Teen Mentorship
The program offers hands-on/minds-on practical work experience to help teens build confidence and independence to pursue their goals while helping to dismantle gender and racial inequities in the workplace.
Girls Need to See Women Who Look Like Them in Careers and Leadership Roles
There continues to be a significant gender gap in the STEM fields and with regard to leadership in a broad range of fields, from business to politics to entertainment.
The Girls Inc. Teen Mentorship program’s goal is to connect youth with local women in the community to help increase their knowledge and confidence in their desired career paths.
Requirements:
- Must be in High school.
- Must interview as a part of the application process.
- Must be able to commit two years to the program. (If you are a high school senior, you may still apply)
- Must have Wi-Fi and access to a digital device to log in to Zoom.
- The participant must attend mandatory once-month in-person workshops at our Girls Inc. Teen Center located at 4973 Hollister Ave, in Goleta.
- The monthly workshops will focus on helping the youth develop interpersonal and professional skills to equip them for their summer internship.
Our Mentorship Program is a two-year program during which participants, or mentees, attend monthly workshops at the Teen Center, located on our Goleta Valley Campus. These workshops cover skills such as writing résumés, preparing to interview for jobs, and learning about financial literacy, to name a few. In the summer following their first year in the program, mentees are placed in an internship with a community partner. This internship can count toward any community service hour requirements.
Year two of the program is similar in that mentees continue to attend monthly workshops. In addition, at this point, mentees are paired with mentors in the community. Mentees and mentors then meet twice a month with their mentors through Zoom. During the summer following their second year in the program, mentees will intern in person at their mentor’s place of work. All mentees who have completed their second summer internship will receive a small grant.
The Mentorship Program is free! All applicants will go through an interview process to ensure commitment to and compatibility with the program.
Apply Now
VOLUNTEER WOMEN: We are seeking volunteer women leaders with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, and career fields to donate their time and talents.
Volunteers are matched 1:1 with a teen in grades 10-12 with similar interests and lived experiences. By sharing their story and path, mentors can help create a spark and motivate mentees to identify their own passions and future career interests.
Mentoring, at its core, guarantees a young person that he or she matters, is understood, and lets them know that they are not alone in dealing with their daily challenges, nor are they alone to figure out their future paths.
Contact us if you would like to learn more about the program and apply to be a mentor.
During my internship with Nina at the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, I learned so much about diabetes, and the sensors they are testing to help diabetic patients. The research institute has helped many patients, and their environment was amazing.”
-Sagarika Manian , Mentee