Partners Mentoring Youth was founded in 1978 as Partners of Larimer County in response to a need that was lacking in Northern Colorado. Community leaders in the 1970's saw a dramatic increase in the number of youth offending, entering the Juvenile Justice system, and then re-offending. The District Attorney, Mayor, and other business and community leaders, seeking ways to help these youth, found the Partners model being used effectively in Denver as a youth-mentoring program. This spurred the development of Partners Mentoring Youth of Larimer County as part of a larger Partners Mentoring Association (PMA).

Partners Mentoring Association was born out of the combined efforts of many, but can be credited in large part to two men: Bob Moffit, a business leader, and Bill Mitchell, a seminary student just out of the Peace Corps. These men and their team believed strongly in supporting youth in the juvenile justice system by providing one-to-one additional adult support and guidance. In 1971, PMA was established as its own 501(c)(3) and now consists of eight Partners affiliates across the state of Colorado.

Though originally established as an intervention program for youth already involved in the court system, the Partners model has evolved over time to more of a "prevention" based approach. Partners now focuses on the goal of understanding children who are at risk of not reaching their full potential in life, and working to serve them early on in their lives. Partners’ goal is to provide one-to-one mentoring relationships between positive adult role models (Senior Partners) and youth (Junior Partners) referred to the program due to circumstances and significant challenges they are facing in their lives, whether social, academic, or personal. Based on Best Practices, and consistent with what research on youth mentoring programs shows to be most effective, mentoring relationships (Partnerships) are designed to last a minimum of one year and provide 3 hours of mentoring time per week during that year. After the initial year, many partnerships continue as "Alumni" partnerships because of the mutual benefit to both the Junior and Senior Partners.

Partners Mentoring Youth of Larimer County celebrated its first Partnership in 1979 and has expanded to serve youth throughout Larimer County, establishing itself as an influential Northern Colorado Volunteer Program. Partnerships created through our mentoring program show substantial effectiveness in improving the lives of youth in many areas, including self esteem, attitudes, and behaviors. Moreover, Partnerships link individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds and lifestyles who might not otherwise reap the benefits of each other’s company. Senior Partners gain a better understanding of children who are at risk of not reaching their full potential in life, and enrich their own lives by being a positive influence on the lives of youth.