Mentor network expansion

The mentor network has grown to include a dozen new volunteers this fall, drawn primarily from alumni of teams in the organization’s founding cohort. To keep pace with that growth, the organization introduced a short structured intake process this season: an initial conversation about a candidate mentor’s background and availability, followed by a brief orientation covering expectations, safety guidelines, and the kinds of questions teams most commonly need help with.

Previously, new mentors were matched to teams informally, often through a personal connection to an existing volunteer, which worked reasonably well at a small scale but left some interested volunteers without a clear way in. The new intake process gives every prospective mentor the same starting point regardless of how they heard about the organization, and a standing coordinator role now tracks which teams have unmet mentorship needs so new volunteers can be matched more deliberately.

Feedback from mentors who went through the new process this fall has been positive, particularly around the orientation session, which several volunteers said helped them feel prepared for their first team visit in a way that informal onboarding had not. The coordinator role is currently filled on a volunteer basis and the organization is considering whether it should become a more permanent part of the program’s structure.

The organization continues to welcome new mentors, particularly those with backgrounds in software and controls, which remain the areas teams most often request help with.