The Juvenile Mentoring Program of the Montgomery County Youth Service Bureau is seeing some changes this year.
The JUMP program matches an adult volunteer or a married couple with a Montgomery County youth who has similar interests. The goal of the program is for the volunteer to be a positive role model, be a friend to the child and provide support and a listening ear. A mentor also does fun activities with their mentee to allow the child to experience new things that they might not have been able to try otherwise. These activities don’t have to be elaborate, most of our kids are happy to just hang out and spend time with someone.
Mentoring has a huge impact on youth in our community, causing them to be more likely to succeed academically, become involved in their community, and go on to become mentors as adults.
New to 2024 is how the program supports matches with planned activities. Organizers learned that matches were struggling to get together at the specific dates and times the program offered its monthly activities. To support these matches with more flexibility, JUMP will now plan one large group activity every quarter, such as bowling, a pizza party or going to an amusement park.
In March, the program offered a quarterly group activity at Plaza Lanes, which was sponsored by Valero Renewable Fuels. The group played laser tag, enjoyed some food at the concession stand, went bowling and played in the arcade. The other months the program offers activities that the mentor and mentee can do that fit into their schedule. For example, in February mentees and mentors could attend Annie Jr. at the Vanity Theater when it fit into their schedule by notifying the program manager when they were available to attend. This will allow for more flexibility and will allow the match to focus on building that friendship by participating in a new or favorite activity together that interests them.
This summer JUMP has scheduled a trip to Malibu Jacks, will be hosting a music and foam party and this fall are looking forward to visiting Oak Hill Tree Farm to pick out some pumpkins.
Organizers are grateful to Valero Renewable Energy and Banjo/Idex Corp for their sponsorship.
Mentor support sessions will also return this year. These mentor-only meetings are a chance to grab a snack and network together, brainstorm and share a fun activity they did with their mentee, talk through struggles or celebrate our match successes. As well as training sessions in areas that mentors believe would be helpful.
To learn more about becoming a program mentor, contact Sara Clapp by email at Sara@mcysb.org or call 765-362-0694, ext 102.
