New York Youth Mentoring Program
New York Youth Mentoring Program
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the launch of a new New York Youth Mentoring Program on Mon., Oct. 5th. The program looks to provide career and life guidance to children who are at risk of failing out of school or in foster care across the state.
The focus of the program will be to identify, train, and match hundreds of business-based mentors with students in some of New York’s most challenging elementary and middle schools.
“This mentoring program will give at-risk students the support they need to succeed in school and life,” said Cuomo.
“With this program, New York is once again leading by example in securing a brighter future for our children,” added the governor.
The program will be guided by an Advisory Board, chaired pro-bono by the Governor’s mother, Mrs. Maltida Raffa Cuomo.
“I am proud to be formally chairing the Advisory Council to ensure every child has the opportunity to reach for the stars,” said Raffa Cuomo.
“We must care for all of our children—because they are our future,” she added.
This is the second iteration of the program, which was originally developed by former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo in 1987. Before the program ended in 1995, it successfully connected nearly 2,000 of New York’s neediest students to a network of highly trained mentors to help them succeed in school and graduate.
The revamped program will pair students with mentors for one-on-one advisement and academic assistance.
According to the National Mentoring Partnership study, nearly 40 per cent of a teenager’s waking hours are spent without companionship or supervision, adding that 25 percent of students who entered ninth grade in 2009 did not graduate with their peers.
“New York once led the way in mentoring when my father created the first New York State Mentoring Program nearly two decades ago,” said Cuomo.
“Today we are recommitting ourselves to helping our youngest New Yorkers.”
For more information on the program, or to volunteer as a mentor, please visit http://on.ny.gov/1FQ36il.
