The Rotary Club of Akron welcomed Ron Kent to our Tuesday, October 3, 2023, Club luncheon meeting and appreciated their presentation on the programs offered by Akron Youth Mentorship.
Why Does Akron Youth Mentorship (AYM) Exist?
AYM exists to mentor youth with biblical teaching to make life's eternal, emotional, educational, and occupational decisions.
Their pillars of Mentorship, Education, Work readiness, and Experiences help them holistically care for their students and foster relationships built on trust between mentors and mentees.
Their Purpose:
To help youth make the best decisions every moment of every day.
Their Programs:
Akron Youth Mentorship is founded on the pillars of Mentorship, Education, Work Readiness, and Experiences. These pillars help AYM holistically care for students and foster relationships built on trust between mentors and mentees. AYM serves school-aged youth that live in the city of Akron.
Mentorship:
Mentorship puts positive adult influences in the lives of 100+ students and provides a safe atmosphere for students to grow and develop into successful young adults. Through the time that mentors spend with mentees, trust is built to give a platform for mentors to help guide mentees to make decisions that will put them in a position of success as they grow older. Ultimately, AYM’s goal is to help youth make the best decisions, every moment of every day.
Education:
Education is a key factor in learning positive work-ethics and decision-making skills. They support students wherever they attend school (most in Akron Public Schools, a few in surrounding Charter Schools) with advocating between teachers and parents, providing tutoring, and a 3rd grade reading program that supports the 3rd grade reading guarantee.
Work Readiness:
The Work Readiness Program provides tangible soft-skills training, financial literacy education, and opportunities to learn healthy work habits and skills that students can carry into any workplace.
Experiences:
The Experience Initiative helps AYM stay connected to their students outside of their regular weekly group mentoring. Some of these other experiences are One-on-One mentoring sessions, summer camps and retreats, Outings to different Akron local places to expand students’ knowledge of the world around them.
Mr. Kent stated that there is a waiting list. Challenges include recruitment of mentors and on-going funding.
For further information about their programs, check out their website at www.saymentor.org.
Yours in Service,
Terry Dalton
Club Secretary and Scholarship Chair
