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Helping Hands
Mentoring relationships aren't just for kids-adults also reap the benefits of time well spent
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Business New Haven
11/24/2003
By: Melissa Nicefaro
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Taking time out of a busy work day can be beneficial to your own state of mind, but if you're spending the time with a child in need of direction, the benefits are infinite.
A statewide study on mentoring released this fall proves what many business people and students in the New Haven area already knew: Mentoring works, and well-structured mentoring programs benefit mentored youth and their mentors in numerous ways.
Tom Bissell, a PC support supervisor at Automated Data Processing (ADP) in Milford has been a mentor to a student at St. Gabriel School for four years.
He visits his third-grade friend weekly. "He likes to play on the computer," Bissell says. "Based on the instruction we received and what the expectations were, we try to do what the mentee wants to do."
Bissell, who has two children of his own, ages ten and 13, looks forward to the time he spends with the boy each week.
"We're not there to teach them, we're there to be with them and be a friend. The bulk of the time he's playing on the computer," Bissell says.
Even though the focus is not on career and academics, the results shine through, according to St. Gabriel's program advisor Sandra Gruttadauria. "Some mentors will even follow the children" as they leave elementary school and start middle and high school.
"This is the only consistent thing in many of these children's lives," says Cathy Collins, former advisor of the program at St. Gabriel's. There are 12 (soon to be 14) children at the Catholic elementary school who are in mentoring relationships.
"We're waiting for male mentors. If we had five more gentlemen come and spend one hour a week at any time of the day, we have a lot of boys in need," Collins says. "Just a few men can fill a hole in these lives that might not otherwise be filled."
"I think I get something out of it as well as the mentee," Bissell says. "It makes me feel good, too."
The program at St. Gabriel School is one of about 100 such programs in the state. The Connecticut Mentoring Partnership, a program of the Governor's Prevention Partnership (GPP), assists businesses, schools and community-based organizations to foster and support the growth and development of children through relationships with caring adults.
According to the recent study, mentors, many of whom participate in business-sponsored programs, are overwhelmingly satisfied with the experience and have highly positive views of their company's involvement. They also report having a better understanding of diversity issues.
Susan K. Patrick, president of the GPP, notes: "Millions of young people across the country are involved in a myriad of programs designed to help them succeed in school, make positive choices and grow up to be healthy, productive adults. In these times of limited resources, it is vital to know which programs make a difference in the lives of our young people, so that those programs can be supported and brought to scale to reach more youth."
Begun last April, the project analyzed 923 surveys from 19 programs that participated in the project. It's the first time that a comprehensive look has been given to mentoring programs across the state using evaluation tools based on the most up-to-date research on mentoring. While most mentors were very happy with their relationship and their program, they tended to underestimate their impact on their mentees.
In some cases, the positive effects of the relationship mentees experience may not have been communicated to their mentors. However, the more time the pair spent together and the more the program met the mentor's needs, the more impact the mentor saw.
The Governor's Prevention Partnership was created in 1989 and is a statewide, not-for-profit, public-private partnership dedicated to keeping Connecticut's youth drug-free and safe. Gov. John G. Rowland co-chairs the effort with John A. Klein, president and CEO of People's Bank.
The hour a week spent with a mentor can teach children and youth about work ethics and responsibility and improve their self esteem and attitudes toward education, attendance and desire to stay in school.
Companies find they benefit as well from the hour a week commitment to mentoring. Businesses find they have improved their image in the community, increased community awareness of their mission and helped prepare the workforce for the 21st century, according to the Connecticut Mentoring Partnership.
Silvester+Tafuro, a Norwalk interior design firm, recently launched its involvement in starting the Norwalk chapter of the ACE Mentor Program. The program serves high school students who are exploring careers in architecture, construction or engineering. "We currently have 14 Norwalk High School Students registered and are growing," says Patricia Canevari, senior architect and ACE Mentor chairwoman.
Win Heimer, speaking for the CMP, says there has been a tremendous response from the business community to mentoring and it has been a very popular kind of activity for businesses to be involved with. But there's always need for more. The organization is in the process of bumping up efforts to attract businesses as part of National Mentoring Month in January.
In Connecticut there are eight regional partnerships, coordinated by representatives from the state's regional education service centers, regional workplace development boards and community technical colleges.
Connecticut offers a three-part school-to-career system that prepares students for post-secondary education and the demands of the workplace. The first part, "School-Based Learning," involves classroom instruction with high academic standards that incorporates cluster skill requirements including technical and communication skills; organizational and problem solving ability; a solid work ethic and ability to work as part of a team.
The second part of the program, "Work-Based Learning" includes project-based activities in the classroom or community, exploratory activities such as field trips, job shadowing and internships. The final part of the program, "Connecting Activities," links classroom learning with workplace experience, matches students with participating employers, trains work site mentors, and assists students with career portfolios and post-secondary placement.
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