What if there were a way that you could help at-risk children by increasing their chances of succeeding and overcoming the odds stacked against them?
What if you could provide them with hope for the future?
And what if you could do all this with as little as an hour-per-week commitment of time?
Well, you can — by becoming a mentor.
Teachers, parents and others who work with youth struggle mightily with the challenge of getting at-risk individuals on the right track. But one thing is pretty simple: Mentoring makes a difference.
Volunteer mentors can play a powerful role in reducing drug abuse and youth violence, as well as boosting academic achievement, according to MENTOR, a champion for youth mentoring in the United States. A research brief by Child Trends found that mentored youth have better school attendance, a better chance of going on to higher education and better attitudes toward school.
MENTOR's mission is to close what it calls the "mentoring gap": Currently, 18 million children in this country want and need a mentor, while 3 million have one.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of National Mentoring Month, an annual media campaign to recruit volunteer mentors for young people.
Closer to home, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and Indiana State Teachers' Association President Nate Schnellenberger joined forces earlier this month to highlight the Indiana Mentoring Partnership. The year-old program attempts to recruit more adult Hoosiers to commit to spending one hour per week with a troubled youth. There are 800 mentors in the program, but there are 1,300 youths on a waiting list.
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