Who Needs Mentors?...
35.2 million young people ages 10-18 in US today
- 1 out of 4 lives with only one parent
- 1 out of 10 was born to teen parents
- 1 out of 5 lives in poverty
- 1 out of 10 will not finish high school
About half of young Americans - 17.6 million young people - want or need caring adult mentors to help them succeed in life. Of those 17.6 million young people, 2.5 are currently in formal mentoring relationships.
That leaves 15.1 million youth still in need of formal mentoring relationships. We call this our nation's "mentoring gap."
Who Is Willing to Mentor?
The AOL Time Warner Foundation recently sponsored a National Mentoring Poll of 2,000 adults. The poll found that:
- 57 million adults would seriously consider mentoring;
- 99 percent of all mentors already in a formal mentoring relationship would recommend mentoring to others;
- Potential mentors tend to:
- be between the ages of 18 to 44;
- have household incomes of $50,000 or more;
- have some college education or more;
- have access to the Internet; and
- have a child in their household.
- Of these potential mentors:
- 88% would like to have a choice among mentoring options (depending on their schedule and interests);
- 84% want access to expert help;
- 84% want orientation and training before mentoring;
- 67% would like their employer to provide time off; and
- 47% would be willing to mentor a youth online.
By a Poll Conducted by the AOL Time Warner Company via Pathfinder Research & Market Facts for MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership
For more information:
King County Mentoring Coalition
720 Second Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 461-5022 | mentoring@uwkc.org
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