Stephen Powell, Executive Director of Mentoring USA shares how mentoring lets young black men know that we, as a community and as a society, are invested in them and their success.
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For too long, violence and poverty in the inner city and communities of color have been foregone conclusions. A quick look at the numbers show the circumstances that keep such conditions entrenched. New studies show that half of all black men will have been arrested by 23. According to a survey by the U.S. Department of Education, nearly 50% of black males in grades 6 through 12 have been suspended from school, and black male students are 13 times more likely to be expelled than their white male peers.
It’s time for all of us to step up to break this cycle. And there’s a simple way that each of us can start turning the tide: by being a mentor.
For just about every study that buries the futures of young black men under incarceration statistics, there’s another that shows that mentoring works. It not only keeps kids in school, but helps them excel in the classroom. That level of accomplishment doesn’t just show results on report cards, but returns dividends on the street and in communities and at home. More than 65% of young people participating in one-to-one, school-based mentoring, like the programs that make up most of Mentoring USA’s work, reported an improvement in parental trust, and mentees are significantly less likely to use drugs and alcohol.
Mentoring is all about smart investment. I’m consistently amazed by the ability of children to multiply and return dividends on the time, energy, and resources that mentors invest in them. Not to mention, according to statistics from the Chicago Crime Lab, societal benefits compared to mentoring program costs—measuring those costs against the costs of violent crime and incarceration—are 31 to 1. As Jens Ludwig, director of the Chicago Crime Lab, put it, “We have data from the most rigorous possible scientific study suggesting that it is not only possible to prevent youth violence involvement through pro-social programming, but that the returns on investment are extremely high.”
But the whole point of mentoring is to go beyond the numbers, and to look at children—especially, for me personally, young black men—as more than just statistics.
My mother, my first mentor, helped me to deal with the reality of losing my father at the age of five by teaching me the importance of valuing what I had despite the loss. She taught me to count my blessings. I had a strong single-parent who made sacrifices for me; and through sports, responsible, adult male mentors stood in the gap for me as a young man coming from a fatherless home.
Mentoring is more rewarding when we celebrate the potential assets around us versus the deficits.
We can set young black men up for success early, by letting them know that we, as a community and as a society, are invested in them and their success. January was National Mentoring Month, and at Mentoring USA, we celebrated with a simple philosophy: to achieve your dreams, you need to believe in them first. It’s hard to do that when your community is plagued by violence and excessive contact with the criminal justice system, and the only life that you see—the one that you’re conditioned to expect—is one of violence. Mentors make it clear that there is life outside of your circumstances, and that you can accomplish so much more. They prove that there’s more than just a light at the end of the tunnel—there’s an entire successful, productive future, when positive pathways are provided. Mentors develop and build key competencies in their mentees, including critical thinking, problem solving, and conflict resolution.
We all want a chance to change the future. We want to make our mark and leave the world a better place because of the work we do. Changing the life of a child and setting off the positive ripple effect that mentoring has on communities is the stuff that legacies are made of.
Photo courtesy of Mentoring USA.com
Originally appeared at MentoringUSA.com