Covington Partners

Program Overview and Background

The Covington Mentoring Program began in 2002 with Across Ages at the former Two Rivers Middle School, growing to Titan Mentors, and it is now a comprehensive mentoring program for students in grades 3 – 12. In partnership with Covington Independent Public Schools, community members dedicate four hours a month as positive adult role models to Covington youth through the Covington Mentoring Program.

Mentors have the opportunity to work with students of all ages in a program that meets their interests. Mentors develop relationships with students and work together in an informal setting to strengthen the life skills youth need to develop into healthy and productive adults.

Program Services

• School-Based and Community-Based Mentors: Each mentor meets for an hour once a week with a 6th-12th grade student at Holmes Middle or High School. Meetings take place during the school day through school-based mentoring or outside of school in the evenings or on the weekends through communitybased mentoring. Mentors are adults 21 years and older.
• Remote-Based Mentors: Each mentor spends 30 minutes each week meeting with a student virtually. Match communication will occur via letter writing, video chats, email, text, or phone calls. This option is available for elementary school students (mentors are adults, 18 years and older) or for middle and high school students (mentors are adults, 21 years or older). • Work-Based Mentors: Each mentor is matched with a student to explore careers, career interests, and related workplace and career development issues. Meetings take place once a month at the worksite and additionally remotely or in-person once a month. Mentors are adults 21 years and older.
• Lunch Buddies: Each mentor spends 30 minutes each week with an elementary school student during lunchtime. Lunch Buddies meet at various elementary schools. Mentors are adults 18 years and older.
• After School Buddies: Each mentor spends 30-60 minutes each week with an elementary school student after school (between 3:00 and 6:00 pm): after school buddies meet at the student’s elementary school. Mentors are adults 18 years and older.
• One-to-One Coaches: Each coach works with a student in kindergarten through 3rd grade on reading skills or math skills. All volunteers must complete six hours of training before working with students. Mentors are adults 21 years or older.

Target Population

We aim to provide mentoring under this grant to young people with any one or more of the following:

• Single Parent Household
• Academic Challenges
• Juvenile Justice Involvement
• Substance Impact or Misuse
• Rural Location
• Facing Discrimination based on Race, Ethnicity or Gender Identity
• Youth with Disabilities

Mentor Recruitment and Training

• 250 matches and youth served under this grant
• 250 mentors recruited under this grant
• Peer Mentoring included in programming
• For mentor recruitment, we target Adult Volunteers
• Duration of program services: Minimum of 1 year
• Expected intensity of match contact: Minimum of 2 times per month
• Expected length of a match: Minimum of 1 year
• Expected frequency of match contact: 4 hours per month
• Number of training hours required before a mentor is matched with a youth: 2 hours