Mentor – Die Leselernhelfer Hannover

MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Hannover is a regional non-profit association based in Hannover, Germany, dedicated to improving children's reading and text-comprehension skills through one-to-one volunteer mentoring. It was founded in 2003 by the Hannover bookseller Otto Stender, who was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 2011 in recognition of his work. The association operates on what it calls the 1:1 principle: one child, once a week, for one hour, over the course of a year, regardless of the child's social or cultural background. The organisation works closely with schools, which act as the link between MENTOR Hannover and the children receiving support. Each participating school designates a teacher as a contact person, and the schools themselves select the children who will receive reading support. MENTOR Hannover then connects those children with volunteer reading mentors and supports the mentors with advice, training and help with challenges during their engagement. According to the association, it is active at 190 schools and other educational institutions across almost all of Hannover's city districts and the surrounding region. A large share of the children supported attend grades 2 to 4 of primary school. MENTOR Hannover is part of a wider German movement. The idea spread beyond Hannover, and in 2008 the national umbrella organisation MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Bundesverband e.V. was founded. Today, according to the association, 125 regional MENTOR associations are active throughout Germany. MENTOR Hannover lists the federal association, the Freundeskreis Hannover e.V. and the Freiwilligenzentrum Hannover e.V. among its partners. The association is led by a volunteer board, with Uwe Karges as chair, Jan Putfarken as deputy chair, Angelika Jühne as treasurer, and several additional board members and coordinators. As a non-profit, MENTOR Hannover does not sell products; its "offering" is a structured volunteer reading-mentorship programme for schoolchildren. It also runs public-awareness activities in the region, for example at the Fest im Park der Sinne in Laatzen, at the Klimameile in Wennigsen and in the centre of Neustadt. The association's stated mission is to give children better educational opportunities and to enable them to participate fully in society, since reading is described as the key to education and social participation.

MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Hannover was founded in 2003 by Otto Stender, a bookseller from Hannover. The association was established to address what it describes as serious deficits in reading and text comprehension among a growing number of children, and to give children better educational opportunities through one-to-one reading mentorship. Its model is the 1:1 principle: a volunteer reading mentor reads with one child once a week for one hour over the course of a year, regardless of the child's social or cultural background. The mentors are described as meeting children where they are, taking them seriously and discovering new reading worlds together without performance pressure, using praise, humour and patience. In 2008, the idea behind MENTOR spread beyond Hannover and the national umbrella organisation MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Bundesverband e.V. was founded. According to MENTOR Hannover, 125 regional MENTOR associations are now active throughout Germany. In 2011, founder Otto Stender was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande in recognition of his work. By the association's own account, it has been working for 23 years to give children a better future. Over time, MENTOR Hannover built a broad network of partner schools. It is active at 190 schools and other educational institutions in almost all of Hannover's city districts and in the surrounding region. The schools serve as the link between the association and the children: each school names a teacher as a contact person, and the schools primarily select the children who receive reading support, while MENTOR Hannover establishes contact with the volunteer mentors and supports them with advice, training and help during their engagement. A large proportion of the children supported attend grades 2 to 4 of primary school. The association also engages in public-awareness work in the region, for example at the Fest im Park der Sinne in Laatzen, at the Klimameile in Wennigsen and in the centre of Neustadt. It lists the MENTOR federal association, the Freundeskreis Hannover e.V. and the Freiwilligenzentrum Hannover e.V. as partners. The association is governed by a volunteer board; as of the available information, Uwe Karges serves as chair, Jan Putfarken as deputy chair, Angelika Jühne as treasurer, and Christiane Eisenhauer, Inka Rodewyk, Rebecca Schulz, Ina Steinke and Claudia Sistenich serve as additional board members and coordinators.

• 2011

  Founder Otto Stender is awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande in recognition of his work.

• 2008

  The national umbrella organisation MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Bundesverband e.V. is founded as the idea spreads beyond Hannover.

• 2003

  MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer Hannover is founded by Hannover bookseller Otto Stender.

Non-profit, volunteer-based reading-promotion association focused on equal educational opportunity for children in Hannover and the surrounding region.

• 1:1 reading mentorship programme

  Volunteer reading mentors read with children at primary and secondary schools according to the 1:1 principle: one child, once a week, one hour, for one year, regardless of social or cultural background.

• School cooperation and teacher contact system

  Each participating school names a teacher as a contact person; schools primarily select the children, while MENTOR Hannover connects them with mentors and provides support and training.

1. 1Startmentor-hannover.de
2. 2Köpfementor-hannover.de
3. 3Schulenmentor-hannover.de
4. 4Partnermentor-hannover.de
5. 5Mentor – Die Leselernhelfer Hannoverwikidata.org