Mission One: Mission Two: Mission Three: Mentor Practice Build Leaders
The lives of young people are full of ups and downs, and neither violence or incarceration is something they should have to experience. Research has shown that it can be helpful for them to have adults who they can turn to in times of trouble. In fact, a new study conducted by researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that when adolescents in low resource urban environments have adults in their lives who they look up to and can help them handle tough situations, these mentors can have profound protective effects on their development.
NB understood, although the work with young students are important, it is also critical to not discount adult learners. The adult learners are credible messengers and restorative justice practitioners. These are the unsung heroes that were working with young people trying to reduce violence and prevent recidivism, with little knowledge of grassroots level work used to improve the neighborhood. Our adult programming strategically focuses on the upliftment of our people using the Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. Neighborhood Benches utilize these goals to pinpoint areas of focus for the mentor to concentrate on as they're improving their practice as a mentor.
Developing Mentors
To further develop credible messenger mentors we concentrate on both, shadowing activities and action plans that improves operating efficencies, drives their performance and increases the focus on the youth.
Our mentoring strategy include:
Student-Centered or Learner-Centered Learning (depending on)
Mentoring Practice (deliberate practice)
Restorative Dialogue (thru rebuilding community); and
Launch (mission design)
Neighborhood Benches, Inc. di dnot launch the two groups. Prior to their launch they participated in the Neighborhood Benches learning and networking experiences to better informed their practice.