Learning the ins and outs of a new workplace is often made easier for young professionals by colleagues who take an interest in their success. And people tend to reach out to individuals in whom they can see some part of themselves.

But what if those connections don't happen? What if presumed differences because of race, culture or socioeconomic background discourage veteran employees from reaching out to newcomers? What if no one at your job can see themselves in you?

Darcel Madkins and Bernadette Turner co-founded the African American Leadership Association this year to provide mentors for emerging black professionals in a variety of fields and to encourage those young professionals to reach back to the next generation.

The new association, which is sponsored fiscally by African-American philanthropic group The Poise Foundation, is meant to serve as a one-stop resource for black professionals looking for guidance and networking opportunities with established professionals in their fields.

Led by an advisory board of seven black professionals with corporate, nonprofit and community advocacy backgrounds, the group hopes to mold the next generation of leaders through development programs, to applaud the efforts of established leaders and to promote diversity and inclusion in corporate and nonprofit leadership in the county.

With no headquarters yet, the association will operate primarily through its Web site -- www.aala.webs.com -- during its beginning stages.

Ms. Madkins has an interest in the mentoring issue. She said she had problems finding someone to explain office protocols or to talk to about experiences on the job when she became president of the board of Addison Behavioral Health, a substance abuse treatment center in Wilkinsburg, two years ago.

"There was no one to go to. If I tried to reach out, they wouldn't reach back," she said. "It would have felt good to talk to someone who has been through what [she was] going through."

If all goes as planned, the association's Shadow Mentorship and Succession Planning program will connect young professionals with mentors in their field so they can follow the mentor through a regular business day.

Once a network of potential mentors is created, professionals will link with a mentor whose career and availability for shadowing are most compatible with their own.

Ms. Turner, who serves as executive director of Addison Behavioral Care, said the shadow program was designed so that mentors don't have to work late to provide guidance and so that young professionals get to see for themselves how their mentors operate in the workplace.

One issue identified by the organization is that established business and community leaders don't always allow new people to take an active role in their initiatives. The association's site emphasizes a need to "help leaders L.E.A.D -- Leave Egos At the Door."

Tim Stevens, president of the Black Political Empowerment Project and an association advisory board member, said he looked forward to the emergence of the next generation of community leaders. He said current ones should consider the advantages youth can provide to their causes or organizations.

"Somebody 20 or 30 or 40 [years old] has to have a different perspective, can maybe have their ear more to the ground," he said. "It's not dissing those who have been around a long time, but it's providing an opportunity for shared leadership."

While several local organizations mentor young professionals and foster leadership, not many are geared toward black professionals of all fields.

Beth Caldwell, executive director of Pittsburgh Professional Women, said she understood how African-Americans could benefit from mentors of the same race but that she feared the initiative might leave out some people needing mentors and might not be able to match everyone with a mentor in every field.

J.W. Wallace, founder of the Western Pennsylvania Diversity Initiative, said the leadership association's mission to mentor and train diverse leaders was good but that blacks must move within all social circles to achieve success.

"It's not that they have to give up who they are. They take that difference and make sure it fits inside that new culture," he said.

As Ms. Madkins and Ms. Turner consider how to fine-tune the initiative to best serve members, they also are preparing for the first African American Leadership Association Leadership Summit, scheduled to kick off tomorrow at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union #5 Circuit Center and Ballroom, South Side.

The summit will feature speakers from corporate, nonprofit, religious and political organizations, and focus on inclusion, community building, corporate diversity, leadership for the future and recruiting potential mentors.