Speakout: Mentored kids a boon to our future

Jack Devereaux

Published October 1, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Speakout

For those of us who grew up in stable, two-parent households in "normal" environments, it can be hard to understand just how important adult friendship and advice can be for a youngster who's simply unlucky enough not to have them.

But research and a decade's practice show that genuinely befriending and "mentoring" a youth at risk for legal, health or educational trouble can make a big difference. It's hardly as simple as redirecting a teen from the stony path of drugs, homelessness or gang life back onto the "golden road to success." But adults who dedicate significant time to help youngsters set goals for themselves and who model interactive and career skills can have a very positive influence over time.

In Denver County, 23 of our 76 identified neighborhoods are categorized as low-income or "at risk." In these neighborhoods, unemployment rates are two to three times higher than the Denver average of 4.4 percent. Rents are high, households are crowded, and home prices have increased at rates almost twice those of more affluent neighborhoods. In the four Denver high schools where more than half of the students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, roughly 30 percent of students entering high school do not graduate.

Mentoring can be a force to respond to these conditions and improve the odds for these kids. Mayor John Hickenlooper's Office of Strategic Partnerships, Bank of the West, the Mile High United Way, the Denver Public Schools and a coalition of other funders and direct service providers have launched a campaign to recruit 1,000 Denver-area adult volunteers by the middle of October, hoping to match 300 qualified mentors with at-risk kids. By mid-September, the Youth Mentoring Collaborative, which was formed to magnify the community response with a collective effort, had identified 100 individual volunteers willing to devote at least four hours a month for at least a year to a caring mentor relationship.

Experts in the field estimate there are 15 million American youth who could benefit from a mentor relationship. Here in Denver, there are said to be 85,000 children living in low-income, single-parent homes. If we as a community can help prevent kids, one at a time, from falling prey to forces pushing them toward early failure, we will have done our collective future a great service. But it will take more than just a few of us.

If you have an interest in developing a relationship with a child who needs a caring adult friend, go online and log on to www.metrovolunteers.org.

Jack Devereaux is executive vice president for Bank of the West in Denver, responsible for the bank's retail and business banking in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News