Last school year, TeamMates Mentoring (LincolnTeamMates.org) served over 1,200 students in grades 3-12 across 70 public and parochial schools throughout Lincoln. Their mission is to inspire students to reach their full potential through one-to-one, strengths-based mentoring that happens at the mentee’s school for one class weekly. The result of this work is improved attendance and academic performance, and fewer behavioral referrals among TeamMates youth. Students in TeamMates also graduate high school at a higher rate than state and city wide averages.
While mentors do not serve as tutors, TeamMates mentors actively encourage school engagement by focusing on the intentional cultivation of a student’s strengths and modeling positive social behaviors.
“Building an unconditional, non-familial relationship with the student is extremely meaningful for both mentor and mentee,” said Jim Bennett, coordinator of Lincoln TeamMates.
Data from last school year reports that 97% of mentees reported feeling cared about by their TeamMates mentors, and 95% report a high level of trust.
“While it may look like matches are just playing card games or doing a craft project, the majority of TeamMates youth feel more hopeful about their futures and more prepared for life after high school as a result of their mentoring time,” said Bennett. “We need additional volunteers to serve as mentors so we can help make this possible for the hundreds of youth on our waitlist, too.”
To become a mentor or to donate to TeamMates Mentoring, please visit LincolnTeamMates.org.