Building Bridges to Kansas Mentors

The following is a column by Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson:

2008 marks the third year for the Kansas Mentors program. In this short amount of time, we’ve connected caring Kansans with 1,250 youth throughout the state thanks to the wonderful dedication and work ethic of our chair, Coach Bill Snyder.

As we continue to support our next generation we must do more to equip them for the future and whatever tomorrow may bring.

A snapshot of the current state of mentoring shows us that 17.6 million youth nation-wide could benefit from mentorship while only 2.5 million youth are in mentoring relationships.

To address this need in our own state, Kansas Mentors will host seven regional training sessions throughout the state to spur interest in volunteering and connect new volunteers with mentoring programs in their area. The first of these sessions will take place on March 10th in Dodge City.

To promote programs which already exist near you, we maintain a list of mentoring partners searchable by county or organization name on our Kansas Mentors website which volunteers can use to find mentoring opportunities in their local communities.

Mentoring is an activity which should create a safe and welcoming environment. That’s why background checks are an important part of a mentoring program’s screening process. Kansas Mentors provides them free of charge so that young Kansans have a safe and prosperous mentoring relationship.

Through mentoring Kansas will build better communities; not only by partnering with quality mentoring organizations but also by targeting the place where the majority of mentoring happens – in schools across Kansas.

To further help these schools and other partners start mentoring programs the state has grants available to assist in funding the programs.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Kansas Mentors has enjoyed two wonderful years, and with your help, we can be that change and create more opportunities for the next generation of Kansans in 2008 and beyond.

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