Pathways to Promise

MPAC’s Pathways to Promise mentorship initiative is designed for system-impacted youth across Maine. We connect young people facing incarceration, poverty, or reentry challenges with staff mentors who walk beside them. Together, they build trust, confidence, and the tools needed to thrive.

We Meet Them Where They Are.

Our work doesn’t start at release — it begins inside.

Pathways to Promise mentors enter facilities like Long Creek Youth Development Center to build relationships with young people before they come home. We offer hope, trust, and connection while they’re still navigating confinement, preparing them for the transition back into community.

From attending court hearings and advocating to judges, to holding daily circles and check-ins, MPAC’s mentors support incarcerated youth in a variety of ways. They also organize career readiness programs such as resume building and financial literacy, help youth obtain their driver’s licenses, ensure they stay presentable with regular haircuts, and partner with organizations such as Young People’s Caucus to offer cooking classes and Opportunity Scholars for educational and career goal setting.

By establishing trust early, we help youth create reentry plans that are rooted in reality, support, and vision — not paperwork alone. Then, when the doors open, they already have someone waiting.

Ways you can support
Pathways to Promise