Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries Asks People To Help Community Youth Succeed
Cincinnati, OH · · January 10, 2011 · · January is National Mentoring Month, and Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries is asking adults to spend just one hour a week to make a positive difference in a young person’s life. Ohio Valley Goodwill’s GoodGuides ® program is currently seeking responsible and caring adults to mentor youth aged 12 to 17 in the Greater Cincinnati area.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, GoodGuides is a two-year program that helps young people who are at risk for dropping out of school, who are facing legal trouble, and/or are at risk for delinquency. The goal of the GoodGuides program is to help young people in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area build career plans and skills; prepare them to finish school or obtain postsecondary training; and help them gain productive work lives by providing structured and supportive relationships with trusted adult mentors.
” Youth are reaching out to us for guidance and support, and we need more mentors to help them. We hope that the New Year brings a renewed commitment to our community’s youth,” said Tim Spoleti, GoodGuides Program Manager. A goal of the Ohio Valley Goodwill GoodGuides program is to serve 100 youth in 2011. Ohio Valley Goodwill currently has 52 youth matched, with an additional 48 matches scheduled to occur in the New Year.
Ohio Valley Goodwill is looking for mentors who are good listeners, encouraging and supportive, dependable and committed, and most especially people who truly enjoy working with adolescents. ” We are seeking adults that are willing to commit at least one year to transforming the future of an adolescent,” indicated Spoleti.
” In the first year of our program, we’ve seen dramatic positive changes in the lives of the young people who have received mentoring. They have stayed out of trouble, their academic performance has improved, and they are focused on their future,” said Spoleti.
For more information about the GoodGuides program, please visit www.cincinnatigoodwill.org or contact: Tim Spoleti, Youth Services Manager at tspoleti@cincigoodwill.org.
For 95 years, Ohio Valley Goodwill has been providing employment and training services for men and women with disabilities and other barriers to employment. The GoodGuides program is an especially good match for Goodwill because of the organization’s mission of helping people become employed, productive members of our community..
