Mentor at an Institute

What would an Institute be without mentors?

Mentoring at an Institute is a way for existing Fellows to give back to the Fellowship community by guiding incoming Fellows and connect with other mentors. The role of the mentor at Institute is 100% essential and the experience of mentoring is 100% unique.

Apply to be a Mentor!

Mentor at an Institute

What would an Institute be without mentors?

Mentoring at an Institute is a way for existing Fellows to give back to the Fellowship community by guiding incoming Fellows and connect with other mentors. The role of the mentor at Institute is 100% essential and the experience of mentoring is 100% unique.

Apply to be a Mentor!

Mentoring at Institute is a volunteer role open exclusively to existing StartingBloc Fellows by application only.

Mentoring is for Fellows who want to share their transformative Institute experience with incoming Fellows and who have the skills, space, and resources to nurture a meaningful experience for their breakout group of 5-8 incoming Fellows.

Mentors help incoming Fellows lean into the Institute experience as best as possible and serve as a grounding presence and resource before, during, and after the Institute for incoming Fellows. The presence of existing Fellows at Institutes helps to ensure a continuation of the Fellowship’s community culture.

Apply to be a Mentor

Mentoring is a personal and professional development opportunity for you, along with an opportunity to reconnect to the StartingBloc Institute experience.

You’ll gain:

  • Strengthened small group facilitation skills with a lens of trauma-informed, anti-oppressive facilitation and conflict management.
  • Tools for reflective practice.
  • Improved time and energy management.
  • Practice activating the principles of active listening and asking open and honest questions.
  • A deepened capacity to communicate clearly and directly.
  • An intimate community of fellow mentors from across cohorts and the globe.

Mentoring at Institute is a volunteer role open exclusively to existing StartingBloc Fellows by application only.

Mentoring is for Fellows who want to share their transformative Institute experience with incoming Fellows and who have the skills, space, and resources to nurture a meaningful experience for their breakout group of 5-8 incoming Fellows.

Mentors help incoming Fellows lean into the Institute experience as best as possible and serve as a grounding presence and resource before, during, and after the Institute for incoming Fellows. The presence of existing Fellows at Institutes helps to ensure a continuation of the Fellowship’s community culture.

Apply to be a Mentor

Mentoring is a personal and professional development opportunity for you, along with an opportunity to reconnect to the StartingBloc Institute experience.

You’ll gain:

  • Strengthened small group facilitation skills with a lens of trauma-informed, anti-oppressive facilitation and conflict management.
  • Tools for reflective practice.
  • Improved time and energy management.
  • Practice activating the principles of active listening and asking open and honest questions.
  • A deepened capacity to communicate clearly and directly.
  • An intimate community of fellow mentors from across cohorts and the globe.

You might be a great Mentor, if:

  • You are an existing Fellow who exhibits StartingBloc’s core tenets of leadership: self-awareness, maturity, competence (you turn your ‘why’ into your ‘how’), and connection.
  • You have experience in facilitation. For the purpose of mentoring, your facilitation experience can range from leading meetings, hosting events and/or lectures, running workshops with different group sizes and audiences. We encourage you to share more about your specific facilitation experience in your application.
  • You have experience managing group dynamics, and playing the role of coach or mentor.
  • You’re an open and empathetic communicator with a strong desire to connect incoming Fellows to the broader Fellowship community.
  • You demonstrate deep care, exhibit expertise in active listening, and model curiosity and space for learning.

We want the mentor group to reflect the diversity of the incoming Fellows and our entire community. In order to achieve that, we encourage people of all different ages, genders, races/ethnicities, and experiences to apply. When forming a mentor group, we consider the balance of age, gender, race/ethnicity, experience mentoring and Institute attended, along with the listed qualifications.

You might be a great Mentor, if:

  • You are an existing Fellow who exhibits StartingBloc’s core tenets of leadership: self-awareness, maturity, competence (you turn your ‘why’ into your ‘how’), and connection.
  • You have experience in facilitation. For the purpose of mentoring, your facilitation experience can range from leading meetings, hosting events and/or lectures, running workshops with different group sizes and audiences. We encourage you to share more about your specific facilitation experience in your application.
  • You have experience managing group dynamics, and playing the role of coach or mentor.
  • You’re an open and empathetic communicator with a strong desire to connect incoming Fellows to the broader Fellowship community.
  • You demonstrate deep care, exhibit expertise in active listening, and model curiosity and space for learning.

We want the mentor group to reflect the diversity of the incoming Fellows and our entire community. In order to achieve that, we encourage people of all different ages, genders, races/ethnicities, and experiences to apply. When forming a mentor group, we consider the balance of age, gender, race/ethnicity, experience mentoring and Institute attended, along with the listed qualifications.

Overview of the Mentor lifecycle: timeline + commitments

Mentoring is a volunteer role that requires the ability to provide your own travel and accommodations (in collaboration with your fellow Mentors). We recognize and celebrate the commitment this entails; mentors are foundational to the Institute experience for incoming Fellows. In total, mentoring is a 50-60 hour time commitment from acceptance until one week after Institute. Check out the specific timelines for each of the 2020 Institutes.

Apply

(~ 30 mins)

  • Apply by the application deadline for each institute.
  • If selected, you’ll receive your notice of acceptance within about 10 days.
  • Note: You must be an existing Fellow and join The Bloc.

