About us

Promoting Quality Mentoring in Washington State

MENTOR Washington, formerly Mentoring Works Washington, is a public-private partnership founded in 2004 as a source of support for the hundreds of mentoring organizations across our state.

Our Mission: To promote, support, and expand quality mentoring that fosters positive youth development, academic success, and job and career readiness.

Our Vision: That every young person in Washington State has the supportive relationships they need to thrive and lead happy and successful lives.

The Mentoring Gap

We estimate there are more than 240,000 children in Washington State who could benefit from having a mentor and only 23,000 who have one. This leaves a gap of more than 200,000 youth without a mentor. MENTOR Washington leads the effort to close this gap by:

• Increasing the number of youth being mentored
• Increasing the implementation of research-based, quality mentoring practices
• Increasing racial equity and responsiveness in mentoring
• Increasing the responsiveness of mentoring for youth who have experienced trauma and face barriers to success