Mentoring

Student assistance on academic, social, and physical levels.

Mentoring is a signature program for Communities In Schools. We will mentor students for all reasons: poor attendance, behavioral issues, and social-emotional concerns. By addressing any of these issues or concerns, we are able to improve a students academic standing as well.

We engage volunteers from local communities who are interested and will commit to meeting with one student or a small group of students in their school location, once weekly for 30-45 minutes. We perform a background check on all volunteers who work with students directly. We then provide a short training and match the volunteer with a student or small group. Local school CIS staff makes the matches with students referred by their teacher, counselor, or an administrator. Parents can also request a mentor for their child.

Often these meetings occur during the students’ lunchtime and/or after school hours. In many cases, these sessions begin as conversations and expand to include tutoring or other academic assistance as the school requests and depending upon volunteer comfort level. There are no qualifications to be a mentor, just a person of any age who is willing to give his/her time to spend with a student who will benefit from another trusted adult relationship.

Our different types of mentoring services include:

ONE-ON-ONE MENTORING: Community volunteers meet with students one hour per week to help them with schoolwork or just be their friend. Mentors are always needed and are trained at all times of the year.

GROUP MENTORING: Various activities to encourage learning, leadership, and social competence. These include programs like GOFAR, SMARTS, and general on-going group activities.

“BUDDIES” Program: Bulldogs and Tigers, Cougars and Comets, Patriots and Warriors. High School athletes spend structured time weekly mentoring at elementary schools in this “character education” program that “works both ways.” The athletes help with reading, math, and PE, or just spend time with the younger students who treat them with the adulation usually reserved for rock stars and superheroes. This group also includes “Breakfast Buddies”, students who spend before-school time with their younger peers.