The Youth/Mentoring Leadership Project

The Youth Leadership Mentoring Program (YLMP), Operating under the umbrella of the Napa County After School Partnership (NCASP), has developed successful partnerships with Napa area agencies and schools. The Mentoring Council was formed to oversee program development, assist with start-up decision making, and collaboration to ensure effective implementation. Program elements include:

  • Provide peer or adult mentors for 4-th - 8th grade students determined by site staff to be "most-in-need"
  • Show evidence of academic improvement
  • Focus on meaningful, caring relationships with peers, adults, teachers and site staff, and family
  • Engage youth in a way that results in reduced anti-social behavior, juvenile delinquency and gange involvement

There are two mentoring components to our program.

Peer Mentoring:  One is a peer mentoring approach, which is school-based and integrated into an existing Leadership Academy format. This format is supported by the community non-profit, On The Move, and integrated into the school day for high school mentors from Napa High, and 4th through 8th graders at McPherson Elementary School and Silverado and Harvest Middle Schools.

To be launched in the fall is a peer mentoring program with mentors from Vintage High School, working with fourth through eighth graders at Salvador Elementary School, and Redwood Middle School.

Adult Mentors:  The second mentoring component is adult mentors matched with our most at-risk student referrals. This component is coordinated and served by Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Napa. BBBS recruits, screens, trains, matches, and monitors all adults who are matched with a student. The referrals for these students may come from anyone in the After School Programs, or school principals, counselors, teachers, and therapists. At our Mentoring Council meetings it was determined to serve our hardest to match, and / or most at-risk students with adults. These students have presented with the most serious of issues related, but not limited to: homelessness, foster care, academic and social adjustment issues, developmental delays, mental health issues, and English language learners. The matches made so far this year have been created with a great deal of individual attention given to the needs of the students, and the adults who apply to be mentors.

More Information:

For more information, to ask questions, or volunteer to be a mentor, please contact:

Jeannie Morris, Project Coordinator     707-253-6954         This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it