In her book, Teach to Work: How a Mentor, a Mentee, and a Project Can Close the Skills Gap in America™, her Video Training, her Tool Kit, and through The Teach to Work Foundation, Patty Alper inspires a “call to action” for all mentors. Regardless of whether you are a finance analyst, an engineer, a computer scientist, an entrepreneur, or an artist — you have unique “know-how” that could be shared with an aspiring student, a new hire, or someone considering transitioning careers.

Patty proclaims that America is rich with untapped resources that, if only trained, could be changing the landscape for America’s workforce and passing along valuable expertise. By investing 90–120 minutes a month, mentors like you could be closing the Skills Gap in America.

The Teach to Work Foundation is building an expanding network of educational and entrepreneurship partners to advance Project Based Mentoring™ in the US and internationally.  Project Based Mentoring connects educators and employers to better prepare students for the workforce by providing a blueprint for successful academic-business partnerships. The Teach to Work model provides training and preparation for both mentors and mentees, clearly defines their roles and how to execute them, and includes a robust Tool Kit of best practices and practical methodology for launching and sustaining a mentor program.

The Teach to Work Foundation works with community and state colleges to expand Project Based Mentoring™ programs across the US. The Foundation also partners with educational programs that include The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE); Ashoka’s Changemaker campuses, both domestically and internationally; and The Urban Poverty Business Initiative (UPBI) model through the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, with a presence in more than 60 cities across America.

Together, these partnerships reflect a shared commitment to combining education with real-world mentoring to best prepare the workforce of the next generation.