Mentor-in-Training and Mentor Programs
We currently have 23 MITs and Mentors working weekly throughout our programs!
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Our Mentor-in-Training program was founded in July 2023 when eleven founding middle schoolers asked for their first employment experience. They attended our first Leadership Training and earned a stipend of $100 to assist staff with younger youth for a week of Community Summer Camp. In their contract, youth agreed to not engage in physical fights through the summer and to remain role models for younger youth. That worked! Youth were so empowered by this experience that they have continued to expand our MIT program, offering part-time employment (2 hr/week) to youth ages 14+ through the school year and 25hrs in the summer to assist with Community Summer Camps. This program contributes to community resilience and safety by connecting vulnerable youth with older reliable peers in their neighborhood and strengthening a sense of community. Holding our Mentors accountable over the last three years has helped prevent and mitigate risks of substance use, interactions with law enforcement, early driving, and more. It also allows them more consistent access to basic needs, the ability to contribute to their family, and to experience increased responsibility in a safe and supportive environment.
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During the 2025 academic year, 11 Mentors attending Portland High School received academic credit for working at Our Place. As part of this experience, they kept reflective journals at Our Place and engaged in Mentors lunches to receive support from our staff. Mentors worked for 2 hrs/week for $18.00 an hour through the school year, paired with one younger Youth Mentorship Group and deepening their relationships with specific kids. Through Mentor lunches we received five more Mentors so that sixteen Mentors began working in Summer 2026!
Establishing this program year-round has impacted our younger youth greatly— they look up to their older community peers and are excited to spend time with them. Likewise, our High school Mentors take pride in their job and look forward to their time at Our Place each week—often citing “being here” as the high of their day.
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In Summer 2026, with 16 Mentors working, we developed a capacity issue where we had six youth finishing 6th and 7th grade who wanted to work as Mentors in Training but did not have the transportation capacity to allow them to work in the context of Community Summer Camp. At the same time, several of our youth were noticing a lot of new neighbors ages K-3 playing outside alone, sometimes on bikes without helmets, and not aware of cars and neighborhood safety hazards. Thus, we redesigned our Mentor in Training program to be focused on supporting youth in the neighborhood outside of Community Summer Camp hours. MITs completed journal entries about what they did with each youth and what engagement strategies they used from their MIT training. They were given an art kit, a basketball, a soccer ball, an UNO game, and books to use with youth. We had six youth complete the experience earning a stipend of $100 for completing six sessions with six different youth. Four of these were so successful that they asked to complete it a second time in the summer for an additional $100! This redesigned program greatly contributed to overall community safety in the summer.
