Northside Mentoring Program
We are partnering with Northside Community Church to provide mentors for kids at Northside Elementary School in La Crosse, located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the area. It’s a great way to have a significant impact on a child who needs a safe, positive, consistent adult influence in their life.
Our aim is to support the education and health of students in the community by fostering resilience and leveraging the volunteer spirit of the faith community and others.
The goal of each mentoring relationship will be to foster resilience and help a student transition into the school day so that they can be successful in their school environment.
The long-term goal of this partnership is to create a sustainable and effective mentorship model that will set up students for success in school and in life.
The desired outcomes of the program are that each mentored student will:
Begin the school day ready to engage in classroom activities.
Demonstrate appropriate classroom behavior.
Engage in positive social interactions with peers.
Demonstrate academic performance consistent with his or her academic potential.
Exhibit fewer disciplinary referrals.
In addition, each student’s teacher will be able to identify his or her primary strengths and concerns.
A study conducted in 2007 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation showed that mentored youth did significantly better than youth in the non-mentored comparison group on a number of important outcome measures including: fewer depressive symptoms, greater acceptance by their peers, more positive beliefs about their ability to succeed in school, and better grades in school.
How It Works:
First Free Church and Northside Community Church are partnering with Northside Elementary School to recruit individuals from among their members to volunteer as mentors one morning each week, from 7:30-8:15am or one lunchtime from 11:30 to 12:15pm during the week. Mentors can volunteer more than once each week if their schedule allows.
The Northside Elementary School administration and staff will determine the target group most likely to benefit from this program and select each student for the mentorship program. Each of these students will be paired with a mentor who can provide consistent weekly support during the school year.
The focus of each mentor and student will be on building a trusting relationship and allowing the student to experience positive adult contact.