UNIDOS After-school for TMS Youth
We held an After-school Program for youth attending Talent Middle School during the 2023-2024 school year.
Exiting Talent Middle School 6th-8th graders, only.
School Circles
UNIDOS Program Coordinator, Carlos Tinoco, and supporting bicultural, bilingual staff ensure our School Circle content, activities, discussions, and snacks are culturally-agile, and appropriately serve all youth we meet in schools.
During the 2023-2024 school year, we have 4 staff Lead Mentors who are fluent in Spanish, which means we can provide a bilingual mentor in almost every circle we host! This is especially important in Talent Middle School, where almost half of the youth we serve are Latino/a/x.
1:1 Match Program
UNIDOS helps us to find culturally-appropriate volunteer mentors for BIPOC youth who reach out for support in the form of a 1:1 mentor.
Apply to be a Volunteer Mentor with RVM!
Request a Mentor!
All our volunteers and staff are thoroughly background checked, trained, and vetted before they interact with youth. Their training includes trauma-informed care, youth development, and avoiding bias.
Meet our Mentors!
Learn more about them below, or meet the whole RVM Team here!
All RVM staff are carefully background checked and vetted, then thoroughly trained in concepts and skills important to building resilience and empowering youth. Trainings including strengths-based communication, trauma-informed care, adolescent development, avoiding bias, youth mental health, suicide intervention, and de-escalation. All staff undergo on-going training, and background checks are conducted every 2 years.
Carlos Tinoco
UNIDOS Program Coordinator
My name Is Carlos Tinoco, I was born outside of Mexico City and raised in Medford.
I recently returned to the valley after living in Anaheim, California for about 2 years. I have an Associates degree in Graphic Design from RCC.
I found my passion for working with youth during my time as a skateboarding instructor for a company in Long Beach/Orange County. I came to RVM to work with youth in a more involved and meaningful way. I believe in the power of community and the importance of uplifting marginalized and BIPOC communities. I know firsthand the importance of having supportive elders in your life. I want to provide a space where youth feel, seen, heard and supported.
Outside of work I spend my time skateboarding, riding and maintaining my motorcycles or art.
Kat DeCayette
Program Director
I see my journey as an amazing tapestry woven with adventures, memories and meaningful relationships. My daughter—Krista, and my cat, Maji-- are central to and inspire my passion to make a difference in the world and help others make a difference in their lives. Teaching, listening, sharing, these are my cornerstones. One of the most rewarding steps on my life path has been as an educator. I taught High School English, where I both empowered and became empowered by my students through the singular gift of education—the willingness to listen, to share and to learn.
Working as Program Director for Rogue Valley Mentoring is natural to my journey. We all have the ability to leave a meaningful footprint—a small gift of ourselves that shapes the world in which we live. It comes down to choice. The choice to care about the legacy we leave and our imprint on the lives around us. As Program Director for Rogue Valley Mentoring, I am afforded the opportunity to work, teach and learn with incredible individuals who care about the youth in our communities, to share knowledge and ways of being that facilitate empowerment and aid in choosing a mindful legacy—that footprint on a path toward meaning and making a difference.
