Mentoring: From Promise To Performance.
In recent years, the lack of much needed after-school programs such as mentoring has forced the community of Tyler, Texas to investigate and address the problem. Realizing that not only would a mentoring program be beneficial to our youth, it would be beneficial to our community. Therefore, they created a wonderful program. The Reaching Out: Apache Pals Mentoring for At-Risk Youth is an excellent program in which to volunteer free time. Because the goal is to prevent youth from becoming a part of the juvenile justice system, the commitment to weekly contacts is the most important aspect of the program. Being a mentor allows you to motivate, tutor, and listen to their fears, frustrations, and dreams.
This program began during the fall of 1992 and is patterned after the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program in partnership with the Tyler Independent School District. Not only is the main goal to prevent youth from becoming a part of the juvenile justice system, it is also to prevent the youth from failing a subject in which they may not be proficient. The goal is also to prevent the youth from failing a grade level, or being held back because they do not meet all of the proficiency requirements.
The most important aspect of the program is the selfless devotion and commitment to the youth. There must be continuous weekly contacts in order for the youth to realize you are committed to them and their achievements. So many of these youth have been disappointed too many times in their lives and actually believe it is their fault that things happen. These disappointments add to low self-esteem, and that is what this program is trying to counter. .
Individual attention can be the one thing that can keep the youth in school and out of bad situations. A mentor should be an individual who is committed to helping youth academically, socially, mentally, and physically get their life back on track.