January is Mentoring Month

Throughout January and year-round, mentoring is a critical component in young people’s lives, helping them make decisions that ultimately lead to improved opportunities and connections, which have an impact on real life.

9 million kids in America grow up without a mentor to offer real life guidance.

• Having a mentor empowers young people to make smart choices that put them on a path to making better life decisions.
• Students who have mentors are more likely to stay in school.
• Hashtag activism can raise awareness of important issues, but mentoring delivers real-life impact. 

Mentoring, at its core, guarantees to young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing day to day challenges, and makes them feel like they matter. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations. Ultimately, mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity. Yet one in three young people will grow up without this critical asset.

Young adults who were at-risk for falling off track but had a mentor are:

•        55% more likely to enroll in college

•        78% more likely to volunteer regularly

•        90% are interested in becoming a mentor

•        130% more likely to hold leadership positions.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD MENTOR?

Before becoming a mentor, here are a few things to understand about the role of mentoring. Most of us have had a teacher, supervisor or coach who has been a mentor to us and made a positive difference in our lives. Those people wore many hats, acting as delegators, role models, cheerleaders, policy enforcers, advocates, and friends. Mentors assume these different roles during the course of a relationship, and share some basic qualities:

• A sincere desire to be involved with a young person
• Respect for young people
• Active listening skills
• Empathy
• Ability to see solutions and opportunities
• Flexibility
  
  

BENEFITS
Mentoring relationships are a shared opportunity for learning and growth. Many mentors say that the rewards they gain are as substantial as those for their mentees, and that mentoring has enabled them to:

• Have fun
• Achieve personal growth and learn more about themselves
• Improve their self-esteem and feel they are making a difference
• Gain a better understanding of other cultures and develop a greater appreciation for diversity
• Feel more productive and have a better attitude at work
• Enhance their relationships with their own children

Above all, a good mentor is willing to take the time to get to know their mentee, to learn new things that are important to the young person, and even to be changed by their relationship.

GET STARTED
You have made a wonderful and very important decision in choosing to become a mentor. If you’ve reached this conclusion, you’ve done enough research to have an idea how different each mentoring situation can be. Before you start to look at the programs that are available, think about and identify your own interests and needs. Finding a mentoring program you’re excited about and comfortable with can require some time and thought, but the good news is that there’s something for everyone. The following steps will help walk you through the process of choosing a mentoring program that is right for you. To help you decide which type of mentoring program you want, ask yourself the following questions:

• What time commitment can I make?
• What age of youth would I like to work with?
• Would I like to work with one child or with a group of children?
• Would I like to team with other adults to mentor a child or a group of children?
• What types of activities interest me? Do I want to help a youth learn a specific skill, pursue an interest, help with schoolwork or just be a caring adult friend?
• What mentoring location would I prefer?

While thinking about these questions, remember to be open and flexible to all the different mentoring programs and focus areas that are out there.

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley works with a number of agencies looking for mentors: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley, Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, and the Waterloo Community School District are a few.

For more details on mentoring, contact the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley at (319) 272-2087, information@vccv.org, or visit www.vccv.org.

Thanks to National Mentoring Month, http://www.mentoring.org/.