As is apparent by the size of this book, it takes a great deal of time and effort to develop and support your own electronic mentoring community. Steps involved are outlined in the following chapter. If you do not have the resources to make this commitment, consider finding an existing community to join. For example, DO-IT hosts an electronic community for teens with disabilities, near-peers, and mentors. DO-IT Scholars, Ambassadors, and Mentors are members. In addition, any teen with a disability who plans to go to college can apply to join the community as a DO-IT Pal. DO-IT Pals receive peer, near-peer, and mentor support, as well as access to a rich collection of resources. Teens with disabilities can simply send an email message to doit@u.washington.edu to join DO-IT Pals. More information about this program can be found in the video DO-IT Pals: An Internet Community, and the accompanying brochure, DO-IT Pals. They can be found on the DO-IT Pals page or purchased from DO-IT.
Other online mentoring options for students with disabilities can be found in the DO-IT Knowledge Base article Are there electronic mentoring programs for students with disabilities?
Whether you mentor a young person, connect one child with a caring adult, create a small mentoring group in your church or school, develop an elaborate electronic mentoring community, or encourage young people to join an existing online mentoring program, find ways to make mentoring a part of the lives of the young people with whom you interact.
The next chapter tells you how to create an electronic mentoring community. The chapters that follow provide mentoring tips and activities that can be adapted for any mentoring environment.