Autism Mentorship Program (AMP)

The Autism Mentorship Program is a first-of-its-kind program, designed by autistic adults and allies to support autistic youth.  Proud to be funded this year by generous grants from The Carlson Family Foundation and The Beim Foundation, and fiscally sponsored by Pillsbury United Communities, AMP offers the resource that many autistic adults say was missing from their own lives. 

The vision for AMP is two-fold:

• To offer autistic teens emotional support, a sense of identity and belonging, and help developing their strengths and advocating for their needs.
  
  
• To invite autistic adults to serve as role models and leaders in their community, share their unique insights and experiences, and empower autistic youth to feel successful and thrive.

Why AMP?

AMP is the brainchild of Emily Goldberg, the mother of two autistic sons. She realized that while her boys were supported by a network of family, friends, teachers and therapists, they did not know any autistic adults who could serve as positive role models. She envisioned a program in which autistic adults would serve as mentors for children and adolescents who face the unique challenges that growing up autistic in a neurotypical world can present.

AMP Partnerships

A groundbreaking collaborative initiative, AMP united the following key partners to design the program:

• Autistic individuals 
• Parents and caretakers of autistic youth 
• Autism Society of Minnesota (AuSM) staff
• Minnesota Independence College and Community (MICC) staff 
• Bloomington Public Schools’ special education staff 
• MENTOR Minnesota advisor
• University of Minnesota academic partners Dr. Lindsey Weiler from the Department of Family Social Science and Dr. Rebekah Hudock from the Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience

History of AMP    

A small-scale local pilot of the program launched in January 2019, pairing seven adult mentors from Minnesota Independence College and Community (a three year post-secondary, life-skills training program for young autistic adults) and from the autism community at large with seven mentees from Bloomington Public Schools’ autism program at Kennedy High School. Pilot evaluation by researchers at the University of Minnesota showed that AMP had positive effects on the quality of life, socio-emotional health, and social connectedness of autistic adolescents and young adults.

A full school year pilot with fourteen mentor/mentee pairs was completed in May 2020. The last month of mentorship sessions took place online as a result of COVID-19; a highlight was having autistic advocate Temple Grandin meet with AMP participants for a special session.  

During the 2020-21 school year, AMP continued to take place virtually, providing what participants told us was critical support when it was most needed. 

The strength of the online model inspired AMP to expand to serve mentor/mentee pairs from the entire seven county Twin Cities metro area in its 2022-23 program year.

This year, over 30 teens have applied to AMP.  With your help, this vital resource will be available to even more young people in the years ahead.

As AMP Grows, We Seek:

• Annual program funding/Corporate support
  • For program expenses and staff salaries
• Potential partnerships 
  • We are available to work with established organizations and businesses interested in adding autism mentorship by autistic mentors to their offerings, or learning about how they can better serve the autistic community.
  • We are open to the idea of becoming part of a larger mentoring organization that wishes to provide autism mentorship by autistic mentors to their clients in order to extend our reach.
• Expanded sources of autistic mentors and mentees
  • Do you work with autistic adults?  Do autistic adults work at your organization/business? We are recruiting autistic mentors from the 7 county Twin Cities metropolitan area.  Please reach out to us for more information.
  • Is your school or organization located in the 7 county Twin Cities metropolitan area interested in mentorship for your autistic students or clients?  Contact us!

Want to Get Involved?

Let us know you’re interested in being a mentor or mentee, or become an AMP supporter by contacting us at info@autismmentorshipprogram.org

Thank you for your interest in AMP!

AMP logo original design by 2018-2021 AMP mentee Johnny Jimenez Lezama.