Description
The Fishermenz Group Inc. is a community service organization that provides education, treatment, and resources that uplift, encourage and teach young boys/men between ages 8 -14, towards academic achievement, acquisition of vocational skills.
The Fishermenz Group Inc. Apprenticeship Mentoring Program pairs youth with volunteers in the professional workforce through collaboration with businesses and the community. The mentor, an older, more experienced person, seeks to further the development of character and competence in a younger person by guiding the latter in acquiring mastery of progressively more complex skills and tasks in which the mentor is already proficient. The guidance is accomplished though demonstration, instruction, challenge, and encouragement on a more or less regular basis over an extended period of time. In the course of this process, the mentor and the young person are expected to develop a special bond of mutual commitment. In addition, the younger person's relationship to the mentor takes on an emotional character of respect, loyalty, and identification." The Fishermenz Group Inc. Apprenticeship Mentoring Program offers opportunities for the business community and volunteers to partner with the Fishermenz Group Inc. as stakeholders for the purpose of inspiring, uplifting, teaching and encouraging youth to reach their personal and vocational goals.
The Mentor
In Apprenticeship Mentoring, the Mentor serves as a guide and sponsor of the Youth Apprentice through training inspiring, encouraging and supporting the youth’s progress toward attainment of personal goals and a successful career path. The Mentor is used to help with efforts towards career exploration, assessment of aptitude and realistic expectations for the youth apprentice in the workplace. The Mentor also serves as a teacher for the youth by exposing the youth to all facets in his or her perspective area of expertise or skills and helper. The Mentor’s main objective is to inspire the youth towards academic achievement and development of the professional qualifications and personal characteristics in preparation for attainment of personal goals and successful careers.
The Employer
To further the task of mentoring a youth towards matriculation to their desire profession, employers and businesses within the community are solicited and recruited to complete the apprenticeship mentoring model. The employer participation includes allowing the employee’s time with the youth apprentice to be counted as work time and allowing the youth the opportunity to tour and observe the worksite. The Fishermenz Group Inc. Apprenticeship Mentoring Program Model is based on the concept that often times an employee is more apt to provide community service on behalf of his employer, when is mutually beneficial for both the employer and employee. The employer and the employee will often have multiple benefits from this partnership. The youth will be the ultimate beneficiary of this partnership.
The Youth
The youth participation in the career exploration activities will begin in the classroom and in individual counseling sessions. The youth is later paired with mentors and visit worksites and "shadow" employees as they perform their jobs. Emphasis is placed on observing the mentor in the workplace, not participating as a productive worker. The mentor provides the student a meaningful introduction to the world of work and provides a context for understanding the relationship and interaction between the academics taught in the classroom and the workplace. The youth is able to envision his future in the workplace.
