In 2016 the Applecross Rotary Club began supporting a youth Mentoring program run by True Blue Dreaming Inc. aimed at providing individual mentors for country high school students who may not have the same opportunities as their city counterparts. The club's financial support was specific to programs running in the Bruce Rock and Wyalkatchem District High Schools and continued successfully through to 2019. However, in 2019, local support for the program at the Wyalkatchem District High School lapsed, and True Blue Dreaming changed their focus away from the mentoring program.
Fortunately, the program in Bruce Rock was strongly established and continued to be supported by the school and local citizens, with the result that a new organisation, Wheatbelt and Beyond Youth Mentoring Inc. was established to continue the programs in wheatbelt District High Schools.
The Applecross Rotary Club remained convinced of the value of the mentoring programs, which was validated by an independent report in 2018, and continued its support.
The mentors typically are University students often from a rural background. The mentoring programs are based on a 12-month contract between participants. Mentoring of young students has been shown to raise school attendance and completion, support transition from school to further training and employment and to help young people to feel better connected to their school and their peers and generally raise their self-esteem.
Applecross Rotary's funding covers some of the costs of mentors, who travel to the towns and of mentees visits to Perth institutions. These are established programs with strong anecdotal evidence of the benefits to the mentees. The programs are strongly supported by the mentees schools.