Global Mentorship Initiative
Think Human Fund
Mission & History
Founded in 2019, the Global Mentorship Initiative (GMI) is a US-based nonprofit dedicated to fostering equity by providing virtual mentorship to graduating college students from marginalized communities. The organization supports thousands of students across 100 countries, including refugee camps, and has expanded its focus to address needs in underrepresented fields such as climate policy. GMI’s mission is to empower graduating students from historically marginalized communities by connecting them with career professionals through a 12-week virtual mentorship. The program is designed to enhance professional skills, build career confidence, and improve access to opportunities, helping these individuals secure employment and succeed in their careers.
Country Information
GMI operates globally, with students from diverse countries participating in the program. This year, the initiative will support students from various regions, including those associated with Student Energy, an organization with a presence in Trinidad & Tobago and Benin. The program’s global scope reflects its commitment to addressing the needs of underserved communities worldwide.
The Need
Young people around the world face significant challenges entering the job market. In the US, two-thirds of college graduates struggle to start their careers, and global youth unemployment stands at 13.6%. Job applications often require specific skills, and pre-screening algorithms can discard resumes quickly, with human reviewers spending only about 6 seconds per resume. Mentorship is crucial in enhancing equity in job access, as mentees are five times more likely to be promoted than those without a mentor. There is a clear need for structured mentorship to bridge these gaps and improve career outcomes for underserved graduates.
The Project We Fund
The Global Mentorship Initiative provides a 12-week virtual mentorship program that connects graduating college students from underserved communities with career professionals. The project includes:
– Structured Online Mentorship: One-on-one online guidance from experienced mentors to enhance job readiness and career development.
– Network Creation: Building a network of opportunities through partnerships with companies and educational institutions to support thousands of underserved students globally.
– AI Platform Development: Creating the 10,000 Mentors AI Platform to offer scalable, personalized mentorship. This AI tool will use chatbots and a database of mentor experiences to provide job-search guidance via a ChatGPT-style interface. Funding will support the development, initial AI training, and database construction, with contributions from Concentrix programmers.
The Result
GMI will assess the impact of the mentorship program through several methods:
– Surveys: Students and mentors will be surveyed before, immediately after, and at 6 and 12 months following the mentorship to evaluate program satisfaction and the students’ career progress.
– Impact Metrics: Key metrics will include:
– Volume of Data Input: Tracking the amount of data entered into the AI platform.
– Number of Users Reached: Monitoring the number of students and mentors engaging with the platform.
– User Satisfaction: Evaluating feedback, particularly regarding support for regionally or professionally specific needs.
