VISION: Community leaders will mentor Minority Youth to enhance, develop and inspire leadership skills.

PURPOSE: Big Brothers Big Sisters received Community Impact Funding for a three-tiered leadership mentoring program involving a community leader, minority student in high school and a minority student in middle school/upper elementary.

Developing Youth Minority Leadership is a program designed to positively impact the community through developing minority youth as they grow to become responsible adults. An elementary school minority youth would be matched in a one on one mentoring relationship with a minority Junior or Senior High School student. That same High School student would then be simultaneously matched with a community leader from the community. The community leader will provide opportunities for the high school student to see leadership in action and will then share those experiences and skills with the elementary student he/she mentors.

The Developing Youth Minority Leadership program is targeting 10 matches for the first year. The impact of this three tiered mentoring program would have both immediate and long-term positive effects on the people directly and indirectly involved. An impact study that was completed to determine the impact of One-to-One mentoring found youth that met with their mentor regularly for 18 months were 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs; 27% less likely to begin using alcohol; 52% less likely to skip school; 37% less likely to skip a class; 33% less likely to hit someone; more confident in their performance in school and got along with their families, teachers and peers better.

The program is also designed to increase the ethnic community’s awareness of the benefits to youth, adults and the community that takes place when a positive role model engages in activities with youth. This project will allow more youth to experience the impact of mentoring and allow them to give back to the community as they themselves engage in that same type of a positive relationship with a younger student.

Vanessa (Middle School)                      Cynthia (Sr. High)           

Sonia (Jr. High)                                        Peg Gilbert (Community Leader Mentor)