Charlotte with two of the mentoring students on a kayak outing.
When I look back on the past 17 years of working with families and youth experiencing homelessness, I have come to firmly believe two important things that have been proven time and time again through the lives of the hundreds of young people I’ve gotten to know. The first is that children and youth are miraculous in their ability to be resilient in the face of hardships and the second is that relationships are where the magic happens. This is why I am so honored to be part of Simpson’s endeavor into mentoring and want to highlight this in a special way for National Mentoring Month.
Simpson has been on a thoughtful, intentional journey exploring how mentoring can help us interrupt the all-too-common experience of generational homelessness. We know that an essential ingredient for young people who thrive despite adversity is having at least one supportive, caring adult in their lives. We also know that social emotional skills such as relationship-building, goal-setting, and teamwork have been linked to increased academic performance and employability and decreased mental health issues. This is where our mentoring programs have come in; supporting young people who are often screened out of traditional youth programs due to barriers related to poverty with the skills they need to be successful.
I am reminded of Antonio (name changed) who came to us as a third grader with incredible strength and potential, but with high academic needs stemming from years of trauma and instability. He could read only 3 sight words at a time when we expect students to be reading fluently. His tutors and I worked with him regularly and by the end of third grade, he was reading! We continued this tutoring through 4th grade and he joined our Mentoring Program in 5th grade. He still has a long way to go to catch up to his peers, but at a recent meeting, his teachers were shocked to hear how far he has come. He is now a 6th grader who has consistently made more progress than the average student. I’ll never forget at his graduation from our mentoring program, he and his mentor read a poem by Maya Angelou and talked about how the ability to read has changed his life. Antonio has brightened the lives of all of us who have worked with him and his ability to read will open doors for him that might never have opened had we hesitated to respond. He is a perfect example of the ability of young people to be resilient and the power that comes when we are in relationship.
This “magic” is happening all throughout our youth programs, thanks to our incredible volunteers. We have mentor and mentee pairs meeting weekly at libraries for literacy tutoring, visiting college campuses, taking pottery classes, and joining basketball teams. They are volunteering together and setting individualized goals. Each of these experiences is made stronger because of the depth of relationship that mentors are forming with their mentees.
For National Mentoring Month, I want to honor the mentors that make this work possible. Being human is all about connection and too often instability keeps our young people from forming the natural mentoring relationships that come with a consistent school or neighborhood or church. That’s where mentors make a difference, as members of the broader community, committed to ensuring that all of our young people have the supportive, caring adults they need to become their best selves. Simpson partners with parents and volunteers to meet each young person where they are and to help build on their inherent potential through exploration, connection, and support. This is where the magic happens.
Are you interested in learning more about our mentoring programs, attend one of our Children and Youth Introductory sessions? Click here to learn more.
Graduation photo of the first mentoring cohort in 2015.