Every year, MPYD takes a minimum of 45 male youths from John Muir High School on a four-day retreat to Cardinal Paint Leadership Camp in Big Bear, CA. MPYD staff, alumni, and mentors join the students to participate in a host of planned activities and events. The camp provides a safe non-intimidating environment away from the pressure of their peers. The camp experience encompasses three goals: learn life skills, obtain character development and have fun. The theme of “Building Real Men” is the focus of the camp retreat. It is the program’s objective that the youths leave camp with transferable lessons which will encourage a view toward channeling their aspirations and expectations to becoming better men through school and life.

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The theme is reiterated through planned activities that provide a great opportunity for the youth to rigorously challenge themselves to achieve personal goals. A detailed itinerary outlining the daily events is provided to each youth, encouraging time management. Throughout the program, three guest speakers use motivational tactics to enable the youth to visualize and prepare for a future that provides a productive and healthy lifestyle within their family and local community. The structured workshops incorporate a combination of icebreakers and other activities. The activities concentrate on life skills and personal development by educating the youths about teamwork, conflict resolution, anger management, self-esteem, healthy decision-making, cultural awareness, professionalism and intellectual ability. There are two discussion groups which enable the youths to express their views on the necessities for becoming better individuals. The youths then write essays on short term goals which can be achieved before the start of or during the new school year. Athletic activities that are considered mainstays of the camp experience include basketball, flag football, rock climbing, soccer, swimming, volleyball and a ropes course. The ropes course is one of the major highlights amongst all the activities.

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The camp gives the students plenty of quality time to build trust and lasting relationships. The campfire tradition is held on the last night and it provides a chance for each youth to open-up and speak freely. Every youth is encouraged to suppress their vulnerability in order to obtain a lasting trustful bond amongst their peers. Bursting with tradition, heartwarming moments and emotions, the campfire is an amazing conclusion to a successful retreat. 

The “Lunch with the Future” program is a vital component to MPYD’s mentoring program. The premise of this program is that one day the young men of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Through motivational tactics, "Lunch with the Future" provides a safe non-intimidating environment away from the pressure of their peers and society. It allows the students to learn from successful professionals like local entrepreneurs, City and State government workers, elected officials, scholars, and members of civic groups, who volunteer their time to speak with our students on various relative topics.

The goal is to enable young men to visualize and prepare for a future that provides productive employment and a healthy lifestyle within their family and local community, which is achieved by avoiding destructive paths of low achievement, grade retention, gang involvement, and a potential criminal record.

Another objective is to instill within them the desire to interact with their teachers, parents, leaders, and peers in a positive and productive manner. It is our hope that our mentees will realize their need to set achievable goals and to become proactive in preparing to reach those goals.

Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development is committed to providing students with the skills necessary to achieve academic success by incorporating close monitoring of their academic progress. The Academics for Success Program is designed to help all students attain their full academic potential, while providing extra support to students who need more guidance as they become accustomed to the transition into a new learning environment and increase their chances of succeeding academically.

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The program is structured on three components: 1) academic monitoring and review program, offered during the academic year, 2) personal counseling and planning activities, and 3) an after-school study hall with peer-to-peer tutoring. It is Mentoring and Partnerships objective to ensure the students stay on path towards graduation and eventually transition to an institution of higher learning.

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Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development requires that all students maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA to remain in the program. If a student does not meet the minimum requirement, they are placed on academic probation and are given additional guidelines and goals to ensure that they are committed to improving academically.

Those students that have achieved academic success are rewarded with prizes and certificates to acknowledge their accomplishments.

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The peer-to-peer tutoring which is a part of Click on Education is for students who are in need additional assistance, specifically those that are on academic probation. Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development recruits juniors and seniors to volunteer their time to help with peer-to-peer tutoring. In partnership with the three Academies on campus, all volunteer time associated with the program can be used towards meeting each of the Academies community service requirements. The goal of the tutoring program is to help students improve grades, stay on track throughout the semester and provide students with individual attention helping them overcome academic obstacle.

Our afterschool program focuses on the values Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM). The objective is to address the low percentage of our students pursuing a higher education to become qualified candidates in high-demand STEM careers. The goal of the program is to prepare students for academic and career success through its four layered components of tutoring, computer training, job development, and college preparation.

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Click on Education is hosted Monday through Thursday in our new computer lab facility located on John Muir High Schools campus. The program has more than 85% of its students as members of the Engineering and Environmental Science Academy or Business and Entrepreneurship Academy. MPYD works closely with these academies to help our students to be more academically competitive through peer-to-peer tutoring, in which students are assisted in subjects that correlate to STEM leading to an improvement in grades. With our new computer equipment, students are trained by our staff on the normal functions of computer technology. For those advanced students, the program offers training courses on numerous programs like Microsoft Excel, Access, and more that are essential for STEM success.

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The program also provides workshops on job development through career education and readiness. MPYD invites mentors with professional backgrounds in STEM to assist with these workshops. Each week students are introduced to a different career path and what it takes to attain success in that career. This leads to the programs final layer, which is preparing the students for higher learning. Our college preparation explores the possible paths to a higher education at either a vocational school or university. Students do their own research on the requirements necessary to enroll in such schools, and our staff helps to set current and future educational goals to meet those requirements. With these four layered components, MPYD hopes that its alumni will one day have a sustainable future in a successful STEM-related career.

Our job training program emphasizes long-term goals such as keeping the students employed and advancing in the workforce. In the short term, students will give up the immediacy of a paycheck, but the long term benefits of securing better jobs with higher salaries, benefits, and opportunities for advancement is much more rewarding. Beyond simply imparting skills, MPYD’s job training program helps students learn responsibility, leadership, and self-confidence by providing flexible training, paying close attention to student needs, and pursuing a rigorous follow-up after placement.

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MPYD will foster close relationships between mentors, staff and students by providing students with ways to identify and cultivate their interests. The program facilitates courses that focus on soft skills, stressing communication with employers, dressing, and conflict resolution. Mock job interviews are also a fundamental process that is incorporated. Once students have successfully completed the program courses, MPYD works hard to place students at a local affiliated employer. After a successful placement, Mentoring and Partnership for Youth Development maintains close relationship with its employers and creates advisory groups to provide feedback on student placements.