As we celebrate National Mentoring Month, we want to highlight the value of our mentorship program here at StandUp for Kids. At StandUp for Kids, we assign each youth two mentors that they meet with on a weekly basis. These mentors help the youth create a plan and come up with achievable goals that will create a brighter future for them as we look to end the cycle of youth homelessness. Mentorship is invaluable for homeless youth because many of them don’t have an adult figure to look up to or be held accountable by at such an impressionable age. As mentors, the goal is to reduce the risk of issues that homeless youth are more susceptible to. These include teen pregnancy, drug use and abuse, gang involvement, sex trafficking, and much more.
Having a mentor is a key difference maker in changing a homeless youth’s future. Mentors do everything in their power to help these youth feel empowered, worthy, and most importantly, feel like someone truly believes in them. According to The Chronicle of Evidence Based Mentoring, there are three main points that came from the study they conducted on 23 homeless youth in Northern California who utilized the services of a local drop-in community center. These were that, “Most youth reported a history of parental neglect or absence, many youths view their mentors as parental figures, and many youths feel that mentors provide consistent and unconditional support” (Rhodes 1). If you feel compelled to make a difference and become a mentor, you can volunteer at any of our seven locations by clicking the link and reaching out to a local program or filling out an application.
Source:
Rhodes, Jean. “Homeless Youth and Their Natural Mentors – the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring.” The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring – Sharing New Research, Ideas, and Best Practices in Youth Mentoring, Jean Rhodes https://www.evidencebasedmentoring.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/chron-logo.jpg, 13 Oct. 2022, www.evidencebasedmentoring.org/homeless-youth-and-their-natural-mentors/.