ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation

Creating Vital Agreements of The Heart

Mentoring

Within community life, the absence of elders and the accumulative wisdom of their fulfilled dreams, results in the youth feeling a sense of loss.  The role of culture is to preserve the stories of its elders and reserve a place for its youth to learn from it.  This cultural gap that is so characteristic of modern and, mostly urban communities fosters in youth life incoherence of the Self and polarization from their centers of deep learning.  Violence has become a way of life within this gap and cultural space.  Youth are at risk of compromising their lives in many ways as a result of the prevalence of drugs, gangs and absence of positive human influences and socialization. 

ShadeTree Mentoring is a unique process that draws on contemporary and ancient learning practices, particularly that of the South African tradition of Indaba, or "deep talk".  This process begins with an enhanced attention by the mentor at the moment of encounter with the youth.  Each encounter between a mentor and a youth, in the context of sanctuary, results in the recovery of "presence", and inspired awareness and commitment to the inner life of the youth on the part of the mentor who has gathered vital wisdom from living out the dream of their own life.  In this sense, the dream is the primal intuition that moves through our lives calling us always to go beyond the limitations and fears of the conditions of our everyday life.  It is the vital imagination that allows us to see the potential of the inner life and the opportunities of the outer world.  The dream is the inner feeling of significance and certainty that highlights the content of the Soul and its intersections and encounters with the world.

ShadeTree provides mentoring as a process of cultivating relationships that will enhance the individual well-being of the youth and the collective well-being of the community.  This important component of community life identifies the risk factors and molds a path of development that returns the youth to the spirit of learning, which in turn reduces the risks and heals the gaps within the community.  ShadeTree works to create the vital connections that can restore the youth's social will to be a part of a more meaningful and sustainable reality. 

Mentor Training and Organizational Consultation

Since before its incorporation in 1998, ShadeTree has created mentorship models resulting in long-term positive impact on youth life within various communities in the United States and overseas. 

Endeavoring to enhance the individual's capacity to participate in society, ShadeTree has provided trainings and consulting services for a wide range of civil and cultural agencies that work to serve children and youth, empowering mentors and others to work in difficult and demanding situations, including schools at all levels of education, community groups, human development organizations, juvenile detention facilities and adult prisons.