ABSTRACT
A mentoring community offers a "network of belonging that constitutes a spacious home for the potential and vulnerability of the young adult imagination in practical, tangible terms". In effect, mentoring communities offer the environmental conditions deemed essential for personal development, as they include, secure, engage, and invite students into the learning community of higher education. College and university campuses are replete with opportunities and resources, in S. D. Parks's words—for animating the potential of emerging adults. According to Parks, mentoring communities are distinguished by seven qualities or hallmarks, inasmuch as they offer a network of belonging; big-enough questions; encounters with otherness; vital habits of mind; worthy dreams; access to images; and opportunities for practicing hearth, table, and commons. The chapter addresses each dimension or hallmark as it relates to the context of postsecondary education, with attention given to the kinds of policies, practices, experiences, and resources available for achieving its ends.
