One on One Mentoring is a private, non-profit, community-based organization working to have a positive influence on youth facing tough life challenges through one on one relationships.
One on One Partners, now One on One Mentoring, was founded in 1995 by Don McNeill. He began as a coach and teacher, but later realized that more needed to be done to help children and adolescents who were struggling in life and needed a positive adult voice speaking into their lives. He believed this would be accomplish through matching caring adults in the community to mentor at-risk youth through a one-on-one mentor relationship so he left his teaching career to become the founder and Executive Director of One on One Mentoring. Following One on One Mentoring, Don started Mentor Kids U.S.A. in 2006, now Mentoring Tucson’s Kids, for those children and adults who wanted to participate in a faith-based mentoring program.
Throughout the years, each dollar has been maximized for this outreach as to help train and match as many mentors as possible to meet the growing needs of our at-risk youth in Pima County. Don previously found that a youth could be mentored for an average of $1,500 per year versus the cost in Arizona of around $60,000 per year to incarcerate that same youth. The cost of mentoring is far less to society and the impact on lives of the youth is far more positive. The combined programs generally oversee matches of over 60 youth (ages 5-17) and adults. Given his dedication and background, Don has been considered by many of those involved in the Pima County mentoring community as the “Dean of Mentoring” in Tucson. Two vital parts of the program growth over the years have been his wife, Shirlie McNeill, and his daughter, Marcie Seery, the program coordinator. On January 1, 2019, Don transitioned out of the role as Executive Director to spend more time with his family, but is still actively involved in mentoring and helping to build into the future of Mentoring Tucson’s Kids and One on One Mentoring.