Community Mentoring - College Awareness Week

Inspire the Next Generation!

A community-based mentoring programme sharing information and advice about college experiences to help prospective students. Scroll to the bottom of this page to access our free training modules!

Become a Community Mentor and Inspire the Next Generation!

The Community Mentoring (CM) programme is a unique inter-institutional and community-based mentoring programme that is comprised of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology (IADT), Marino Institute of Education (MIE), National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Dublin (UCD).

Who is a Community Mentor?

Community Mentors are a valuable community resource, who can help to share information and advice about their college experience, to help prospective students build their awareness of college courses, how to apply, and the benefits of a college education. Community Mentors are drawn from the following under-represented groups at third-level:

Mature students
Further education and training (FET) entrant
Under-represented socio-economic group
HEAR (Higher Education Access Route) students
Students with a disability
Students from an ethnic minority group
Lone parents
1916 bursary recipients

What is the aim of Community Mentoring?

While Community Mentoring will increase mentees’ confidence in relation to higher education, Community Mentoring ultimately, at the highest-level, aims to improve the levels of diversity in higher education and increase equity of access for all communities in Dublin.

The application to become a Community Mentor for 2024-2025 is now open.

Although we’d like to, we aren’t in a position to pay our Community Mentors. The programme however provides employability skills such as public speaking, leadership and references. There can also be networking opportunities.

The feel-good factor, of course! Community Mentors often speak about the feel-good factor of ‘giving back’ to their community or supporting an organisation they are passionate about. As well as the feel-good factor, Community Mentors will be provided with a certificate they can share on Linkedin, glowing references, the opportunity to meet like-minded people, develop their employability skills and most importantly, be a part of a team actively tackling educational inequality in a hands-on way.

It shouldn’t take too much of your time! We know how hard you’ve worked to get to third-level, and we don’t want to negatively impact that. We’re looking at a commitment of around 6 hours across the academic year. Many Community Mentors feel a sense of accomplishment and rejuvenation after each session that drives their studies further. The breakdown of the time commitment is as follows:

Complete the “Becoming a Community Mentor” training by scrolling to the bottom of this page (1 hour with reading of resources)
Deliver 3 mentoring sessions ( 3 x 1 hour sessions)

You absolutely should still apply. It’s a learning experience for all involved including the organisations and students! We’ll provide you with training and ongoing support. You’ll attend a Leadership and Training Day that will provide you with the tools, techniques, and skills to begin your Community Mentor journey confidently. You’ll learn from experts and from previous Community Mentors. We’ll also provide you with a Community Mentor handbook which will guide your sessions. Click here to see a sample Community Mentoring Handbook. The handbook will provide a step-by-step guide on how to deliver each mentoring session.

There are different types of educational institutions involved in Community Mentoring.

Secondary Schools: Be a Mentor to teenagers who could benefit from further information about college.
Further Education and Training Institutions: Be a Mentor to mature students who plan to progress to third-level;
Community Groups: Be a Mentor to teenagers or adult learners who plan to progress to third-level.

If you have a preference for the organisation you would like to mentor, please ensure you read the options listed in the application form carefully.

Each year, community mentoring is growing and we encourage Community Mentors to use their training to get involved with other local organisations. Why not reach out to Daire (project coordinator), use our resources, and encourage your preferred organisation to get involved?

Mentoring sessions will take place in-person at the educational institution where possible and online as an alternative.

To sign up here to be a Community Mentor.

Molly the Project Coordinator will contact you by email to outline the following:

Community Mentoring Training details (training can be accessed at the bottom of this page)
The Community Mentor you will be delivering the mentoring sessions with
Details about your Host Organisation (you can also reach out to your own desired organisation)
Tusla’s Children’s First E-Learning Programme. You will be required to complete this programme and send your certificate of completion to Molly (if required by host organisation)
The Garda Vetting Process (if required by host organisation)

Please don’t hesitate in contacting Molly: Project Coordinator by email ([email protected]) with any questions and/or queries you may have.

Community Mentoring resources are free to any educational organisation to download

Become a Host Institution

Find out about developing your own Community Mentoring Programme in your organisation

Community Mentor Handbook

A step by step guide on how Community Mentors will deliver each mentoring session

Mentee Toolkit

The Mentee Toolkit is aimed at those between 13-18 year of age

Adult Community Ed

The Community Education handbook supports mentors to work with groups of adult learners

Community Mentor Training

Click the images below to start your training.

Alternative Formats

Transcript | Audio

Click here to start the Setting Up a Community Mentor Programme training

Alternative Formats

Transcript | Audio

For further information on how to participate in the Community Mentoring programme, please contact Molly: Project Coordinator at [email protected]