You can save a precious life...and nourish your own. Harsh and cruel experiences have led many of our young to believe that they are alone in the world and that no one cares. CARES seeks to dispel that notion by providing young people with role models who will play an active role in helping to shape their development. By mentoring a young person, you can help redirect the course of his or her life.

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THE NEED FOR MENTORING!

With the fast-growing number of children falling below the already substandard poverty level, we have no choice but to develop innovative strategies that begin with the core understanding that is no longer enough to secure just a few children when so many are languishing.

Today, 86 percent of Black fourth graders and 83 percent of Hispanic fourth graders are reading below grade level in the most privileged nation in the world.

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Because this is our state of emergency today:

40% of Black children are born into poverty

86% of Black children cannot read or do math at grade level

Of all Black fourth-graders, 58% are functionally illiterate

70% of incarcerated people, regardless of race, are challenged readers

Every day 1,000 Black children are arrested.

1 in every 8 African American males ages 25-29 is incarcerated.

In some cities, 80% of our boys drop out before finishing high school.

Black girls ages 13-24 account for the majority of new HIV infections

Homicide is the leading cause of death for Black boys

 

But it’s also a fact that reclaiming the live of our children is a battle we can win. With the quality of their lives as the guiding factor in our choices personal, political, financial and spiritual we can create what is needed to move these soul- crushing statistic in the opposite direction. Mentoring is a low-cost, high-yield investment. The time, energy and support we dedicate today to the nation’s struggling youngsters will dictate the tomorrows we create for all our children, our communities and country.

Imagine for a moment what it will mean to our young people to be loved fully, educated properly, honored regularly, and provided for consistently; now imagine what it will mean for us. Imagine the United State as no longer having the world’s highest rate of incarceration, but being the world’s leading producer of educators, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and a dynamic 21st century workforce.

 

A study conducted by the California Mentor Foundation shows the positive impact of mentoring among youngsters facing major social ills.

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