Key Children’s Program Helps to Bridge Gap in Mentors
for Young
(MADISON)--- Department of Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank and
Wisconsin Mentoring Council Chair Kathy Munson released the first
comprehensive tally of young people in Wisconsin who have a positive
mentoring relationship with an adult mentor.
While 11,600 youth are currently in formal mentoring relationships, a
minimum of 96,300 youth between ages 5 and 19 are considered "at-risk"
because of a variety of factors that may include poverty, challenges
because of absentee parents, or peer pressure to engage in risky or
illegal behavior. Having a positive relationship with a caring non-family
adult can significantly improve the prospects for these young people.
Munson, along with Corrections’ Division of Juvenile Corrections,
commissioned a statewide survey of mentoring programs in August 2002.
Mentoring programs in 63 counties match volunteers with youth to try to
bridge the current gap.
"Mentoring has yet to reach scale in Wisconsin. Only 12% of youth that
would benefit currently have mentors," Munson said. "We are very pleased
to have such strong advocates for mentoring as Governor and Mrs. Doyle."
In the recently enacted state budget, the Governor directed the Office
of Justice Assistance to allocate $825,000 in federal Byrne Law
Enforcement funds to three key children’s programs, including mentoring.
"We must give children the best opportunities we can provide," said
Governor Jim Doyle. "Pairing more youth with mentors, providing structure
and supervision when youth make mistakes and working to keep them in
school are part of the prevention activities that ultimately lead to
increased safety of our children, our families and our communities."
"Because there is neither a public agency nor a private nonprofit with
statewide responsibility to assist mentoring providers, we congratulate
the Governor on directing funding to help mentoring programs expand their
services," said Matt Frank, Corrections Secretary.
"Since research demonstrates that young people who have mentors tend to
be less truant and may develop better thinking skills, the Governor has
linked these federal funds to three very effective interventions for
youth," Frank said.
The Department of Corrections and Department of Health and Family
Services convened the Wisconsin Mentoring Council in 2000. The Council,
now operating independently, hosted the first statewide mentoring
conference in 2001, and established the Excellence in Mentoring Awards for
corporate and community-based partners. The Council also positioned the
state as one of five in the nation considered to be a "State Partnership"
development site -- a move toward being a non-partisan leader in
advocating for the expansion of mentoring in Wisconsin.
"Our Mentoring Partnership’s primary goal will be to increase the
number of youth in formal mentoring relationships," Munson said.
Over 143 mentoring programs operate throughout Wisconsin. They include
large well-known efforts such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters or Kinship
Mentoring programs, thriving rural school/community programs and a range
of urban programs like the YMCA’s One on One program and small nonprofits
operating in Milwaukee’s inner city that are part of the Milwaukee Mentors
coalition.
For more information about how to support the work of the Wisconsin
Mentoring Council, contact Kathy Munson, Director of Mentoring Programs,
YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee at (414) 274-0820. To volunteer to be a
mentor, people can contact one of the programs in their local area listed
in the statewide Wisconsin Youth Mentoring Program Directory available at
http://www.wi-doc.com/index_juvenile.htm. Survey results and the State
of Mentoring Report can be found at the same web address.
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