What we have to offer
Mentoring
One-to-one Mentoring
Founded in 1997, Talbot Mentors is a driving force in Talbot County, empowering underserved young people to become their best selves. Over 347 youth have participated since the program’s inception. Talbot Mentors provides the platform on which to establish real, meaningful, long-lasting bonds between caring adults and young people. Our volunteers commit to supporting, guiding, and being a friend to a young person. Talbot Mentors provides supportive environments, caring connections, and positive experiences to promote resiliency in children. Volunteers commit to meeting with youth once a week for 1-2 hours a week.
Parents – If you are interested in a mentor for your child, contact one of our referral sources – Talbot County Public Schools and Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor please visit our Become a Mentor page to learn more.
Group Mentoring
So that we can impact more youth beyond those participating in 1:1 mentoring, we offer group mentoring opportunities. We seek volunteers who want to share a special talent, engage in a specific activity, or teach a skill. This might include fishing, art, cooking, gardening, building, biking, sports, etc…the possibilities are endless.
Group mentoring runs during the summer months, and we work closely with our volunteers in selecting dates and appropriately aged youth participants. If you are interested in becoming a group mentor please fill out our mentor application linked here.
Academic Support
Scholars
The strength of the scholars program includes our expert team of highly qualified educators and professionals who give their all in helping our youth achieve their best selves and college dreams; a comprehensive innovative curriculum of classroom and experiential learning that challenges students academically and helps build the essential skills needed for life success; and resources to meet the financial gap after college scholarships and other outside resources are fully maximized.
Our overarching goal →100% of scholars get into college →100% stay in college →100% graduate!
Some of the top tier institutions attended by our scholars include Dartmouth, American University, Washington College, Goucher, University of Maryland, among others. We work with scholars throughout the college admissions process, from selecting best fit schools, to completing financial aid and admissions applications, to researching and applying for scholarships.
If you, or your child, are in grades 9-11 and are interested in becoming a Scholar, please apply here. Applicants are required to have a 3.0 GPA and must maintain that throughout their time in the program.
Tutoring
Academic tutoring helps our youth strengthen subject comprehension and build confidence. We do this 1:1 and in small groups in a dedicated educational space at our Talbot Mentors office. Youth in grades 6th – 12th join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM. We provide tutoring in partnership with Washington College to help students in Math, English, and Social Studies.
Read alliance
Talbot Mentors is now the lead organization for the pilot Talbot County READ Alliance program. For more than 25 years READ Alliance has delivered a unique dual impact model serving two important populations: young children striving to read and teens who develop strong leadership, mentoring, and workforce development skills through meaningful paid work experience as individual reading tutors.
The structure of the READ Alliance program in Talbot County is one of cross-organizational collaboration. Talbot Mentors is partnering with Building African American Minds (BAAM), Chesapeake Multi-Cultural Resource Center (ChesMRC), and Talbot County Public Schools to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities. READ Alliance is a high-dosage early literacy tutoring & youth development program with a track record of success, and our four local organizations will work in tandem with READ to improve the literacy of Talbot County youth.
For more information on the READ Alliance program, please visit their website at this link: READ Alliance, or watch READ’s recent appearance on the Kelly Clarkson show using this link: READ on Kelly Clarkson.
