Mentoring: The power of YOU
Education is the foundation for a child’s success in work and life, and high school graduation is a major milestone toward achieving that success. Ensuring that every child in our community is kindergarten-ready so they can succeed in school and then graduate high school on time — ready for college, work and life — is a commitment made by Metro United Way in order to achieve our vision of a community whose people achieve their fullest potential through education, financial stability and healthy lives.
We believe we can improve lives by engaging people to give, advocate and volunteer. And research proves that caring volunteers working with students of all ages have the power to help kids boost academic achievement and develop other life skills to put them on the right track to succeed. In fact, volunteer mentors are one of the most effective tools we have as a community to make a positive impact in education.
In our community, 47 percent of children are not ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, 32 percent of third-graders can’t read at grade level and nearly 1,200 students will drop out of school this year.
Mentoring works and research proves it: Youth with mentors are less likely to begin using illegal drugs, begin using alcohol, hit someone or lie to a parent. Studies show that a caring adult mentor in the life of a young person results in them being 52 percent less likely to skip school. A recent national survey by the National Mentoring Partnership found that at-risk young adults who had a mentor are more likely to: aspire to enroll in and graduate from college (76 percent versus 56 percent), hold a leadership position in a club, sports team, school council or other group (51 percent versus 22 percent), and volunteer in their communities (48 percent versus 27 percent).
Mentoring has enormous rewards personally and professionally, both for the mentor and the mentee. But mentoring is especially important for young people facing difficult odds. In fact quality mentoring — the consistent presence of a caring adult in a young person’s life — is one of the most critical things we can do to change the odds for young people. And sadly, with each additional risk factor a young person experiences, the less likely he or she is to connect with an informal mentor.
All of us can make a difference; it isn’t only classroom teachers, parents, and youth development professionals that have influence over a young person’s success.
Over 60 mentoring organizations are seeking volunteers through Metro United Way right now — whether in a school, in the community, during work hours, or on weekends and evenings — for young children, teenagers, and adults. You don’t have to have a special skill or be a superstar to mentor; they just want you.
Why mentor now? January is National Mentoring Month, a time to celebrate mentors and their mentees and to reach out to others to share their time, knowledge and experience as a volunteer mentor. And Metro United Way is proud to partner with Mayor Greg Fischer’s “Be the One” mentoring challenge this month to recruit mentors across our community to help prepare our youth for a bright future. This month also celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day — which is today — marking his great legacy which many have called for us to remember in a day of service.
Young people in our community matter. And mentoring matters to them. With 1 in 4 of high school students in our community failing to graduate on time, it matters. With the statistics concerning the achievement gap, substance abuse, violence, and the many barriers young people face, it matters. With literally hundreds of young people on waiting lists for mentors in our community, it matters. The difference between a student graduating or dropping out could be you.
Join us as a volunteer mentor and become a powerful transformative force in another person’s life. This is one way that — together — we make a difference and LIVE UNITED.
Mary Grissom is the director of Engagement Initiatives at Metro United Way.
To become a mentor
Visit www.metrounitedway.org