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"Mentoring prepares a child today to ensure, that dreams may be realized tomorrow" Imagine a community where all children are empowered with the skills and self-confidence to succeed. A community where adults reach out to inspire at-risk youth to elevate not hesitate.. In the M-PACT Program, our initiatives work to create this community by providing positive adult role models for at-risk youth. The mission of the M-PACT Program is to operate as an integral partner with the educational sector to empower at-risk elementary and middle school students to achieve academic excellence and positive life choices. Each M-PACT Volunteer delivers a unique curriculum entitled "Elevate don’t Hesitate " in eight, one-hour sessions, including a work-place visit. Care and attention is given to each M-PACT Volunteer to assure a great experience for the volunteer and our students. The M-PACT Program seeks to make a positive difference in the lives of children by promoting their self-esteem, expanding their awareness of life's opportunities, and providing them with guidance and support through long-term, one-to-one mentor-ships with caring adult volunteers.
Mentoring can be defined generally as a relationship between a young person and an adult. The adult offers support and guidance as the youth goes through a difficult period, enters a new area of experience, takes on important tasks, or attempts to correct an earlier problem. Mentoring is thought to be useful in particular for providing positive adult contacts for youth who are isolated from adults in their schools, homes, communities, and workplaces.
The new importance of mentoring in youth programs is partly a function of the conditions in which young people increasingly live in America--in urban America, in particular. Widespread family breakdown, erosion of neighborhood ties, and time demands of parent work have created a situation in which few young people have even one significant close relationship with a non-parental adult before actually reaching adulthood (Steinberg, 1991). For inner-city youth the problem of having positive adult role models, is compounded by the relatively higher rates of single-parent homes, the existence of fewer working adults, the strength of youth gangs, and more prevalent substance abuse. M-PACT programs for youth, have been designed to help fill this need for positive adult role models, support, and guidance.
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