#OneOfMANY: Thoughts on Youth Services & Mentoring in Wyoming
MANY is traveling all across the country, meeting with member organizations, talking about their programs, and identifying trends and issues that are happening in the youth services field across the U.S. We had the privilege of sitting down with two staffers from our member organziation, Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters of Laramie to talk about mentoring in Wyoming. Their Executive Director, Steve Hamaker, and their Match Support Specialist, Megan Wild, had this to say about their approach to the mentoring process and the effects of mentoring in Wyoming:
“Mentoring works as a holistic approach in Wyoming by impacting youth and families throughout the continuum of care, regardless of family structure, age, or socio-economic factors. We start building relationships with youth and families as early as kindergarten, working to build protective factors and enhance strengths as the child develops. Mentoring can provide the foundation for stable support through most family transitions and crisis, and provides strong roots to support interventions if the youth becomes involved in the juvenile justice system or struggles as a teen.“
About Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters of Laramie Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters of Laramie is one of the only prevention programs in Wyoming proven to affect a broad range of social issues. Program evaluations consistently show that after entering the program, children are less likely to become delinquent, use alcohol, tobacco or drugs, or drop out of school. Thus, investing in Big Brothers Big Sisters is more cost effective than investing in single issue prevention programs.. You can follow their work on Facebook.
To follow the rest of MANY’s road trip around the country, follow the hashtag on Twitter #MANYRoadTrip here and follow the hashtag on Facebook #MANYRoadTrip here.
