Children’s program seeks male mentors

Wanted: male mentors for Virginia’s Children of Promise.

“We are definitely looking for males,” said Dana Taylor, mentor coordinator of Virginia’s Children of Promise. “We have plenty of girl mentors but males are what we need. There are currently 25 children in the program and about 20 on the waiting list. Half of the kids are boys.”

Taylor’s job includes finding suitable mentors for children who have one or both parents incarcerated.

When the state offered grants for its Virginia’s Children of Promise program, the United Methodist Family Services applied and received one. The basis of the program is to provide a mentor to a child who has a parent or parents in prison.

“The mentor gets a chance to give back to the community since this is a community based program,” Taylor said. “They are able to help a child and gain a sense of accomplishment.”

As coordinator, Taylor meets with the family and child to determine the needs of the child. She then seeks a mentor and sets up a supervised meeting where everyone can meet each other.

“It’s not forced,” Taylor said. “I make sure that both sides are suitable for each other before making my final decision.”

Taylor said the most important contribution for this program is time.

“It’s a major requirement that once the person becomes a mentor,” she said. “They must be able to meet with the child one hour per week. The child and mentor can meet longer or more often.”

“Once they are assigned to each other, I have nothing to do with the time besides making sure they meet the one-hour requirement,” she said. “It’s encouraged for them to meet more often.”

Most mentors choose to meet with the child after school or on the weekends.

Although the VCU chapter of Alpha Phi Omega had never heard of Virginia’s Children of Promise, Cristina Spence, the group’s treasurer, said it would be something they’d be interested in.

“We’ve never heard about the program and haven’t discussed it simply because we didn’t know about it,” Spence said. “Things like mentoring and volunteering are what we are interested in as a whole. It’s definitely something we’d be interested in doing or at least discussing.”

Taylor said the younger children are excited to take to someone besides their caregiver or siblings.

“The older kids tend to be more nervous because it’s someone new who’s an adult,” she said.

Nonetheless, Taylor cannot emphasize enough the importance of this program for the children in the Richmond Metropolitan area.

It now faces its third and final year of the state grant funds and Family Services is looking for funding to keep the program going.

“The kids have an outlet with this program. They get someone who is responsible for them,” Taylor said. “They can talk to and confide in their mentor. This program is just for them.”