National Mentoring Month Story Contest Winner

To celebrate National Mentoring Month, the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership sponsored a Story Contest, open to all Alexandria youth ages 5 to 18.  The winner receives a $25 gift card.  Contestants were given the choice to present their story in whatever medium they chose, such as an art piece.  

The winner is 13 year old Jaylan.  Read her story below!

My mentor has been working with me for four years. She has seen me evolve from age nine to 13. She is the first mentor I have had. I get excited when it's the day for our session. 

I used to hate reading. Now I really like it because it's become much easier for me due to working with my mentor. During my free time, I read much more often than I used to. Sometimes at school during home room when other kids go on their computers to play games, I like to read a book instead. 

My mentor compliments me when I tackle a new word by sounding it out, or make text connections with my own experience; that makes me happy. She brings me little gifts from other countries she travels to so I know she was thinking about me when she was away, which makes me feel good. 

I work hard during sessions, but we also laugh a lot. We have fun reward days where we go to museums or out for lunch or to the movies. My favorite place for lunch together is a local pizza place in her neighborhood. Sometimes we go to events at Wright to Read, which are tons of fun. 

My mentor and I have a lot of things in common. We both like crazy-nuts, a food we invented by mixing craisins and peanuts. We both like French art, such as paintings by Marie Laurencin, Claude Monet, and Paul Gaugin. We both have types of arthritis; we connect on how it feels to sometimes have pain. 

On the drive to and from the session, I talk with her about what's going on in my life. And between sessions, we text each other with news, such as when I got my long hair cut short. 

She's the mentor I want to stay with forever. I want to thank her a million times because I am so grateful. 

Spreading the Word at New Employee Orientation

Every month, the City of Alexandria holds a day long orientation for new employees.  Staring on February 15, the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership will now be present at the orientation during the hour-long lunch break, to talk to new employees and inform them of the many opportunities available in the city.  

For instance, city employees can use one hour of their forty hour work week to volunteer.  AMP has begun a campaign to make city employees more aware of this policy.  Volunteering within the city allows new employees a chance to get to know Alexandria better.  It is also a great way to be more involved in the community, and mentoring specifically gives the opportunity to learn about the city from a local youth.  

Tabling at New Employee Orientation also spreads the word about AMP.  We currently work with many city departments, but are always looking for new partnerships and ways to work with the city in order to better serve our programs, mentors, and mentees. 

National Mentoring Month 2017

From everyone at the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership - staff, programs, mentors, mentees, volunteers, community partners, and the City of Alexandria - we thank all those who participated in National Mentoring Month this year, and our first Alexandria Mentoring Month!

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Interested in becoming a mentor?  Book an informational phone call with us to figure out which of our 11 programs would be best for you!  

Community Lodgings Open House

"Community Lodgings’ mission is to lift families from homelessness and instability to independence and self-sufficiency through Transitional Housing, Affordable Housing and our Youth Education Programs."

When most people think of Community Lodgings, they think of the transitional and affordable housing programs that help the homeless and low-income families of Alexnadria get back on their feet and move towards a brighter future.  What many don't know is that Community Lodgings also provide youth education programs that prepare children for self-sufficiency as adults.  These programs include after school academic support, as well as mentoring.  

On Monday evenings in the neighborhood of Chirilagua, students from grades 7 through 12 meet in the two Community Lodgings offices (girls in one office, boys in another).  Last Monday, AMP stopped by the boys program, in the basement of a neighborhood apartment building, where many of the students live.  As the boys and mentors gathered, two students moved to tables on the edge of the room to finish tests and homework due the following day, before joining everyone else in the activities.  First, the boys and mentors took turns reading from A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.  Next, everyone joined in to work on a puzzle.  

Every week brings new activities, but the same faces to Community Lodgings.  As we went to meet the mentors, we recognized them and about half the mentors from the 2015 Community Lodgings video.  The boys have grown older, the mentors more experienced, but Community Lodgings remains a safe and fun place to spend a Monday evening!