Who are we?
WISE Mentoring is a community organisation that focuses on the Wellbeing, Inspiration, Support and Empowerment of young people through character education and mentoring. Even though we are a new project, we have all been involved in the community for years. We are a tight knit group, passionate about honouring the personal relationships we have developed with the community and helping children develop their wellbeing and character in the context of positive relationships.
Vision: Wisdom and Wellbeing
Our vision is to create safe spaces where children can develop their wisdom and wellbeing, grow in their confidence and resilience, explore their personal identity and purpose, and learn to care for others and the world around them.
Mission: Inspiration, Support, and Empowerment
Our mission is to inspire children through the power of character education, supporting them through safe, developmental relationships, and empowering them to participate in their communities and contribute to society.
We work with volunteer university students to offer weekly group mentoring and 1:1 mentoring sessions for children aged 9-11 across a few primary schools at the end of the school day. We also to run drop-in sessions for previous attendees, to further the impact of the mentoring they have received, and family days, which welcome both children enrolled in the mentoring projects and any other families and community members who wish to join.
Our history
WISE Mentoring was born out of a group of people who were involved in the youth mentoring charity Citywise, which ceased all charitable activity in August 2023. Even though WISE was only established in the autumn of 2023, our launch was expected and supported by the community who knew and loved the work that Citywise had done.
We launched our work in November 2023 with a fantastic family day. The families who came told us that they missed us and that the children really felt the absence of our enriching, supportive activities. We received an overwhelming amount of support from the community to continue the legacy that Citywise had left behind.
Under the umbrella of Citywise, we have a strong track record of delivering youth mentoring work in the community for seven years. In the last year of its existence, Citywise ran mentoring projects across seven local primary schools, as well as monthly family days, drop-ins for previous attendees and holiday clubs.
To start with, WISE has begun with mentoring projects in two schools, and is continuing to run the monthly family days and drop-ins for previous attendees. At the moment, we are purely volunteer-run, as our priority was continuity of the work for the community, since the dissolution of Citywise left behind an even more pronounced gap in local services.
However, we are beginning to apply for grant funding and have launched our first crowdfunder as we look for the seed funding to make our work sustainable and cost effective long-term.