Pre-Institute Commitments

(~6 hrs)

  • Mentor facilitation training and online work
  • Breakout group outreach via email and video call
  • Mentor group communication via email + introductions call (~6 hrs)

Week of Institute

(~45 hrs)

  • Pre-institute In person meeting Wednesday before Institute.
  • Provide facilitation, coaching + logistics support to the mentees in your Breakout Group and fellow mentors during Institute.

Post-Institute

(~3 hrs)

  • Support each member of your breakout group with signing up on The Bloc.
  • Introduce your Breakout Group via The Bloc on Facebook.
  • Optional post-Institute call with Breakout Group.

Overview of the Mentor lifecycle: timeline + commitments

Mentoring is a volunteer role that requires the ability to provide your own travel and accommodations (in collaboration with your fellow Mentors). We recognize and celebrate the commitment this entails; mentors are foundational to the Institute experience for incoming Fellows. In total, mentoring is a 50-60 hour time commitment from acceptance until one week after Institute. Check out the specific timelines for each of the 2020 Institutes.

Apply

(~ 30 mins)

  • Apply by the application deadline for each institute.
  • If selected, you’ll receive your notice of acceptance within about 10 days.
  • Note: You must be an existing Fellow and join The Bloc.

Pre-Institute Commitments

(~6 hrs)

  • Mentor facilitation training and online work
  • Breakout group outreach via email and video call
  • Mentor group communication via email + introductions call (~6 hrs)

Week of Institute

(~45 hrs)

  • Pre-institute In person meeting Wednesday before Institute.
  • Provide facilitation, coaching + logistics support to the mentees in your Breakout Group and fellow mentors during Institute.

Post-Institute

(~3 hrs)

  • Support each member of your breakout group with signing up on The Bloc.
  • Introduce your Breakout Group via The Bloc on Facebook.
  • Optional post-Institute call with Breakout Group.

Application + selection process

In the Mentor and Lead Mentor applications, you’ll have a chance to share:

  • A bit about who you are.
  • Why you are passionate about the opportunity to serve as a mentor or Lead Mentor.
  • The kind of quality and care you will lead with as a mentor and your previous facilitation experience.
  • Names of 2 StartingBloc Fellows who can serve as references. Note: references will be contacted via email by the SB team within 48 hours after the application deadline and will be expected to respond within 48 hours of outreach.
  • Details like your biography and photo to be shared at the Institute if you are selected as a mentor.

You can complete this application by writing in your answers or by uploading a 1-2 minute video sharing your responses. You will receive next steps in a confirmation email after submitting your application.

If you have other questions about the application + selection process, please email Martha: [email protected]

Apply to be a Mentor

Application + selection process

In the Mentor and Lead Mentor applications, you’ll have a chance to share:

  • A bit about who you are.
  • Why you are passionate about the opportunity to serve as a mentor or Lead Mentor.
  • The kind of quality and care you will lead with as a mentor and your previous facilitation experience.
  • Names of 2 StartingBloc Fellows who can serve as references. Note: references will be contacted via email by the SB team within 48 hours after the application deadline and will be expected to respond within 48 hours of outreach.
  • Details like your biography and photo to be shared at the Institute if you are selected as a mentor.

You can complete this application by writing in your answers or by uploading a 1-2 minute video sharing your responses. You will receive next steps in a confirmation email after submitting your application.

If you have other questions about the application + selection process, please email Martha.

Apply to be a Mentor

Interested in being a Lead Mentor?

The Lead Mentor’s primary role is to support mentors as their own breakout group and ultimately advance the Institute as a whole.

The Lead Mentor role is an opportunity to facilitate the group of mentors and create intentional interactions between mentors. Within the five-day Institute, it is essential to have a leader who oversees, coordinates, and mediates. It’s not just about the Fellows — it’s about a cohesive mentor group and the Lead Mentor ensures this cohesion.

To be eligible for the role of Lead Mentor, you must:

  • Meet the qualifications of a StartingBloc mentor, in “You might be a great mentor, if” section above.
  • Have previously mentored at least once during a StartingBloc Institute.
  • Have additional facilitation experience.

Before you apply, please read the full volunteer role description.

Apply to be a Lead Mentor

Interested in being a Lead Mentor?

The Lead Mentor’s primary role is to support mentors as their own breakout group and ultimately advance the Institute as a whole.

The Lead Mentor role is an opportunity to facilitate the group of mentors and create intentional interactions between mentors. Within the five-day Institute, it is essential to have a leader who oversees, coordinates, and mediates. It’s not just about the Fellows — it’s about a cohesive mentor group and the Lead Mentor ensures this cohesion.

To be eligible for the role of Lead Mentor, you must:

  • Meet the qualifications of a StartingBloc mentor, in “You might be a great mentor, if” section above.
  • Have previously mentored at least once during a StartingBloc Institute.
  • Have additional facilitation experience.

Before you apply, please read the full volunteer role description.

Apply to be a Lead Mentor

If you have feedback or ideas about StartingBloc’s Mentorship Program, please send us an email to [email protected]

If you have feedback or ideas about StartingBloc’s Mentorship Program, please send us an email to [email protected]