YMCA of the East Bay Reach and Rise Mentoring Program

Description

Reach and Rise (formerly Building Futures) Mentoring is a program created to address the mental health counseling needs of youth. The Building Futures Mentoring Program provides 1-to-1 mentoring to at-risk youth ages 6 - 18 in San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo and Oakland. Mentors meet with their mentees once each week for an average of 2 hours over a 1-year period. We help children develop tools to cope with issues such as low self-esteem, family and peer conflicts, academic underachievement and decision-making skills. Youth are referred from schools and other YMCA programs The YMCA mentoring program is geared for kids 6-14 and focuses on outcomes such as improving academic performance, personal social skills and relationships with authority figures.

Highly trained mentors meet weekly with mentees to discuss issues occurring in the youth's life. A key feature of the program is the inclusion of parents in the mentoring process, from matching their child to an appropriate mentor, to setting goals for the mentoring relationship.