Friday Night Live Mentoring (FNLM) provides opportunities for young people to be in ongoing, mutually beneficial, caring relationships which strengthen a young person's resilience to the challenges they face in life.

Research through evaluation has shown that mentoring relationships are linked to long-term positive youth development outcomes. Findings indicate young people are experiencing an environment that supports positive youth development.

Friday Night Live Mentoring was implemented in California as a pilot program in 1988. Calaveras County joined the program after receiving a grant in October 2007. Services are provided to Bret Harte and Calaveras High School 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students, who mentor Avery, Toyon, and Mark Twain 7th and 8th grade students.

Funding for FNL Mentoring is made possible from a grant through the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

The Friday Night Live Mentoring Program provides many benefits to young people:

• Introduces young people to the concept of volunteerism
• Encourages young people to develop programs that are fun and meaningful
• Promotes messages through shared experiences
• Encourages peer-oriented programming (youth driven and youth led)
• Develops skills, such as communication, teamwork and active listening
• Encourages and empowers young people as active leaders and community resources
• Has broad appeal to diverse ethnic, racial and social groups
• Encourages youth to engage in mutually beneficial relationships with peers and younger youth

Quotes from teen mentors:

"I learned to accept people who are different from me."

"I realize no act of kindness will ever go unnoticed."

"Mentoring taught me that no matter who you are or what your personality is, there will always be someone who accepts you."

"I learned even I can help someone; I can make a difference."

FNL Mentoring is based on the California Mentor Initiative (CMI) Quality Assurance Standards. We strive to:

• Have two lead staff
• Have an advisor at each site
• Achieve site buy-in, whether school or comunity-based
• Establish contracted number of sites
• Define number of mentors and proteges
• Have a recruitment, application and screening process for mentors
• Have a selection process for proteges
• Orient proteges
• Orient parents of proteges
• Have mentor sessions that include defined number of seesions per week, including 1-on-1 and group time
• Have one rap session per week
• Have a retention strategy
• Have a clear closure process
• Have an evaluation process

Youth Development research indicates youth need opportunities to contribute to their communities in safe, meaningful and healthy ways. FNL Mentoring is positive youth development at its best. To align the goals of FNL Mentoring with those of FNL, the following Standards of Practice have been developed.

• Experience a safe environment.
• Have opportunities for involvement and connection to community and school.
• Have opportunities for leadership and advocacy.
• Have opportunities to engage in meaningful skill building activities that are designed to capture the interest and participation of young people.
• Have opportunities for caring and meaningful relationships among youth and with adults.

For more information about Friday Night Live Mentoring, please see the Friday Night Live Partnership website.

• Mentor Application
• Mentor Reference Form
• Protégé Referral Form

For further information, contact Brittan Hall, Friday Night Live Mentoring Program Coordinator, at (209) 736-6078.