OUR MODEL

Silver Lining Mentoring leverages the power of positive relationships to promote young people’s sense of belonging and self-esteem. We serve young people through an Integrated Service Model, providing the support and services most appropriate for each individual over the course of the long-term relationship.

Our Integrated Service Model consists of three core services:

Community Based Mentoring

Community Based Mentoring is Silver Lining Mentoring’s flagship program that pairs young people ages seven and older with a caring, committed, volunteer mentor. Mentors meet their mentees in the communities where youth live to provide one-on-one support for a minimum of one year. Mentors receive extensive training and support from SLM’s Master’s-level staff.

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Learn & Earn

Learn & Earn gives teens and young adults the opportunity to learn life, employment, and financial literacy skills with the support of a volunteer mentor. Young people are paid for their participation in the program and SLM matches each mentee’s savings, dollar for dollar, upon completion of the program, bolstering their transition to independent adulthood. These 12 week, cohort-based workshops are held in the communities where young people live and work, and all youth are paired one-on-one with a mentor to guide them through the curriculum.

Young Adult Services

Young Adult Services supports SLM participants who are on the cusp of aging out, or who have aged out of state care at 18. The program helps young adults navigate independent adulthood by providing individualized clinical support and access to critical, urgent resources such as housing support, legal support, access to educational opportunities, and professional development. Young adults also have the option to engage in leadership training.

Silver Lining Mentoring provides youth in foster care with what they need, when they need it, for as long as they need it.

At the core of the Integrated Service Model is the idea that services are not limited by program or age. Silver Lining Mentoring provides all youth with support from Masters’ level program staff. Program staff provide one-to-one social and emotional support to youth and their mentors, and serve as resource-brokers to external services as needed, such as mental health, vocational, or educational programs.

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