Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $15,000

Located in Duluth. Mentor North was established in 2019 when it took over from a now-ended YWCA youth-based mentoring program. Mentor North offers one-on-one mentorship and community engagement. Mentor North is based in the Damiano Center, a full-service social service center in a low-income neighborhood of Duluth, and Damiano will help provide wrap-around services for the youth if they need it. It works closely with 2 area schools and has relationships with school counselors who help provide support to the youth.

Grant supports a mentoring program called Mentor Duluth, focused on supporting 77 5-17-year-olds to meet their social, emotional, and academic needs. Each youth will be matched with an adult to help focus on a positive growth mindset, develop healthier attitudes towards academics, and encourage the young person’s natural talents and strengths. The goal is to match each mentee with a mentor from their own background, often college students from local colleges. Mentor North has also added a new recruitment and volunteer coordinator position, and this has helped bring down waiting lists.