TA at a glance:
Using the Elements of Effective Practice, the Institute teaches best practices and serves as a strategic partner to mentoring organizations looking to better serve youth in foster care. The Institute also helps organizations involved in foster care services to run the most effective mentoring programs for the youth they serve.
The Institute has specific expertise in mentoring youth in foster care and mentoring LGBQ/TGNC+ youth. Examples of TTA consulting we have provided include:
- Mentor Training: SLI reviewed programs’ existing mentor training and made recommendations about curriculum content, activities and training format (online and/or in-person) that will prepare mentors to be responsive to the needs of youth in foster care.
- Mentor Recruitment & Screening: SLI spent time learning about programs’ current mentor recruitment and screening efforts and recommended formats, tools and approaches to effectively attract and retain mentors in line with the program’s youth population.
- Staff Training: Experienced curriculum developers and dynamic facilitators, our staff brings trauma-informed, population-specific knowledge to custom design highly interactive staff trainings based on your team’s needs (i.e. Elements of Effective Practice tailored for youth in foster care, building diversity, equity & inclusion practices, utilizing youth voice to strengthen organizations, etc.).
Services as an Affiliate of MENTOR National
Silver Lining Mentoring (SLM) empowers youth in foster care to thrive through committed mentoring relationships and the development of essential life skills. Since 2002, Silver Lining Mentoring has matched young people in the greater Boston child welfare system with committed volunteer mentors and other critical resources.
In addition to our Boston–based programs for youth, SLM offers training and technical assistance to direct–service organizations around the country through the Silver Lining Mentoring Institute. The Silver Lining Mentoring Institute (SLI) was launched in 2019 to expand access to mentoring relationships for youth impacted by foster care nationwide.
The Institute equips mentoring programs across the nation with best–in–field strategies and tools learned from our two decades of experience in the greater Boston area and key collaborations such as the National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC) and MENTOR National.