Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program
601 4th Street, Suite 107, Brookings, SD 57006
About
Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program offers 1:1 community-based youth mentoring and small group mentoring opportunities with trained adults. The program focuses on increasing the resiliency and positive social skills of youth through evidence-based youth mentoring and follows best practices in youth mentoring as established by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. It is a mentoring program for all K–12 students in Brookings County.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program builds and supports consistent, encouraging mentor relationships that offer new opportunities for both Mentors and Mentees in Brookings County, SD. BCYMP is a 501c3 incorporated in April of 2001. BCYMP mentors, staff, and program volunteers are trauma-informed and trained in Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework (2017). BCYMP staff completed over 20 hours of online coursework, contributed to weekly discussion posts, and attended live webinars and cohort convenings to complete their Disability Mentoring Certification, while also creating a plan to improve the disability inclusion practices in their organization. In 2021, BCYMP received their Disability Mentoring Certification and was one of 23 organizations in the nation that completed the full certification. BCYMP actively participates in the exchange of resources and ideas so that Brookings County can best support its youth.
Parents, mentors, and mentees describe a range of experiences with the program. One mentee, Alexis, shares that her mentor has attended her dance recitals, band concerts, and the Hobo Day parade and has helped her with schoolwork such as PowerPoint projects. A parent named Kay says that her daughter’s mentor shows her things that are possible that their own journey would not have taken them on or that they would not have access to. Other parents report changes they see in their children, including excelling in academics and sports, being more focused and attentive at home, listening more, arguing less, feeling stronger, believing more in themselves, and being more outgoing and willing to try new things. Mentors describe wanting to have a positive impact on a child’s life, offering support similar to what they received from role models growing up, and seeing mentoring as a way to encourage a child in the community and be a friend to someone who might be going through a hard time. One mentor notes that mentoring is a unique opportunity to share a different perspective from everyday life, and another says that mentoring showed them the importance of consistently being there for someone and helped them develop more meaningful relationships outside of the program. Another mentor states that BCYMP mentoring is empowering and that kids need a network that cannot always be just one person.
Last updated March 18, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program builds and supports consistent, encouraging mentor relationships that offer new opportunities for both Mentors and Mentees in Brookings County, SD. BCYMP is a 501c3 incorporated in April of 2001. BCYMP mentors, staff, and program volunteers are trauma-informed and trained in Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework (2017). BCYMP staff completed over 20 hours of online coursework, contributed to weekly discussion posts, and attended live webinars and cohort convenings to complete their Disability Mentoring Certification, while also creating a plan to improve the disability inclusion practices in their organization. In 2021, BCYMP received their Disability Mentoring Certification and was one of 23 organizations in the nation that completed the full certification. BCYMP actively participates in the exchange of resources and ideas so that Brookings County can best support its youth.
Parents, mentors, and mentees describe a range of experiences with the program. One mentee, Alexis, shares that her mentor has attended her dance recitals, band concerts, and the Hobo Day parade and has helped her with schoolwork such as PowerPoint projects. A parent named Kay says that her daughter’s mentor shows her things that are possible that their own journey would not have taken them on or that they would not have access to. Other parents report changes they see in their children, including excelling in academics and sports, being more focused and attentive at home, listening more, arguing less, feeling stronger, believing more in themselves, and being more outgoing and willing to try new things. Mentors describe wanting to have a positive impact on a child’s life, offering support similar to what they received from role models growing up, and seeing mentoring as a way to encourage a child in the community and be a friend to someone who might be going through a hard time. One mentor notes that mentoring is a unique opportunity to share a different perspective from everyday life, and another says that mentoring showed them the importance of consistently being there for someone and helped them develop more meaningful relationships outside of the program. Another mentor states that BCYMP mentoring is empowering and that kids need a network that cannot always be just one person.
Last updated March 18, 2026.
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