One adult volunteer can make a huge impact on a student’s life. According to Mentor National, students linked with a mentor are more likely to attend school regularly, more likely to volunteer regularly, and are more likely to hold leadership positions.
Marion Mentors works with many community groups to connect Marion County kids to adult volunteers. The program is a collaboration of the Marion Family YMCA, Marion City Schools, Ridgedale, Pleasant, and Elgin Local Schools, Boys and Girls Club, United Way of Marion County, and members of Marion’s faith community. Haley Wilkes, the YMCA’s Director of Mentoring, Diversity, and Inclusion, manages the program.
Wilkes enjoys serving as the director of this youth mentoring program.
“It allows me to advocate for our youth and their needs while ensuring there is at least one adult who continues to show up and meet them where they are,” Wilkes said enthusiastically.
Marion Mentors were created in 2015. It was originally located in 10 schools in Marion County. Since then, they have expanded their reach to 15 schools in Marion County as well as the North Central Ohio Rehabilitation Center, which houses juvenile offenders.
“We were originally funded by Ohio Department of Education Community Connectors program, but we are now being funded by various agencies such as the Marion Community Foundation, the Marion Family YMCA, and numerous grants,” said Wilkes.
The goal of Marion Mentors is to nurture and support the development of one-to-one relationships between an adult volunteer and a youth in Marion County.
Mentor Nicole Brown said of her experience, “Being a mentor means I am planting the seeds of positivity, encouragement, and empowerment to youth. I am making a difference in their lives so they can go on to make a difference in their community.”
Although it was a challenge to navigate and be consistent with mentoring during the pandemic, mentors always showed up one way or another.
Wilkes said, “We were able to utilize virtual mentoring and a monitored communication app that allowed mentoring pairs to stay connected even when schools were closed.”
Being able to maintain these relationships was becoming more important than ever.
“Our mentors work with youth to increase skills such as social-emotional learning, academics, self-esteem, and confidence. Recently we had a mentor/mentee pair in our program who set academic goals with the hope being they would receive C’s on their schoolwork. The mentee worked very hard to get their grades up and not only got C’s but a few A’s as well. They even felt encouraged enough to apply to Tri-Rivers Career Center,” Wilkes said.
They currently have 67 active mentee/mentor pairs. Additionally, they have a mentoring group, Harambee, for black youth and students of color. Harambe consists of roughly 12 students and one group mentor. In Swahili, Harambee means “all pull together.”
Mentor volunteers and referred youth each go through an interview process to determine skills, interests, and background. This allows Marion Mentors staff to appropriately match the adult volunteer with a student. Mentoring sessions are held weekly at a site-facilitated location for 30 to 60 minutes.
Marion Mentors also hosts the Mentoring in Marion coalition which allows all local mentoring programs and agencies a platform to come together and work towards best practices and policies for mentoring in Marion, regardless of the target demographic.
At least 45 youth in Marion County are waiting on a mentor.
Marion Mentors would like to extend an invitation to those in the community, with a desire and the commitment to be involved in a young person’s life to apply to be a mentor for youth in Marion County.
All mentors undergo a background check and attend a training class. Volunteers are asked to make a commitment to at least one school.
The application process to become a mentor with Marion Mentors is explained at http://marionmentors.org. Interested volunteers can also reach out to Wilkes at the YMCA at (740) 725-9622.
