School and beyond

IGNITE is a free, monthly e-newsletter for enterprising young people that you can subscribe to via email. It’s packed with opportunities, contacts and inspiration to help young people build their business and career, and may be worth the subscription for their regular ideas, links and interviews with young entrepreneurs.

IGNITE is created and published by the FRANK Team. The FRANK Team is based in Sydney and describes their business on their website as “providing authentic, fun and innovative skills training, guest speakers and resources in entrepreneurship and career passion for young people and corporates.”

The Youth Peer Education Mentor Network, based in western Sydney, was revived last year under Kellie Darley as chairperson. The Network will be having its first 2008 meeting in March, at the offices of the Smith Family in Parramatta. We would be delighted to have any representatives of western Sydney mentoring and peer initiatives join us in planning our direction and support for members in 2008. For more information, please leave me a comment in the blog below and I will contact you directly.

January in the US is National Mentoring Month which highlights mentoring and the positive impact it can have on young people’s lives (visit mentor for some terrific links, resources and case-studies.)

In Australia, too, the case for youth mentoring is finally getting some of the attention it deserves. As part of newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s promised “Education Revolution”, mentoring will play a role as detailed in the new policy document “Mentors for our Students.” It documents a pilot program, planned for 25 sites in communities across Australia, which aims to harness the expertise of newly retired professionals and tradespeople to mentor young people, with a focus on helping young people to consider a career in the trades.

This is a terrific idea but the funding opportunities are limited to Local Community Partnerships. Let’s hope those LCPs, new to mentoring, that secure funding are wise enough to tap into the accumulated knowledge and experience of existing, sustainable mentoring programs (such as those listed on the Youth Mentoring Network’s website). This opportunity is too precious to youth mentoring in Australia to squander - let’s work to support these programs to make sure the pilot is a success!