Canadian author Bob Proctor once said, “A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself and helps bring it out of you.” In recent years, mentorship has gained more popularity, especially ones dedicated for youth. Not only national organizations such as Mentor, Step Up, and Active Minds, but local community nonprofits are working to support young people to uplift them in their future paths regardless of their racial or financial background.
Recently, Marta Lilly, an active promoter of educational equity through Plano’s Hendrick Scholarship Foundation, discussed the importance of giving positive affirmations to students as many of them are often surrounded by a negative environment. Lilly shared countless stories of students who were able to graduate from college with the support of positive mentors who kept motivating them regardless of the obstacles they dealt with; whether it be their source of income, family pressures, or in many cases, society’s racial discrimination.
If advancements towards racial equity are being made through personal mentorship connections, would the effect become more prominent if diversity inclusion programs were in place instead?
According to the Harvard Business Review, diversity inclusion programs often lead to the opposite result that is hoped for due to the additional pressure on people to act a certain way and psychologically will make them want to go against the rules in play. However, a couple of years ago, around 9-24% of Black, Hispanic, and Asian American representation in management roles in jobs increased, meaning there must be some solution that has been implemented with an unpredicted yet beneficial improvement to bridge gaps in racial inequalities.
The solution is simple yet impactful: mentorship programs. The mentorship connections formed through simple acts such as empathetic discussions and brainstorming sessions allow mentees to not only gain knowledge about their field of work but foster personal growth development to enhance their skills and strengthen their weaknesses. This inspired nonprofits, schools, and even big businesses like Apple and Goldman Sachs to start mentorship based programs.
Many times however, mentorship programs are not started until the community starts to see a visible need for it due to decrease in mental well-being and an increase in racial bias. This need was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when Frisco ISD saw students struggling and needing support from a third-person who can boost their self-esteem, listen to their voice, motivate them to work towards their goals, and ultimately prepare them to be ready for their post-schooling lives. In 2021, the FISD Achieve Mentoring Program started and was soon a success and of great help to students, creating a notable impact in the way that they deal with academics, school life, extracurriculars, and their personal relations. According to FISD’s program description page, research shows that students that used to frequently receive disciplinary consequences for their actions in school and academically struggled experienced significant improvements.
Why, you may ask, did one-hour conversations turn into a life changing experience and bond for students? At school many students felt the need to be one certain way to fit in. Mentorship shifted this mindset by fostering a sense of belonging for students from all racial backgrounds. Mentors did not change who their mentee was. They simply guided them to unlock their true potential; one powerful bond is all it really takes to change one’s course in life towards something they find meaningful.
