Mentoring Today is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Mentoring Today serves youth both before and after they are released from incarceration to
support their successful reintegration into their families and community. Mentoring Today's
advocates and mentors help youth with critical issues such as education, employment, and
housing as they enter adulthood. Through these comprehensive, client-centered services,
Mentoring Today strives to improve the juvenile justice system and empowers our young people
to recognize their dreams and realize their aspirations.
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Today the youth in Washington, DC’s juvenile justice system are filled with the courage and
brilliance they need to become tomorrow’s leaders. Mentoring Today envisions the moment
when they recognize and strive to reach this potential. Today our youth have a resourceful and
passionate community that can support them as they endeavor to achieve their dreams.
Mentoring Today envisions a city that stands behind each youth and believes in the abilities of
all. Today each of us has the opportunity to revolutionize our future.
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Mentors, mentees, and staff at a bowling outing.
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Penelope Spain and Whitney Louchheim founded Mentoring Today in February 2005. At that
time, both were students at American University’s Washington College of Law and were
becoming increasingly troubled by the unmet needs of youth in the DC juvenile justice system.
During law school, they worked extensively with youth incarcerated at Oak Hill, held internships
with the DC Public Defender Service and DC Superior Court, and represented adult and juvenile
clients through their law school’s clinical program. These experiences exposed to them the
shortcomings of the justice system: defense attorneys and social workers struggled with high
caseloads; family members felt disconnected and helpless; and youth rarely felt empowered to
articulate what they needed from service providers. These, coupled with the unjust racial
disparity of youth placed behind bars, prompted Spain and Louchheim to establish Mentoring
Today so that youth could have the dual support of a caring mentor and a zealous advocate.
2309 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., SE • Washington, DC 20020
(202) 678-9001 (office) • (202) 678-9005 (fax) • info@mentoringtoday.org
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Mentoring Today endeavors to reduce the rate at which our participants return to criminal
behavior. We do this by helping youth increase their education and employment levels and by
promoting positive youth development.
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