weMentor
Mission Statement
weMentor!’s mission is to address the low number of African-American men serving as mentors. The campaign seeks to raise public awareness, increase recruitment capacity and build national mentoring networks. Fathers Incorporated is committed to improving outcomes for children. We believe that fatherlessness is a driving force in the need to identify, recruit and refer responsible and willing men to volunteer as mentors. weMentor! will serve as a cause marketing clearinghouse to strengthen mentoring organizations/programs and identify associated resources for deeper service delivery
Overview
Fatherlessness in communities of color is beyond levels of acceptability. Today, 73% of African American babies are born into out-of-wedlock households. Research shows that these children will more likely spend large portions of their life without the rearing of their biological fathers, if they spend any time with them at all. As a result the need for these communities to have healthy, positive and caring men is paramount. With that said, studies show that only 1 out of every 9 mentors are men. Waiting list for willing and able men; particularly African American has reached levels of critical desperation. Recruitment therefore has become the number one issue facing the field of mentorship today.
“Children must have at least one person who believes in them. It could be a counselor, a teacher, a preacher, or a friend. It could be you. You never know when a little love, a little support, will plant a small seed of hope.” —Marian Wright Edelman, The Measure of Our Success (1995)
The weMentor!tm concept embodies the African proverb; “It Takes A Whole Village To Raise A Child” by embellishing the fact that it takes more than “I” to make a difference in the life of a child. Thus the campaign will highlight the need for “ALL” (African American men in particular) men to be accountable for filling the gap of fatherlessness. Activities will also include collaborative efforts to merge the fields of Responsible Fatherhood and Mentoring.
Problem
Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring found that over 3 million youth are currently in quality formal mentoring relationships. By subtracting that 3 million from the number of youth identified as needing mentors, they found the nation’s mentoring gap to be 14.6 million young people. One doesn’t have to dig too deeply to wonder why 60% of juvenile crime, and/or the engagement in high risk activities–teen sex, drug use, etc., occur between 3:00pm – 7:00pm. The lack of positive and engaged fathers resonates at the core of this issue. Fatherless homes account for 63 percent of youth suicides, 90 percent of homeless/runaway children, 85 percent of children with behavior problems, 71 percent of high school dropouts, and 85 percent of youths in prison (U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Health Statistics).
weMentor! Engagement
Fathers Incorporated will engage in a yearlong set of national activities, partnerships and events designed to increase the number of African American male mentors. These activities will be part of the TIES NEVER BROKENtm campaign. weMentor! activities will include social marketing and traditional media campaigns, product development, mentorship recruitment drives, website presence of activities, repository of mentorship organizations and creation of a “mentor” referral network. Anticipated campaign launch is January 25th, 2012.
For More Information
Contact Kenneth Braswell at fathersincorporated@gmail.com to become a partner and contribute to the on-going effort. Financial sponsorship is greatly needed to have full impact of project potential. Website page is under development. Fathers Incorporated is a New York State not-for-profit with 501©3 status. Donations can be made at www.fathersincorporated.com.