Tower Foundation Grant Funds Alumni Mentorship Program
While college is exciting, it can also be overwhelming. Challenges like course load, being in a new place, and financial obligations often lead to feelings of stress, loneliness, or isolation. To help reduce these feelings, Buffalo State has launched its new Alumni Mentorship Program, which pairs alumni mentors with current students to provide access to social support in the form of friendship.
A grant from the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation has enabled a partnership between the Buffalo State Alumni Engagement Office and Compeer Buffalo, a non-clinical social service agency that promotes mental wellness through the healing power of friendship, to create one-to-one mentorship pairings between alumni and current students. To ensure participant safety and well-being, mentors must undergo a background check, fingerprinting, and interview process—all of which Compeer has years of experience with.
Any full- or part-time Buffalo State student is eligible to enroll. Interested students submit a self-referral and other documentation such as an interest and information questionnaire, expectations agreement, and information release. While waiting to be matched, interested mentees can attend group events to meet mentors and receive updates.
Alumni mentors, once onboarded, are presented with two to four potential mentees from which to choose. Once a selection has been made, the mentors contact the student to set up the first meeting, which takes place at a mutually agreed upon location and with a Compeer staff member present.
Mentors and mentees are matched for one year based on similar interests and hobbies, area of study, or goals. Pairs are expected to spend a few hours together each month, either in one-on-one settings, or by attending low-cost or no-cost activities and events hosted by Buffalo State and Compeer. The program offers perks to facilitate these meetings; the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore is giving free drink vouchers to the first 10 matches, and all pairings can gain free access to any Erie County YMCA. The program will also offer career networking opportunities and mental health resources.