SILVER LINING INSTITUTE
Becoming a National Thought Leader
Silver Lining Mentoring has been awarded a three-year grant from an anonymous foundation to grow the organization nationwide by creating a division for thought leadership, training, and technical assistance: the Silver Lining Institute. Through the Institute, SLM will have the opportunity to partner with a variety of service providers nationwide to teach and advise about best practices in mentoring youth in foster care. The Institute will educate local, state and federal stakeholders about the challenges facing young people in foster care and the high impact low-cost solution that mentoring provides. Ultimately, through the Silver Lining Institute, more youth in foster care across the United States will benefit from the power of long term mentoring relationships.
Project Objectives
The Silver Lining Institute will take a three-pronged approach to sharing Silver Lining Mentoring’s expertise:
The first prong will be working with direct service agencies: we will teach mentoring organizations how to serve youth in foster care, and we’ll help foster care organizations learn how to run mentoring programs.
The second prong will involve systems change work: we’ll partner with child welfare systems, government agencies and policy makers to help change the way supports are structured for youth in foster care, and demonstrate the low cost, high impact value that mentoring provides.
Third, we will embark on a public education campaign to share our strengths-based approach to serving this unbelievably resilient population in order to inspire people to action. We will build a movement of allies and advocates who will step up to volunteer as mentors and support youth in foster care nationwide.
Silver Lining Institute: Our Vision
Silver Lining Mentoring’s vision is to ignite a paradigm shift in how we support youth who have experienced trauma by demonstrating that consistent, long-term positive adult support can help young people in foster care to thrive. SLM’s goal is to ensure that mentoring organizations, child welfare agencies, youth development organizations, and policy makers understand how consistent, positive mentoring relationships are an essential part of healthy development for all youth, especially those impacted by foster care, while also nationalizing this message through mass media. Through the Silver Lining Institute, SLM will be the preeminent resource for supporting youth in foster care through mentoring, impacting thousands of youth in foster care nationwide and ensuring they receive the supports and services they need to thrive.
For more information about the Silver Lining Institute, please contact Colby Swettberg at colby@silverliningmentoring.org or 617-224-1305.