Philly Roots Mentoring Initiative

Posted by on January 06, 2014

United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
Philly Roots 2014-2015 Request for Proposals

INTRODUCTION
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (UWGPSNJ) is issuing a Request for Proposals to identify an agency capable of managing and sustaining the Philly Roots Initiative (Philly Roots). The purpose of this RFP is to seek an organization that can elevate and support organic mentoring models occurring in Philadelphia between African American male mentors and mentees, and build the capacity of the mentors to ensure that young Black men graduate from high school, college and career ready.

Priority will be given to agencies that have a demonstrated track record of supporting African American men and boys in mentoring, community service, out-of-school time and related programs designed to improve school attendance, behavior, and secondary and post-secondary achievement.  Priority will also be given to agencies with an intermediary and convening background that can facilitate a process to empower organic mentors and enhance their organizational capacity.

BACKGROUND
The literature on mentoring, including definitions, best practices, and outcomes, almost exclusively focuses on more formal, structured methods. These include models such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, MENTOR (The National Mentoring Partnership), Mentoring USA, America’s Promise, and the Boys and Girls Club of America. What set these programs apart are their strong volunteer force, organization, methodical matching, and deliberate goal of improving the life outcomes of at-risk youth. Largely understudied, however, is formal mentoring’s complement: Organic mentoring. Unlike formal mentors who are matched with their mentee in a structured mentoring program, organic mentors encounter their future mentee in a natural, social situation or environment and make up the vast majority of mentors (71%).

These relationships develop over time without the structure of a formal program and rely on the sustained interest of both parties involved. Much of the power of organic mentoring is the way the relationship gains strength and legitimacy in its informality. Because the organic mentoring relationship rarely has specific guidelines, interactions occur without specific direction and are oftentimes the result of mutual respect and affection. Consequently, the strengths of organic mentoring relationships tend to be fairly resilient in nature. For example, while organic mentoring relationships last between six and ten years, formal ones rarely exceed one year.

Unfortunately, the young people most likely to need mentoring relationships are the least likely to have them. This issue most frequently stems not from the lack of mentees, but the lack of formal mentors.
Through its years of work providing funding and technical assistance to formal mentoring organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region, a common need heard by UWGPSNJ from formal mentoring organizations was help to recruit and maintain African American male mentors. At the same time, organic mentoring practitioners and organizations who excelled at recruiting and engaging African American male mentors and serving young African American male mentees expressed a need for additional capacity and funding support for collaboration and network building, and the opportunity to share their work with larger mainstream institutions.  After grappling with these issues and receiving input from practitioners and key stakeholders in the region, the Philly Roots Initiative was launched to creatively respond to these two inter-connected issues.

After a year-long planning process, Philly Roots was launched in 2012 as an eight month fellowship serving 14 individuals providing grassroots organic mentoring, and representing a range of practitioners—from volunteers to full-time executive directors of their organizations. The purpose of the fellowship was created to:
●    Provide information and tools to organic mentors that support positive engagement of young Black males,
●    Highlight promising and effective practices/models in organic mentoring, and
●    Assist communities, especially organic and formal mentoring spaces, in replicating those effective practices/models

Throughout the initiative, fellows participated in monthly meetings hosted by UWGPSNJ, which served as a pivotal “touchstone” for the mentors’ experience. Fellows shared information, resources, and effective practices through discussion and peer interaction.  Regular guest speakers also shared information on topics relevant to mentoring Black youth, identifying sustainable resources, and increasing organizational leadership.

APPLICATION PROCESS
1.    Participate in the information session on January 10, 2014. This is highly encouraged for those interested in responding to this RFP. The information session will provide an opportunity for applicants to review in more depth the RFP’s content and ask questions. To register for this session, please email phillyroots@frontlinesol.com by Wednesday, January 8, 2014.

2.    Submit the grant application, including required attachments, via email to phillyroots@frontlinesol.com by 5 p.m. (EST) January 31, 2014.

4.    A one time $75,000 grant will be awarded: Payments will be awarded in 4 installments as follows:
●    July 1, 2014 ($12,500 upon execution of contract for planning period)
●    September 30, 2014 ($12,500 to begin implementation, based on successful planning evidenced in a written report)
●    January 30, 2015 ($25,000 based on Deliverables Met)
●    June 30, 2015 ($25,000 based on Deliverables Met and Final Report)

See full application and RFP here:

http://hosted.uwsepa.org/newsletter/roots.docx