You’ve been mentored. I’ve been mentored. First by a parent, then by a teacher, later perhaps by a coach, or someone who actually had the title. Paul mentored Timothy. Jesus mentored the Apostles. Without a mentor at critical times in our lives we are nothing more than a blind man trying to cross a highway at rush hour.
Thirty years of research studies on mentoring proves that mentees are positively affected by the leadership, care, friendship, and attention of a mentor. In a commercial setting, 43 studies indicate that those who were mentored received higher compensation, more promotions, and were happier and more committed to their careers.
Mentors can also bridge the trust gap in organizations with women and minorities who might otherwise be overlooked…like reentrants? For years, those with a criminal record were shut out of the employment market, except for a few trivial jobs, offering a pay rate so low that they, frankly, encouraged recidivism.
A person who has left long-term incarceration and enters the workforce is literally a fish out of water. Everything is new. There is freedom, but new rules. There are computers and phones he’s never seen before. There is the responsibility to family, to the court, to an employer. Will he show up and put himself under authority on the job? Can he transition from a place where every decision was made for him, to one that requires a hundred right decisions every day to maintain his very freedom?
It’s not only hard, it is almost impossible to make a successful transition without some kind of training and a mentor to help. It’s like putting a person on an airliner and expecting them to figure out how to fly. Personally I wouldn’t want to be a passenger. The human capital that is wasted every year (as 12,000 people are released in Marion County alone) should not be sacrificed for lack of caring, invested mentors.
The Champion mentors at UNITE INDY support and encourage those soon-to-be released during Jobs for Life training, and follow them as they reenter. Our Employment Partners are well versed in working with people who sometimes have to get off work to see a parole officer, or have a drug test. Churches are joining us with teams of Champions available to help others succeed. They are in the class room, at the door when a reentrant is released, in the work place, on the phone. And we need more of them.
Our Champions are the protective chrysalis that shields the caterpillar as it goes through the difficult metamorphosis into a freedom-loving butterfly. This work is ordained. As we were mentored we also are to mentor others at different times of our lives. Maybe it’s your time. Join us.
Here.
Nancy
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