NEWS

When FYI got the governor’s grant to do mentoring in the High School, they were excited and also very scared. Pat Banaszak, Executive Director, said, “We worked hard creating partnerships with business, school, Ohio Means Jobs, and the Hispanic Community, and we were excited at the chance to help our teens get mentors and the tools to reach their long term goals, but this kind of partnership has not been tested before and we were also very scared.”

The first thing to do was to meet with all partners and get all on board with the requirements. The goal of the grant is to work with students at the high school by using one on one mentoring to help them explore their options for their long term goals, work with them to get internships with businesses, get into college, or just figure out what they might want to do. Business men and women have volunteered their time and at the kick off this week, both mentor and mentee will be meeting their partner. Each week they will meet and even though there is a curricula which will allow for beginning conversation, mentors have the ability to change the subject to areas of concern for the youth.

Funded by a Governor’s Community Connector’s Grant, Family and Youth Initiatives has taken a month to train the mentors, and this week 6 youth will spend the day at Wittenberg for instruction so they can mentor the middle school youth.

Mary Bower, co-director for the grant, is excited about all who have signed up to be mentors and mentees so far. ”This is such a great opportunity for the students, “ she said. “Who would not like to be mentored by a successful business man or woman in the field you want to go into. What an opportunity to get to know the ins and outs of your dream job! We hope more kids will sign up, but there is only limited space, so we encourage them to sign up quickly.”

If you would like to become a mentor or a mentee, please call the office for more information , or visit www.fyiohio.org. Then call the office (937)845-0403 with your name and phone number and get started making a difference in a youth’s life.

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