Salisbury – January is National Mentoring Month, and this year Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore is celebrating the annual campaign aimed at expanding quality mentoring opportunities to connect more of our community’s young people with caring adults by receiving proclamations and support from local county commissioners.
“We are using this month to raise awareness about the need for volunteer mentors to provide support and encouragement for children in the community that face adversity.” Said Jessica Mimms, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore Executive Director.
Research shows that mentors play a powerful role in providing young people with the tools to strive and thrive, to attend and engage in school, and to reduce or avoid risky behavior like drug use. In turn, these young people are:
– 55% more likely to be enrolled in college
– 81% more likely to report participating regularly in sports or extracurricular activities
– 78% 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 our country will grow up without a mentor. Today, in our community there are 37% young people who could benefit from having a mentor outside their family.
At the same time, research shows that 44% of adults are not yet mentoring but are willing to consider it and mentoring is poised for growth.18- to 29-year-olds are more than twice as likely to cite having had a mentor in their childhood than those over 50. Almost half of today’s young adults report having a mentor in their youth and those rates appear to have been rising steadily over the past several decades.
National Mentoring Month is the time of year where engagement from community members interested in becoming a mentor is highest. With the support of the mentoring community, we are encouraging the public to go beyond just digital engagement – and become involved in real life.
In our community, people can participate in events: such as Bowl for Kids’ Sake.
National Mentoring Month is led by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, the national organization working to expand the quality and quantity of youth mentoring relationships nationwide. Each year since its launch in 2002, National Mentoring Month has enjoyed the strong support of the President and the United States Congress.
To learn more about the role mentoring plays in our community and to find volunteer opportunities visit www.shorebiglittle.org or call 410-543-2447. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore has been providing mentoring services, resources, and enrichment to children facing adversity and their families since 1982.
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~ Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore