About The Mentoring Center


Our Mission

The Mentoring Center exists to move all youth, whatever challenges they are facing, toward healthy, successful lives, by providing support, love, and opportunities for self-mastery.

The Mentoring Center is a nationally-recognized resource that creates and influences policy; builds the capacity of others serving youth through training; and develops and disseminates Transformative Mentoring™ practices and tools.

Our Vision

The vision of The Mentoring Center is rooted in the belief that all children will reach their full and unlimited potential by realizing their innate greatness.

The Mentoring Center supports youth to grow into healthy adults and become productive citizens with the ability to transform themselves and the communities where they live.

Who We Are

Founded in 1991, The Mentoring Center (TMC) was created to serve as a technical assistance and training provider for Bay Area mentoring programs. TMC has served more than 800 mentoring programs in its 16 years of operation in the Bay Area. As a result, TMC has worked with more than 25,000 youth and volunteer mentors.

The Mentoring Center provides technical assistance and training to approximately 50-85 mentoring efforts, and direct mentor training to 1,700-2,500 volunteers and program staff annually.

TMC’s technical assistance and training services are tailored for organizations such as school districts, individual local schools (K-12), colleges and universities, juvenile detention facilities, faith-based organizations, community based organizations, municipal/public institutions, and private businesses.

As a direct service provider, TMC serves between 90-130 adjudicated and incarcerated youth between the ages of 14-25 annually through two intensive mentoring and intervention efforts: The Transition Program and the Transformative Manhood Group.

In response to overwhelming requests to conduct our programs at other locations, TMC began the Transformative Manhood Group On-Location program, a condensed form of our services conducted at local schools and community centers. TMC also leads the City of Oakland’s two initiatives that serve youth offenders, (1) Juvenile Justice Center / Oakland Unified School District (O.U.S.D.) Wrap Around Strategy and (2) Project Choice.

Get to Know Us

We are committed to the positive growth of our youth and our community.