On Tuesday Jan. 7, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors designated January as “Mentoring Month” in SLO County. The proclamation was attended by representatives from the three local non-profit organizations which provide volunteer mentoring opportunities; Big Brothers Big Sister of San Luis Obispo County, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program of San Luis Obispo, and Family Care Network Incorporated.
The purpose of Mentoring Month is to “raise awareness of mentoring and recruit individuals to mentor” as there is “a gap between the availability of mentoring programs and the number of young people in need,” according to District 5 Supervisor, Debbie Arnold. “Mentering programs have been shown to be effective in combating school violence, substance abuse, incarceration and truancy…youth development experts agree that mentoring is critical to the social, emotional and cognitive development of youth,” Arnold said.
Ken Frye, a volunteer mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters for the past seven years, was present to thank the Supervisors for recognizing these local mentoring programs which “benefit our community by helping families and children…as well as the volunteers who get so much out of the experience.” Frye was accompanied by his former Little Brother, Ben Leitcher, who graduated from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in 2012 and now is a Big Brother himself.
The Supervisors are joined in their effort to recognize the importance of mentoring by the President of the United States, who announced the start of “National Mentoring Month” last week. Sharing the sentiments of the County Board of Supervisors, President Obama urged citizens “take responsibility for our future leaders and give them the tools to succeed.” He reminded potential volunteers that “anyone can be a mentor and every child should have the chance to be a mentee.”