HISTORY
Riverside County Mentor Collaborative
and
Community Action Partnership of Riverside County
(CAP Riverside)
ABOUT RCMC
The Riverside County Mentor Collaborative (RCMC) initially began in 1996 as a network partnership of five organizations who applied for and received funding from the California Mentor Initiative. Since the inception of RCMC, the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County (CAP Riverside) has provided staff and financial support to continue the efforts of the collaborative.
RCMC provides direct services to youth mentor programs throughout Riverside County by: hosting a web site and information/referral hotline, conducting an annual mentor recognition event, and providing training and technical assistance to mentoring programs throughout the county.
The network meets monthly, the second Wednesday of each month, (with the exception of summer months July and August), 10:30 am to 12:00 noon at various sites throughout the county.
MISSION:
Encourage safe, positive mentor-protégé relationships between youth and responsible adults: in the workplace, in before and after-school programs, and in community-based and faith-based mentoring programs.
GOALS:
- Create and sustain a clearinghouse of mentor information
- Provide mentor training and technical assistance
- Increase public awareness of mentor opportunities and secure community support for network members
- Serve as a referral resource to mentors, protégés, and others in the community, linking individuals to organizations
- Promote countywide recognition of mentor volunteers and organizations
- Encourage and secure Quality Assurance Certification for all members of the network
EXISTING SERVICES:
- Maintain a list of mentor information available to network members through the clearinghouse: books, reports, videos, web sites, etc.
- Maintain a “mentor hot line” that provides information and referrals of mentors and protégés to programs in their region [1-888-mentor6]
- Host a web site that highlights network members, etc. [www.rcmentor.org]
- Provide mentor training opportunities: within the network expertise and from outside the network [workshops, conferences, etc.]
- Host an annual volunteer mentor recognition event
- Promote public awareness of mentoring through news releases, press releases, brochures, etc.
- Host monthly network meetings
- Provide training and technical assistance to build the capacity of network members, individually and collectively
- Encourage and promote Quality Assurance Certification for all network members
Community Action Partnership of Riverside County
A Riverside County Public Agency since 1979
Community Action Promise
Community Action changes people’s lives, embodies the spirit of hope, improves communities, and makes America a better place to live. We care about the entire community, and we are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other.
Vision
The vision of the Community Action Commission (Board) and CAP Riverside is to end poverty in Riverside County.
Mission
We, Community Action Partnership Riverside County, with the community, will end poverty by offering opportunities for the poor through education, wealth building, advocacy and community organizing. (approved 7-19-07)
CAP Riverside is dedicated to reducing poverty and providing social and economic opportunities that foster self-sufficiency for low-income people. CAP Riverside is different from other community developers in that it involves the very residents in governance, strategic direction, and operation. CAP Riverside staff work for change of the institution and empowerment of the individual.
CAP Riverside is committed to developing new strategies to empower individuals and families through collaborations with community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, local, state, and federal governments as well as the private sector for program delivery. CAP Riverside works with and through this network to provide a number of safety-net services and asset-building strategies toward family self-sufficiency. CAP Riverside knows that education is the surest pathway out of poverty and the road to personal growth and success and that individual and collective success is the surest route to developing stronger communities.
For more information about specific programs and services, contact CAP Riverside, 951-955-4900 or visit its website at http://www.capriverside.org.