MUTUAL MENTORING:
ELDERS AND YOUTH WORKING TOGETHER
AS CHANGEMAKERS
ELDERS AND YOUTH WORKING TOGETHER
AS CHANGEMAKERS
BECOMING A CHANGEMAKER
Changemakers are people who work both behind the scenes and on the front lines of a social issue to bring about positive change—teachers, administrators, counselors, youth workers and mentors among them. They can work along a spectrum from part-time to full time as volunteers or for pay, within their communities and/or on-line. The most powerful changemakers function in the words of Malcolm Gladwell as “contagious agents.” Everyday changemakers” are those who make change in less formal and structured ways. As Bill Drayton, the founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, says, “everyone a change maker.”
Mutual Mentoring is when Changemaker. The mentor-as-changemaker is:
Through exercising these functions the change maker creates an individualized plan. From there the changemaker can also assume the role of “team leader,” coordinating with those organizations and individuals within a community to carry out the plan or pass this responsibility on to others.
To make this process more concrete, both elder and the youth need to assume equal status. They both are able to:
Both the mentor and the mentee need to be trained as changemakers. Think of a mentee as a potential hero. After all, they have crossed difficult thresholds and have the potential to become a hero in their own story.
Changemakers are people who work both behind the scenes and on the front lines of a social issue to bring about positive change—teachers, administrators, counselors, youth workers and mentors among them. They can work along a spectrum from part-time to full time as volunteers or for pay, within their communities and/or on-line. The most powerful changemakers function in the words of Malcolm Gladwell as “contagious agents.” Everyday changemakers” are those who make change in less formal and structured ways. As Bill Drayton, the founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, says, “everyone a change maker.”
Mutual Mentoring is when Changemaker. The mentor-as-changemaker is:
- First, a diagnostician— by "making the map” (i.e., identifying those pathways that keep one from connecting intentions with results) and “minding the gaps” (i.e., uncovering specific instances where systemic energy has dissipated).
- Second, a designer—“building the app” (i.e.,determining the right approaches to take in leveraging the most viable inner and community resources for the benefit).
Through exercising these functions the change maker creates an individualized plan. From there the changemaker can also assume the role of “team leader,” coordinating with those organizations and individuals within a community to carry out the plan or pass this responsibility on to others.
To make this process more concrete, both elder and the youth need to assume equal status. They both are able to:
- Adapt to change—the foundation
- Contribute to change—can be achieved in a variety of ways
- Initiate change…. —this can and should be woven into the mentor[s toolkit. Young people need experience in initiating and making change.
Both the mentor and the mentee need to be trained as changemakers. Think of a mentee as a potential hero. After all, they have crossed difficult thresholds and have the potential to become a hero in their own story.