NEWARK — Last year, Denise Aguirre needed a quick way to satisfy the community service requirement at Central High School.
In doing so, she found her passion.
Spending countless hours mentoring first-graders from the 18th Avenue School down the street, Aguirre, 19, stuck with the program into her senior year.
John O’Boyle/The Star-LedgerMentor Denise Aguirre, a senior at Newark’s Central High School, listens during a Newark City Hall ceremony kicking off a mentoring drive in celebration of National Mentoring Month. Aguirre mentors first and second grade students.
“They have issues with bullying, so they need strategies to help with calming down and doing their homework,” said Aguirre, 19. “We tell them what’s important, to stay in school so they can be president or mayor one day.”
Aguirre was among a delegation from her school, as well as other community and business leaders, to receive a “mentoring champion” award in City Hall today.
The ceremony highlighted the growing importance city leaders have placed on nonprofit organizations that help guide at-risk youth, which they frame as a cheap means to reduce crime rates, especially among young men.
“If just 10 percent of the adults in our city were mentors, we would wipe out juvenile crime,” Mayor Cory Booker said at the ceremony.
Two years ago, he helped found the Newark Mentoring Coalition, a coalition of local after school programs and other nonprofits that deal with children. The group now has 60 participating organizations, up from 25 when it started, said interim executive director Rawaa Albilal.
John O’Boyle/The Star-LedgerFelix Rouse, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark, speaks during a Newark City Hall ceremony kicking off a mentoring drive in celebration of National Mentoring Month.The coalition has set ambitious goals, hoping to reach 10,000 children within 5 years, up from the 2,900 currently on its rosters, Albilal said.
But tough obstacles remain in the way, including a persistent shortage of volunteer mentors, said Carlos Lejnieks, the president of the Essex, Hudson and Union county chapters of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“We’ve got thousands and thousands of kids on the waiting list,” Lejnieks said. “I bet every parent in Newark would put their hand up for a mentor.”
Some of those children appeared at the ceremony, filling the seats of the Council Chambers and wearing T-shirts that read “Mentor me!”
Their chaperone, Malcolm Outlaw, the principal of 15th Avenue School, said more school administrators were hoping to get mentors for their children to handle children with behavior problems, who regularly score badly in tests.
He is most concerned with his male students, who are consistently outperformed in almost every subject by the girls at his school.
“I’m losing my boys and I need to do something,” Outlaw said. “They need someone to hear their voice.”
Advocates of the mentor model argue that the presence of a responsible adult can dramatically influence children from burdened single-parent households in the city.
“Right now, I think it’s the most difficult time to grow up as an urban child in recent history,” said Matthew Stevens, executive director of the Residential After School Program. “When I grew up, we didn’t have AIDS or gangs. Kids really have to walk a minefield.”
Milling among the dignitaries at the ceremony, Destiny Parker, 10, of Newark, clung to her mentor, too shy to let her go.
She quickly explained why she stayed with the program: “I like having someone to talk to.”
(Newark, NJ) – On January 25, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, City Council President Mildred Crump, Superintendent of Newark Public Schools Dr. Clifford Janey and Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Steven Diner will join with the Newark Mentoring Coalition in the City Hall Rotunda to host the National Mentoring Month Kickoff Celebration. The centerpiece of the event will be the presentation of the 2010 Mentoring Champion Awards, which will recognize 10 individuals and groups for their tireless efforts supporting the growth and development of young people through mentoring.
“The Mentoring Champion Awards are given to individuals who champion the ideals embodied in National Mentoring Month: promoting young people’s success in life through educational achievement, health and safety, and social and emotional development,” said Felix Rouse, Chairman of the Newark Mentoring Coalition and Chief Executive Officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark. Mayor Booker, Council President Crump, Superintendent Janey and Chancellor Diner will present each Champion with a medallion acknowledging their achievements.
“These Champions represent a wide range of backgrounds, from corporate executives to high school students. They each demonstrate clearly how one person can have a tremendous impact on the life of a young person,” said Mayor Booker: “By honoring the work of those who have had such a positive effect upon the lives of their mentees, we hope to inspire even more adults to sign up to become mentors.”
Rouse continued: “It has been repeatedly demonstrated both statistically and anecdotally that mentoring leads to beneficial results for both the individuals involved and the community as a whole. Mentoring is a proven method of helping guide young people onto the path towards a successful life.”
The Newark Mentoring Coalition is a community of members who share a common purpose – to dramatically increase the number of mentors in the city of Newark, NJ. The Coalition consists of more than 40 service organizations throughout Newark and Northern New Jersey who provide a variety of mentoring services to over 3,000 young people. The Coalition will also work with mentoring programs to improve delivery of services and to ensure that quality standards and effective practices are implemented in every program.
Several Coalition member organizations will be on hand to explain to Newark students in the 4th – 9th grades who will be attending who are presently not being mentored but are interested in having a mentor how the mentoring process works.
“The Newark Mentoring Coalition believes that every child who desires a mentor should have one. Together with its members, that is the goal the Coalition is working toward,” said Rawaa Albilal, Interim Director of Newark Mentoring Coalition. “Children in mentoring programs perform better in school, and mentors can provide a window into a larger world that a child may not imagine on her own.”
2010 Mentorig Champions
- Aspira, Inc.
- Keith Green, United Way
- Dr. William Howard, Bethany Baptist Freedom School
- Ironbound Community Corporation
- Mentoring USA Peer Mentors, Central High School
- William D. Payne, former New Jersey State Assemblyman
- Matthew Stevens, Residential After School Program
- Dr. Kevin West, Sigma Beta Club Young Men
- Anthony Dragoni, Verizon
- Carolyn Wallace, International Youth Organization
Newark Mentoring Coalition
In 2008, the city of Newark teamed up with Community Foundation of New Jersey, The LEAGUE New Jersey, The MCJ Amelior Foundation, Newark Alliance, Newark Public Schools, News Corporation, The Nicholson Foundation, Rutgers University in Newark, and United Way of Essex and West Hudson to launch the Newark Mentoring Coalition. During the inaugural year of this city-wide mentoring initiative, approximately 125 newly-recruited volunteers provided mentoring services to nearly 2,500 young people. Today, the Newark Mentoring Coalition consists of more than 40 service organizations throughout Newark and northern New Jersey. The Newark Mentoring Coalition is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.
For more information please contact Penny Paul at ppaul@winningstrat.com or at 973-799-0200
