About
Inspire Mentoring is a unique social innovation that grew out of our work with young people in Ballymun and Finglas.
Inspire Mentoring is a unique social innovation that grew out of our work with young people in Ballymun and Finglas. They told us that they lacked additional support when in education and did not have access to professional contacts or networks. Using these insights, Inspire Mentoring was launched as a pilot programme in 2020 with 35 mentors and mentees.
Our aim is to connect marginalised young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with a professional who has volunteered to become a mentor.
We provide a digital platform and structure to facilitate excellent mentoring.
Inspire Mentoring addresses the twin issues of Social Mobility and Social Capital. Specifically, that there are generations of young, talented people who lack the Social Mobility and Social Capital that results in equality of opportunity. Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.
What is mentoring?
Inspire Mentoring has not invented the concept of mentoring – it has been around since Ancient Greece, and is a long-accepted practice, widely used as a social intervention across various populations and situations.
Mentoring is quite simple; It is a distinctive relationship between two individuals, the mentor and mentee, and the sharing of experiences.
As a mentor you support and motivate your mentee. You challenge them and open their eyes to opportunities and ideas they may not have thought about. You encourage them to raise their aspirations, to not just settle for mediocrity but achieve their full potential.
As a mentee you have a growth mindset open to new ideas and feedback. You will work with your mentor and achieve your goals.
What we have learnt is formal mentoring works. It helps and improves educational and career outcomes. Our mentees improved their self-confidence and their self-belief. It opened doors to new ways of thinking and opportunities.
Who are we?
Innovate Communities is a social enterprise working with communities for over ten years. Experts in innovation, we work with people to help them solve problems in new ways. Inspire Mentoring is an example of how we work directly with people, listen and create solutions – together.
What we do
Inspire Mentoring has adapted mentoring for the 21st Century. We offer online mentoring through our digital platform.
We empower the mentee to select the right mentor for them – based on their needs.
The team provides training and support to mentors and mentees ensuring that goals are achieved and the mentoring relationship is successful and productive.
We believe that mentoring can grow the knowledge, networks, skills and – crucially – the confidence of our mentees.
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