Cost Comparison
DREAM vs. One-on-One and Group Mentoring Programs
A 1999 study by Douglas Fountain and Amy Arbreton[1] took a sample of 29 one-on-one mentoring programs and 17 group mentoring programs to determine the true cost of mentoring in various programs. For their study, they compared the cost per youth and also looked at the cost associated with a variable they called an "Adult-Youth Contact" Hour. This number was determined by dividing the average number of hours a youth was mentored by the average number of youth per mentor in a program.
In 2002, DREAM compared favorably on all of the dimensions studied, with or without including our high adventure program, which is considerably different from the traditional mentoring model. In fact, DREAM’s average cost per individual contact hour was about 1/5 the cost of the average one-on-one mentoring program[2].
**This statistical compilation is a snapshot in time, representing our work. Our annual 2005 budget is now ~$250,000, representing growth in staff, vehicles, programs, High Adventure trips, Camp, and other programming additions. We work with about 160 children year round and many more during the summer through our community based interns. The additional programming has greatly increased our Mentor-Hours. At the end of our fiscal year, we will compile a new set of numbers for these charts.**
In 2002, DREAM’s cumulative totals were the following:
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