CLEARFIELD COUNTY – January is National Mentoring Month, and this year Children’s Aid Society’s Youth Mentoring is celebrating with an inaugural campaign.
The campaign is aimed at expanding quality mentoring opportunities to connect more of the community’s young people with caring adults by asking the community to help celebrate it by sharing your story with CAS.
Whether you had a mentor through Big Brother Big Sister, Youth Mentoring or just someone that helped to guide you in life, CAS asks that you share your story by going to www.childaid.org/programs/youth-mentoring/ or click this link.
“Supportive relationships are critical for all young people, and our youth mentoring program has been shaping futures and nurturing change across Clearfield County for 39 years. This #NationalMentoringMonth, let’s reflect and connect by sharing our stories,” expresses Mary Beth Geppert, youth mentoring caseworker.
Research shows that mentors play a powerful role in providing young people with the tools to make positive choices, attend and engage in school and reduce or avoid negative behaviors.
In turn, these young people are:
- 55 percent more likely to be enrolled in college.
- 81 percent more likely to report participating regularly in sports or extracurricular activities.
- 78 percent more likely to volunteer regularly in their communities.
- More than twice as likely to say they held a leadership position in a club or sports team.
Yet, the same research shows that one in three young people in the country will grow up without a mentor.
National Mentoring Month is the time of year where engagement from community members interested in becoming a mentor is highest.
This year, with the support of the mentoring community, CAS staff are encouraging the public to go beyond just digital engagement and become involved in real life.
Mentoring relationships are at their best when connections are made between a caring adult and a young person who knows that someone is there to help guide them through life choices.
In the community, people can participate in mentoring by e-mailing mentoring@childaid.org or calling 814-765-2686 ex 202.
National Mentoring Month is led by MENTOR, the national unifying champion of the mentoring movement. Each year since its launch in 2002, the campaign has enjoyed the strong support of the President and the U.S. Congress.
Other well-known supporters include the late Maya Angelou, Clint Eastwood, Senator John McCain, Quincy Jones, General Colin L. Powell, Cal Ripken Jr., the late Bill Russell (MENTOR founding board member) and Usher.
In 2016, President Barack Obama’s office shared a National Mentoring Month press release highlighting the crucial role that mentors play in young people’s lives. Last year, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona played a key role in the event.
To become a mentor, e-mail mentoring@childaid.org or call 814-765-2686, ex 202
Children’s Aid Society of Clearfield County provides professional services throughout central Pennsylvania through many different program areas including:
- Adoption & Foster Care
- Child Care & Early Learning
- Youth Mentoring, and
- Family Support Services
Children’s Aid Society’s mission is to “identify and provide services to improve the quality of life for children and their families.” CAS staff have been serving local families since 1890 and last year, those services helped 1,411 children and adults.
MENTOR is the unifying champion for expanding the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships across the United States. MENTOR was created more than 30 years ago to expand opportunities for young people by building a youth mentoring field and movement.
The result: a more than 10-fold increase in young people in mentoring relationships. Today, MENTOR is the expert voice representing a movement that meets young people everywhere they are – from schools, to workplaces, and beyond.
MENTOR operates in collaboration with 24 affiliates providing local servant leadership and expertise across the nation, with several more in development.
