The 100k Mentor Challenge is a national movement and coalition of students from across the country partnering with ProMazo to provide 100,000 Mentors to 100,000 students from underrepresented backgrounds during the upcoming academic year.

The entire recruiting process has been upended because of the coronavirus and it has decimated the chance for students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, to build the networks that are crucial to securing full time work after college. We wanted to provide those without a network to fall back on with the support that will be necessary to survive this crisis and ensure we don’t have a lost generation just when diversity efforts within higher education have begun to pay off. Our goal is to create immersive mentorship experiences so students can receive the guidance they need before graduation, helping them develop lifelong advocates for their professional careers. We also hope it will be a new way for companies to sponsor people from underrepresented backgrounds to join their firm and recruit the next generation of leaders.

The leaders of the movement are students who are directly impacted by the changes that are happening in recruiting and ProMazo. ProMazo through its student networks was able to help assemble a wide variety of students to lead different parts of the movement. The 100k Mentor Challenge has over 40 students working on the initiative to ensure we reach our goals. Currently, there are four different teams working together to turn our idea into a reality. The App Team is building out the technical platform on iOS and Android, the Algorithm Team focuses on correctly matching students to mentors, the University Team is focused on developing and executing the strategy to register students as mentees on the app and the Corporate Engagement team’s goal is to build a coalition of corporate supporters and register mentors. ProMazo has donated part of the technology to run the mentorship program and because of its work with companies and students in the past is guiding the program as their way of giving back during this crisis.

We would be happy to sit down with you to discuss how to build a formal connection with your university. Please fill out the contact form using the link below and we will set up some time to chat!

Yes as long as they are from one of the underrepresented groups we are currently trying to support.

The 100k Mentor Challenge is set up like the XPrize, where after achieving certain goals, we establish a new challenge to support a different group of students. The first challenge we established in Fall 2020 focuses on students from underrepresented backgrounds. This group includes women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, students with disabilities, ROTC/Veterans, students who are first generation college students, and community college students.

We match students and mentors based on shared characteristics like profession, interests, etc. They are then matched with a portfolio of potential mentors. After the match a student can schedule their first meeting with their mentor through the app and work with them over a four month “Season” using the guides and structure the app provides or go off on their own. After every Season, students have the option of switching to a different mentor if they desire.

As part of the student’s registration, they will be required to take the Challenge Pledge which outlines their commitment to the program. Our mentors are taking the time out of their schedules to support and guide students, and we expect that the participating students will respect their mentor's dedication to aiding them. We therefore require all mentees to come prepared for every session, complete the suggested tasks in between sessions, and show up on time to their meetings with their mentor.

The whole program is completely free because we want to be able to help as many students as possible.