Boys to Men Mentoring is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization facilitating group mentoring for hundreds of teenage boys in San Diego. 

Every week, volunteer mentors show up at middle schools, high schools, and community centers to give teenage boys a community of men who listen, encourage, and empower them. Approximately 40% of the boys participating in Boys to Men programs are growing up without a father.

Our community-based mentoring approach gives boys a variety of positive male role models who show up consistently, tell the truth about their struggles as men, ask the boys what kind of man they want to be, praise them for their gifts, support them when they mess up, and encourage them to become the man they want to be.

We are dedicated to providing this opportunity to every boy in need because we believe that every young man deserves a supportive community of men in his corner.

In 1996, Boys to Men Mentoring Network was founded by Herb Sigurdson (1927-1997), Joe Sigurdson, and Craig McClain in La Mesa, California. Before Herb’s passing, he was a former Executive Director of Father Flanagan’s Boys Town and dedicated his life to building a better world.

Joe and Craig worked diligently to assemble a team of committed men and create a mentoring program to support the fatherless teenage boys in their community. They created a curriculum incorporating holistic, intergenerational, and asset-based mentoring practices and encouraging community involvement, intensive self-reflection, positive critical thinking habits, and self-accountability.

The curriculum is being replicated in various communities to empower young men worldwide (United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) who are autonomously governed and managed. In San Diego County alone, more than 14,000 boys and men have participated in the program from 1996 to 2024.

In August 2009, the first in-school group community was established in the San Diego public school system. This site-based group mentoring model has been a resounding success with school administrators, parents, mentors and, most importantly, the boys.