Talk with other mentoring programs that have established themselves in your or a nearby community. This will help you to gain a better understanding of the work that needs to be put into the program. It can also give you some ideas and a list of resources in your area to get you started.
Talk with officials in local school districts to assess the need for a mentoring program. You need to decide if your program will focus on only one school or be available to several schools in the area. This will depend upon the number of students in need of mentoring and the availability of staff and mentors to assist you.
Find a place to host your mentoring program. This could be your local library or YWCA club, a room in the school you will be mentoring at, or a building in your community that you might need to rent. You will need to have a home base, even if you take your mentoring program into the community on a regular basis.
Talk to teachers or other local educators to get a feel for their interest level in mentoring. Some teachers will be more than willing to join your program, while others may be busy with other commitments. Try to recruit people from the schools you will be working with, as they will have knowledge of the student base and the curriculum the children will be working with.
Provide training for your mentors prior to starting the program. This should include training on children with special needs, such as autism, and cultural diversity. Providing your mentors with training prior to starting the program will help ensure everything runs smoothly once your program is off the ground and running.
Advertise your program. You can do this by hanging up flyers at local businesses, having teachers send home papers with the students from school and advertising in the local newspapers or television stations. The more you put the word out that you are starting a mentoring program, the more students you will have attending.