A Statewide Mentoring Program: College Access and Workforce Mentoring

Mentor registration for the tnAchieves class of 2027 is open, and this episode of At Scale is dedicated entirely to the mentor program: why it exists, how it has changed, and what it looks like today. tnAchieves Chief Content Officer Ben Sterling and Chief Community and Government Affairs Officer Graham Thomas open the episode by revisiting 2008, when the mentor program launched with 165 volunteers in Knox County working with fewer than 500 students. From there, Vice President of Workforce Tyler Ford talks about the mentor program's growth into a statewide, community-based effort that has recruited more than 100,000 mentors over nearly two decades, and the shift to a virtual model during the pandemic that made workforce mentoring possible. Director of Mentors Baylor Atkins closes the episode with a look at the program as it stands in 2026: two tracks, Access and Workforce, an opt-in model that connects mentors with students who ask for support, and a goal of 5,000 mentors by November 20 to serve the class of 2027. In this episode: — Why tnAchieves built a mentor program alongside its scholarship model — How the program grew from 165 volunteers to a statewide network — The shift from automatic pairing to an opt-in model, and what the data shows — How the pandemic pushed mentoring virtual, and what that made possible — The new Workforce Mentoring track for students moving into their careers — What mentoring looks like today, and how to register for the class of 2027 Register to become a mentor: tnAchieves.org/mentors Learn more about tnAchieves: tnachieves.org/what-is-tnachieves