The social alternative
By Garnett Overby III, Outpost contributor
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What about the children? |
The Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society (NNBCAS) offers taxpayers a chance not just to gripe about these teen problems but to work hands-on to prevent them. The NNBCAS Mentoring Program provides middle- and high-school students with alternative social influences besides parents and family, teachers, peers and community forces.
The program is a one-on-one program that matches responsible, caring adult volunteers with students who for social, emotional or environmental reasons are at greater risk of dropping out of school. The ultimate goal of the program is to help students graduate from high school and find a positive role model -- a friend -- to emulate.
The mentoring program is in coalition with Partners in Education (PIE) and the Washoe At Risk Task Force (WAR). WAR was created in the late 1980s by Ron Jeffery and newspaper columnist Rollan Melton to address the concerns that Washoe County citizens had about the increasing number of high school drop-outs. WAR planned on developing a program to match caring adults (mentors) with "at-promise" students (mentees).
It was not until 1989, when PIE joined WAR and both created the One-On-One Mentoring Program. PIE provides NNBCAS with legal grants and funding, legal authority and jurisdiction and licensing to operate an independent mentor program.
This type of program is ideal for the Reno-Sparks community. The community is small enough to provide mentors to all middle and high school students if needed. Also, compared to a large metropolitan city like Los Angeles, Reno-Sparks is too small to target a certain group or part of town. Therefore, the program is a community-wide or citywide effort and not for children that reside in a specified district like a lot of Los Angeles programs.
"Reno and Sparks is a small enough community to operate a one-on-one mentoring program," said Tiffany Young, director of NNBCAS Mentoring Program. "People would jump all over a program like this in Los Angeles. I am from Los Angeles, and I was never introduced or heard of a program like this in Los Angeles."
Young was hired 1996 to re-energize NNBCAS's Mentoring Program. For years, the program had been stagnant and non-productive. It was even non-existent for a year before Young arrived. But Young established goals that revived the program.
"My primary focus is to have five relationships, 10 people, be productive," Young said. "What I mean by productive is for the mentor to make a special effort to spend at least one hour a week with the mentee doing some activity that will build self-esteem. This will give us a standard to build on."
Young now has more than 20 relationships, more than 40 people, actively involved in the program. She was unable to measure the productivity of the 20 relationships, but the responses from mentors and mentees are on pace with Young's goal.
"I like the program because I feel comfortable with my mentor," said Stacy Philips. "My mentor does not lecture me like my mama."
Shandya Smith said: "My mentor is more like a big sister than a mentor. She has more of a nurturing effect on me than a guidance effect."
Mentor Molech Blythe has found a new friend and inspiration in his relationship with his mentee. This came as a surprise to Blythe because he thought he was supposed to be providing inspiration, not his mentee.
"I have a new friend," Blythe said. "It's amazing how much I have learned from my mentee. My mentee has schooled me about hip-hop music production. He has his own amateur studio, and it inspired me to make a mini tape with him."
Blythe's tape may not ever go platinum, but he has helped his mentee focus his energy on something that stimulates his interest. Blythe says his influence might be the reason why his mentee has changed friends.
"He does not have as many friends as he use to have," Blythe said. "But the friends I've seen lately don't dress in gang attire like the old ones did."
This type of positive result can become addictive to mentors. But becoming overly attached to mentees is one area that Young continuously warns mentors to avoid.
"It is not the mentor's responsibility to be the mentee's backbone," Young said. "But I don't discourage mentors from helping their mentees through rough times. But they (mentors) are not the parent."
Young says mentors need to foster a friendship and not become a guardian. Mentors need to keep a certain distance because mentees will grow mentally and emotionally if given room. Sometimes these growth stages can be traumatic in an individual's life. And the parent should be the individual who assists the adolescent through these growth periods.
But the program seems to be moving in a positive direction.
"I was stunned when I learned that the program was non-existent last year," Blythe said. "Tiffany Young is an excellent leader for the program. She takes the initiative to be a positive role model. And her example filters down to the mentors and mentees. Whoever succeeds her will have a hefty task because this program is successful, and I don't think the community and participants will allow it to be non-existent anytime soon."
Stacy Philips says it best, "My mentor is cool."
copyright 11/15/97 Nevada Outpost http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost
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