public Schools. It is easy to get started and Cincinnati Youth Collaborative will provide you support to make it happen. By spending time with students, your employees can inspire a student for life. Corporate mentoring programs can take on different shapes but a few best practices are important when building your program.

Recommendations for success:

Decide on a program focus: mentoring, college prep, career exploration or any combination of these
Designate a strong internal corporate point person
Create a steering committee to help recruit employees and steer the program
Create a budget (need not be big) that supports your program
Commit to a sustained relationship with a school and their students
CYC provides mentoring training, college access information, match support, school student/scheduling coordination

Get Started!

Step 1 – Become a CYC mentor partner, call our mentoring help line 475-4148 for information

Step 2 – Select your liaison to work closely with Cincinnati Youth Collaborative coordinator

Step 3 – Decide on your business’s mentoring program

Step 3 – Recruit employees

Step 4 – CYC trains employees as mentors

Step 5 – CYC matches mentors with students

One idea that has produced results:

Corporate Workplace Mentoring: A mentoring model designed to expose students to career opportunities by bringing them into the workplace. Students meet with their corporate mentors on a monthly basis ideally at the corporate location. They share lunch with their mentors, conversation and a planned activity ranging from attending public speaking classes to filling out college and scholarship applications. Students learn practical skills from professional role models who share similar interests and cultural/ethnic backgrounds. This is great way to follow 9th grade students all the way through graduation. The results have proven to be successful in high school graduation rates and post secondary enrollment.