Vision: A Mentor will be available to every child and youth in Alabama.
Mission: To promote, advocate for, foster and support child and youth mentoring programs throughout Alabama.
Goal: To provide appropriately recruited, screened, trained and supported mentors for Alabama children and youth.
Role: MentorAlabamas primary role is to increase the number of formal mentoring relationships available to Alabamas children and youth.
In Alabama, there are children that have life situations that place them at risk for personal and academic failure. These situations include poverty, inadequate early childhood experiences and preparation for school, family drug use, violence, involvement in the criminal justice system, and lack of access to needed social and mental health services, among others.
Children who have ongoing relationships with caring adults are more likely to avoid alcohol or other drugs, stay in school and get good grades, have a better self-image and have better relationships with their families and friends. Many more mentors, especially men and minorities, are needed.
To increase the number of volunteer mentors requires vision and reach that goes beyond what one mentoring program alone can accomplish. A coordinated, state wide effort can bring leaders together, eliminate duplication of effort and offer centralized, high quality mentoring services. Alabama is a state partner member of MENTOR, the national mentoring partnership.