So…why mentoring?
In Colorado alone, we have 10,503 youth who are in out of home placements, 359,000 children living in a single parent home, 7,751 youth who are incarcerated and 12,002 documented gang members.
Perhaps one of the most staggering statistics is that 89% of the youth that we work with have absolutely no father, no father figure, or male role model.
But don’t let the statistics fool you – even though 11% may have a father, a large portion of these youth have been removed from the home due to abuse and neglect. There are youth that we serve that are wards of the state, bouncing between residential treatment centers who never get a visitor, even on Christmas and their birthday.
This continues to reinforce to our younger generation that nobody loves them and they have no value.
They could not be more wrong.
What these youth need is someone who loves and cares about them, no strings attached. They need a caring adult role model, a mentor.
While we are seeing a crisis with youth in Colorado that continue to fall through the cracks, there is a solution.