Quantifying the intangible benefits of mentoring

All children need caring adults in their lives. Although positive, sustained relationships with parents represent a critical resource for children, other adults can provide support that is similar. In Sonoma Valley, many times those extra adults come in the form of mentors.
Sonoma Valley has one of the most mature and robust mentoring programs in California. The Stand By Me Mentoring Program now serves more than 400 children in grades K-12, making it one of the largest one-on-one, school-based mentoring programs in a single district in the state of California. In Sonoma, there are currently mentor centers at each of the five elementary schools, the two middle schools and at the high school.
Mentoring is reputed to bridge the gap between young and old, Latino and Caucasian, and at-risk and college bound kids. But are there statistics to back up the warm fuzzy feelings? You bet.
“While the benefits of mentoring are almost immeasurable, we’ve tracked the effects of our program and have found there are amazing results,” said Kathy Witkowicki, executive director of the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance. She said the program brings multiple benefits not just to the mentee, but to the mentor and the community, as well.
Witkowicki and her staff have gone out of their way to not only continually recruit and train new mentors, matching them with mentees as soon as possible, but they’ve had time to quantify the benefits of their almost 13-year-old program.
For instance, in a study of Sonoma Valley mentees in their first year matched with a mentor, verifiable results showed that 75 percent improved or maintained their GPA from the previous school year. Seventy eight percent improved or maintained their attendance from the prior year. And an astonishing one hundred percent of mentees decreased or had no change in their disciplinary suspensions.
Witkowicki is quick to point out that the longer the duration and closer the relationship of the mentor/mentee, the stronger the impact and greater the benefits for both parties. “The Stand By Me Mentoring program is a shining example of how a community has come together to raise its children,” said Witkowicki
“I think the mentoring program is fabulous,” said Beth Langlamet, principal of Prestwood Elementary School. “I see children who are struggling academically, socially and emotionally just blossom once they are matched and begin meeting with a mentor. Everyone needs positive adult influence in their lives and this program brings that to students throughout the Valley.”
Sonoma Valley High School Principal Michaela Philpot agreed, stating, “Any support we give our kids today is invaluable. The mentoring program does that and we’re incredibly thankful to have it in our community.”
In Sonoma Valley, there are currently 148 children being mentored at the elementary school level, 126 in middle school and 112 at the high school. Beyond high school, there are 35 mentees who still meet with their mentors on a regular basis and consider them a major part of their lives. Two-thirds of these children are Hispanic.
Sonoma Valley High School Mentor Center facilitator Sue Sammon is confident that many mentees will continue their relationships with their mentors following graduation. “High school is a transition time for mentors and mentees and the relationships change and grow,” said Sammon. “We have a large group of 17 seniors this year and we’re hopeful that many will continue their studies after they graduate.”
“We’ve watched 1,000 kids come through this program over the past 13 years,” said Witkowicki. “In our most recent group of high school seniors, seven out of eight kids were the first in their families to graduate and go on to college. In fact, as a direct result of mentoring, many of the kids in the program are now interested in going on to higher education.”
To that end, the Mentoring Alliance gave away $17,000 in scholarship money to nearly 20 mentees in 2008. The money, raised at the organization’s scholarship event, is an integral part of the program.
Laura Zimmerman was a school volunteer for her own three kids and was involved with both the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and Sonoma Jazz + before joining the team at the Mentoring Alliance. She said that higher education is one of the things that mentors routinely, yet somewhat surreptitiously, discuss with their mentees. “College is talked about as the next natural step after high school graduation,” said Zimmerman. “There isn’t any pressure, it’s just put out there as an option on a fairly frequent basis.” For instance, Zimmerman will say to her mentee something along the lines of, ‘You know, you’re so good at art, maybe looking into a college with a great art program would be interesting,’ or ‘Companies are always looking for bilingual college graduates.’
The Mentoring Alliance staff also surveys the kids to get their thoughts on how the program is working. A new brochure shows that attitudes are upbeat and the outcomes are positive. Some highlights: 90 percent of mentees say that since they’ve been matched with a mentor, they think more carefully about the choices they make and 86 percent say they are better at saying no when someone wants them to do something wrong or dangerous. In terms of education, 88 percent of mentees are more confident that they will graduate from college and the same number say they have more goals for their future.
For her part, Witkowicki takes little credit, instead praising the mentors for bringing out the best in the kids.
“Our mission is to provide academic and social support to help youth reach their highest potential,” said Witkowicki. “We do this by matching children one-on-one with caring adult role models from the local community who make a serious commitment to the child. Together, they build a trusting, caring relationship in a safe supportive environment. This is what is working in our community.”
Mentoring costs roughly $1,500 per child per year. This figure includes activities, enrichment and opportunities for mentees as well as training for mentors and the cost to run and staff the program.
Because the number of children who would like a mentor exceeds the number of mentors available, the Stand By Me Mentoring Program is always about 100 mentors short. Children stay on the waiting list until a match is made, sometimes for quite a long time. For more information on becoming a mentor, please contact the Mentoring Alliance at 707.938.1990 or go to www.sonomamentoring.org.