The Benefits of Mentoring

Examples of Outcomes for our Youth:

• Increased high school graduation rates & lower high school dropout rates
• The US Department of Education reports that while 83% of high school students graduate, dropping out is still a big concern for minority students and those in underserved communities.
• Healthier relationships and lifestyle choices
• Higher college enrollment rates and higher educational aspirations
• Enhanced faith, self-esteem and self-confidence
• Improved behavior, both at home and at school
• Decreased likelihood of initiating drug and alcohol use

How quality mentoring relationships benefit youth?

• Socio-Emotional, Cognitive, and Identity Development Benefits: During interactions with youth, mentors can challenge negative assumptions that young people hold of themselves and help them better regulate emotions, problem-solve, develop coping skills and envision a more positive present & future.
• Resilience: Mentors can function as protective influences for youth, helping them to identify and use their strengths to overcome challenges.
• Positive Youth Development: Mentoring provides a milieu for young people to acquire and practice assets associated with positive youth development, including caring, competence, confidence, connection, character, faith, contribution.
• Prevention of Behaviors Linked to Delinquency: In research on outcomes, youth matched with mentors were less likely to initiate drug and alcohol use, less likely to hit someone, had better peer and parent relationships, and were less likely to skip school than a control group of youth still on a waiting list to receive mentoring services.
• Envisioning Future Achievement in Education: In school-based mentoring programs, youth were more likely to envision a future attending college than the control group of youth on the mentoring program’s waiting list.