Every month is National Mentoring Month

By Stephen Powell

January, the month designated to celebrate the collective successes of mentoring around the county, has passed; now what?

Every month should be treated as National Mentoring Month, as there are many programs around the country that need mentors. 47% of African American males graduate high school; there are 3 million youths currently being mentored, but there are still 15 million children on waiting lists to be mentored. So you see, every month we face a national mentoring crisis.

As our children are desperately calling for the support of many able and willing adults to become mentors, never mind the previous stats I just mentioned. The most important stat, and question, is can we get 100% of you to simply support—via time, skills, and/or a donation—a mentoring program?

Faith-based organizations, municipal offices, school districts and corporations are increasing their support, as it does “take a village.” The “village” needs you; then the “village” needs you to recruit a friend.

I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for us to account the last time we wasted 4 hours, doing something mindless, last month, or the month before that.  So why not invest four hours a month in guiding and inspiring our next generation of leaders.

The next time you are sitting somewhere, ready to say “I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids!,”  just know, “those kids” are probably thinking “I don’t know what’s wrong with these adults, expecting us to like being here on this planet after they messed the world up for us.”

Expecting a child to figure this world out, alone, is like expecting your next flight, or train, to get to your destination without a pilot, or conductor.

Get involved and support a mentoring program. You won’t regret it.

Stephen Powell is the Executive Director of Mentoring USA, a NY based early-intervention mentoring program to prevent school dropout and promote positive, social development. An alumnus of the Institute for Not-for-Profit Management Executive Education Program at Columbia University’s Graduate Business School, Stephen remains driven to lead program expansion and technical assistance efforts for Mentoring USA across the nation in major cities such as Los Angeles; Chicago; Houston; Washington, DC; Philadelphia, and Newark, NJ. www.mentoringusa.org