ManUp Iowa - ManUp Iowa Mentoring Program (DMAAC)

ManUp Iowa was founded with a purpose of serving as a community resource, and as an alternative approach to typical practices targeting male youth who may be at risk of academic failure and or delinquency matters. With a foundation deeply rooted in prevention and a program model emphasizing innovation and evidence based practices, ManUp Iowa Mentors effectively empower each program mentee with the values, skills, and support needed to prepare them for manhood successfully. Mission statement: "Empowering young men to make positive life choices so that they may go on to live healthy and successful lives at home, at school and in the community." Philosophy: At ManUp Iowa we believe every boy is born with the ability to play an exponentially important and diverse role within society. We also believe that they are deserving of an opportunity that successfully prepares them for manhood. It doesn't matter what they may look like, or where they may live, and certainly not how many resources their family may or may not have. Similarly, we believe that by educating young men with the values and skills correlated with making positive life choices in the real world, youth who've struggled in the past and who've been deemed the terms "broken, at risk, and disadvantaged", are able to rise up and transform into healthy, respectable and successful young men. More importantly, however, we believe in the strength of our community and understand we must unite together to solve the manhood crisis before any more damage is done.

The ManUp Iowa Mentoring Programming is a Group Mentoring Program focused on prevention and male responsibility. The Program matches boys (7-17) with positive male role models and is designed to be a long term support for enrolled youth and their families. Beyond the mentoring role, youth are provided access to male health educators who provide education about male responsibility through an evidenced based approach. The Program was launched in 2012 and has since gained full certification by the Iowa Mentoring Partnership and has evolved in to a comprehensive outreach program containing multiple program elements that address a diversity of issues within the community. Target population: ManUp Iowa Programming is designed to target pre-adolescent, adolescent and teenage male youth who are between the ages of 7 and 17, and who may be at-risk of academic failure, delinquency matters, or both. However, youth may be referred for a host of reasons including needing access to a positive peer culture and positive role model. Site locations: As of December 2016, the ManUp Iowa Mentoring Program is providing weekly mentoring services to 5 sites within the community including: Hoyt Middle School, McCombs Middle School, MAC Alternative School and two satellite sites located at Next Step Counseling Services.