TeamMates Mentoring Program

The vision of TeamMates, established in the spring of 2015, is to become the gold standard of school-based mentoring programs and serve over 12,000 annually. A key component of reaching this vision is to increase the average match length from 32 months to over 3 years.

We seek to achieve 100% of mentees who have graduated from high school during the school year to report a plan for post-secondary education after high school. Even if a student does not submit an application for TeamMates scholarships, we expect them to report a plan for post-secondary education after they reach high school graduation with the goal that all students in TeamMates can pursue training or education that will help them achieve successful adulthood. When the match is officially "exited" in our database, an entry is required on whether or not the student reported a plan and what that plan entails.

Strategic Initiative
Program Impact
1. Review current outcomes measurements and identify additional impact goals
2. Develop and implement more effective impact measurement tools
3. Understand expectations and needs of our stakeholders
4. Develop and implement a communication plan for sharing outcomes with stakeholders

Expansion, Retention & Recruitment
1. Expand to 5 states and maintain a minimum of 150 chapters
2. Develop mentor recruitment plan to reach 12,000 matches
3. Increase match retention in program & post-graduation
4. Strengthen school district engagement

Financial Sustainability Louise Pickens & Carla Patton-Ochsner Ensure short-term and long-term financial sustainability of TeamMates
1. Streamline chapter accounting practices
2. Develop a comprehensive plan for raising annual operating income, diversifying the donor base outside of the Omaha Metro area
3. Develop long-term financial sustainability plan
4. Diversify funding streams outside of donated income

TeamMates Mentoring Program has over 180 local chapters in communities throughout Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It's chapter structure engages local leaders and allows them to best meet the needs of youth in their community with support from the TeamMates Central Office, which ensures that each chapter meets national standards for safe, effective mentoring programs.

Data is gathered on each student to measure improvement in grades, attendance and behavior and both mentors and mentees are surveyed annually. For the students in TeamMates who are approaching high school graduation, a plan for post-secondary education and scholarship applications for students headed to college help to inform future success. Annually, we look for trends in the data to tell us where students likely need more support and training.

Since its inception in 1991, TeamMates Mentoring Program has provided a mentor to over 43,000 youth in communities across our five-state region. In the 2019-2020 school year, our program matched 10,949 youth with caring adult mentors in 180+ districts. TeamMates+ served 292 students at 39 colleges. With a 96% graduation rate, in May 728 students successfully completed high school. It was our largest class yet.

On March 13, 2020 TeamMates closed our offices and all staff began working remotely in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Schools in all of all of the five-state area were significantly impacted. Some closed; many weren't able to invite mentors into the buildings. In response to this unprecedented event, TeamMates has adapted match support and communication with the following activities:

1. Virtual Match Meeting Communication
2. Communication Exchange and Scheduled Instant Messaging Sessions
3. Increased Mentor Learning Academies
4. Ongoing Match Support for mentees, mentors, parents, and schools