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Formal mentoring has been an effective approach to mitigate challenges facing underserved youth and contributes to observable improvements in behavior, relationships, and emotional well-being. In recent years, virtual mentoring has emerged as a promising way to expand the provision of mentoring. By engaging virtually, mentorship programs can mitigate typical challenges of travel time and distance between mentor and mentee. Nonetheless, there are also challenges associated with virtual mentoring, including the potential for miscommunication and possible difficulties developing deep connections. In 2020, the U.S. Dream Academy began developing and implementing virtual and hybrid mentoring services to explore the benefits and address the challenges of virtual mentoring. As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused widespread disruption in schooling in the United States, the U.S. Dream Academy leveraged this unique opportunity to begin implementing virtual mentoring. This report describes how the U.S. Dream Academy sought to expand its mentoring program to include a virtual option. The authors summarize the development and implementation of the mentoring program and lessons learned from this experience with the goal of supporting program improvement. This report may also assist other mentoring programs that seek to adopt a similar mentoring model. [The research for this report was sponsored by U.S. Dream Academy.]

Formal mentoring has been an effective approach to mitigate challenges facing underserved youth and contributes to observable improvements in behavior, relationships, and emotional well-being (Rhodes, 2008). Mentored youth appear to gain improvements in peer and parent relationships and school performance, while also engaging in lower levels of substance and alcohol use relative to youth who are not mentored (Raposa et al., 2019). Studies have found mentoring effective in preventing psychosocial problems, such as delinquent behavior (DuBois and Karcher, 2013). Despite the evidence on the benefits of formal mentoring, an estimated 9 million young people are growing up in under-resourced environments without the support of formal mentors (Bruce and Bridgeland, 2014). In recent years, virtual mentoring has emerged as a promising way to expand the provision of mentoring (Andersen and Wellen, 2023). By engaging virtually, mentorship programs can mitigate the typical challenges of travel time and distance between mentor and mentee (Ensher, Heun, and Blanchard, 2003) and may even facilitate the development of rapport and trust (Ensher and Murphy, 1997; Miller and Griffiths, 2005). In 2020, the U.S. Dream Academy (hereafter referred to as "Dream"), a longtime innovator in developing out-of-school-time programs and formal mentoring for young people, expanded its mentoring program to include a virtual option in six Learning Centers across the country. RAND researchers collaborated with Dream to evaluate the development and implementation of the mentoring program and the supplemental services offered. This brief illustrates how flexible programming, including the use of in-person, hybrid, and virtual mentoring approaches, allowed for the adaptation of supports to meet the specific needs of youth and families in their communities.