Boomer Mentors Sought for City Students

Rochester Area Community Foundation, Lifespan and Rochester Mentors on February 4 launched a three-year initiative to recruit at least 200 boomer mentors for Rochester City School District Students.

The goal of the Boomer Mentors project is to tap the knowledge and experience of this generation to help improve the district’s graduation rate, which is among the lowest in New York state. Research shows that mentoring improves academic performance because mentors become influential role models in the lives of youth.

The project was inspired by the 2005 Call to Arms report by a blue-ribbon task force, led by former Rochester Institute of Technology President Al Simone. That report called for 10,000 volunteer mentors to work with City School District students.

To fund the initiative, the Community Foundation qualified for a $500,000 challenge grant from Atlantic Philanthropies, a multi-national foundation that is focused on unleashing the potential of the boomer generation to solve social issues. The challenge grant requires a dollar-for-dollar match. To date, $224,000 has been raised, and additional funders are being sought.

“It’s often said that the boomer generation changed the world,” says Jennifer Leonard, president and executive director of the Community Foundation. “Now we’re asking them to help change lives by taking on the role of mentor and friend for district students.”

Jeff Newland, director of the Boomer Mentors project and president of Rochester Mentors, an association of existing mentoring organizations, saw mentoring work during his five-year tenure as executive director at Big Brothers Big Sisters. “When you provide safe, professionally supported matches, it’s amazing for the child and sometimes even more amazing for the adult,” Newland says.

Lifespan, a nonprofit organization providing information and services to people in the second half of life, is managing the Boomer Mentors project on behalf of the Community Foundation.

Potential volunteers will be funneled through Rochester Mentors to existing programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Women Helping Girls, Compeer and others. “We did not want to reinvent what already exists,” Leonard adds. “We will recruit on behalf of the existing programs, and we’ll provide best-practice training in boomer volunteerism to those organizations.”

Boomer Mentors will provide additional training and social opportunities for the mentors. Recruiting men will be a key focus of the project because of the long waiting lists for matches for boys at the mentoring organizations.

Ann Marie Cook, president/CEO of Lifespan, says boomers — who were born between 1946 and 1964 and comprise 28 percent of the U.S. population — are seeking meaningful ways to use their talents, energy and experience.

“They have what it takes to mentor. They want to know they are making a difference when they volunteer, and mentoring does make a difference,” Cook says. “Students who have mentors use drugs less, attend school more and graduate at higher rates than those who don’t.”

With help from the Ad Council of Rochester, the Boomer Mentors recruitment campaign will launch in local media outlets and social networking sites. Newland and a cadre of community champions will focus on building relationships in businesses and through one-to-one outreach. “While recruiting at least 200 new mentors is our stated goal, I want an army,” says Newland.

Those interested in learning more about this initiative should call Rochester Mentors at (585) 271-4050 or (585) 244-8400, ext. 168.