About

The Challenge:

The Federal Government is calling for 3 million new youth mentors by the year 2010, and they recognize that a large percentage of these mentors will come out of the faith-based world

The Vision:

To raise up an army of mentors to serve on the front lines of the war for our county's youth. To train up and deploy 1000 new youth mentor candidates by 2008, through partnering with San Diego County's: faith, community, government & philanthropic organizations.

The MAMA Mission:

To partner with San Diego's faith congregations to raise up, train and deploy committed and qualified mentor candidates to come alongside the youth in our community's mentoring programs.

To awaken and equip the San Diego faith community to respond to the immediate needs of our county's most forgotten youth (those in the Juvenile Justice System, Foster Care, & portions of the Public School System).

These efforts are waged in the hopes of providing our county's neediest children with sustained and meaningful contact with an exemplary adult through a mentoring relationship.

Miles Ahead founder Miles McPherson, Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney, and the Miles Ahead staff worked with experts in the field of mentoring to create MAMA.

Mishe C. Harvey
Mentoring Director

Profile
Ms. Harvey has an extensive background in K-12 public school teaching, administration and leadership development. Using this experience, she has assisted in the creation of The Mentoring Alliance, a division of Miles Ahead. The Mentoring Alliance is a county-wide program dedicated to recruiting and training faith-based mentors to come along side "at risk" youth (foster care, children with an incarcerated or deployed parent, single parent children, and academically at-risk) within community mentoring programs.

Education
Ms. Harvey has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from UC Berkeley, a Masters of Fine Art in Theater Design from UC San Diego, a Masters in Education (Administration, Planning and Social Policy) from Harvard University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the Urban Superintendents Program where she has successfully completed two urban superintendency internships. Additionally, she holds a CLAD Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, and an Administrative Credential. Ms. Harvey is currently writing her dissertation which focuses on the perceptions of children of prisoners who are mentored in the Amachi program.