Project Based Mentoring™: A Unique Workforce Development Pathway for Entrepreneurs
Learn Project Based Mentoring™ for student success.
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Event Details
Webinar Details:
Through an interactive workshop, participants will explore how Project Based Mentoring™ connects educators, employers, and mentors to better prepare students for success in the workforce. Attendees will learn how mentors can motivate young entrepreneurs by providing real-world experience, helping students develop actionable plans and timelines, and strengthening project outcomes through practical guidance and expertise. Participants will also learn the fundamentals of launching a mentor program and how Project Based Mentoring™ benefits schools, employers, mentors, and—most importantly—the students they serve.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Describe the core principles of Project Based Mentoring™ and its role in workforce development.
Identify the key benefits of mentor partnerships for schools, employers, mentors, and students.
Develop a framework for launching or strengthening a Project Based Mentoring™ program within their own educational or entrepreneurial setting.
About the Speaker:
Patty Alper
Patty Alper is president of the Alper Portfolio Group, a marketing and consulting company, and is co-chair of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). She is president of the Teach to Work Foundation, and in that capacity is funding seed capital for colleges across America to launch Project Based Mentor programs. She is a trustee of the Phillips Collection, sits on the advisory board of Next Table Entertainment (a media production house about women’s advancement and success), and was recently inducted into Who’s Who in America. Patty was also honored by NFTE with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Volunteerism.
Patty is a member of the prestigious Cosmos Club of Washington D.C., and a member of the Economics Club of Washington. Patty’s experiences have led her to roles as a prominent speaker, consultant, and the author of Teach to Work: How a Mentor, a Mentee, and a Project Can Close the Skills Gap in America. Patty’s 35-year career in business, coupled with two decades of hands-on experience working directly with youth, uniquely qualifies her to understand the growing skills gap from both perspectives: the employers who seek to build a pipeline and hire better-prepared youth for twenty-first-century jobs, and the youth who are often ill-equipped or ill-trained to enter the new workforce.
In her book and speaking engagements, Patty describes how Project Based Mentoring® brings together corporate employees, retirees, and businesses as a corps of knowledge practitioners, with the common goal of passing on skills to the next generation. Patty draws on her extensive philanthropic work to bring the business and education sectors together meaningfully, building on the strength of each to close the skills gap. A trustee of the Alper Family Foundation for the last 18 years, Patty’s unique approach to entrepreneurial mentorship has been featured in Getting Smart, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post (twice), TIME, Philanthropy Magazine, and Parade.
Through her services on the national board of NFTE, Patty’s vision served as the groundwork for the Adopt-a-Class program she founded in 2001. During her years of service at NFTE, she invited countless business leaders to join her in a mentoring capacity, helping teachers across the country inspire and coach entrepreneurship students on their business plans. Shortly after college, Patty spent five years working with incarcerated, runaway, and suicidal youth in Iowa’s Youth Detention System, and she served as a counselor to psychotic adolescents at Chestnut Lodge, a long-term psychiatric hospital in Maryland.
In 1980, Patty was one of the first women in the construction field as co-founder of a multi-million dollar project management company. The company specialized in building corporate headquarter facilities and high-end interiors for large businesses in the DC market. That innovative spark led Patty to another niche, producing and hosting her own radio talk show, For Love or Money, on Infinity broadcasting. Today, the Alper Portfolio Group provides consulting services for the commercial real estate, financial, and non-profit sectors.
Patty holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Theology from Cornell College Iowa, and she has continued masters-level marketing studies at American University. She is married and has two stepchildren, as well as three grandchildren. She loves competitive golf, art, theater, and music, and continues her study of theology.