When it comes to youth mentoring, Greenville is lacking volunteers.
Started in 2018, Greenville Mentoring Collaborative works to steer youth away from becoming another statistic through the help of community and partner organizations.
“It grew out of our need of having trouble identifying mentors for at-risk youth coming out of juvenile detention,” Alecia Brewster, coordinator with GMC. The organization looks to bring together disparate groups in hopes of developing relationships between them and realizing they’re not competing with each other.
You don’t have to be perfect
Brewster says GMC is looking for adults in the community who can commit to becoming mentors, along with businesses and communities who can help.
“You don’t have to be perfect, you have to be dedicated,” she says. Youth who have a mentor are more likely to graduate high school, go on to college and give back to the community.
Bill Gibson, who started the Community Addiction Recovery & Reentry Services group, has worked with kids and says a lot of what mentoring involves is building trust relationships. Many of the interactions kids have with adults are as authority figures. Gibson provided real-world examples to the kids he mentors and provides insight on how he handles different situations.
“I try to give them something that clicks,” Gibson says. Discovering what the mentee likes to do — such as attending a college football game or going to a movie — will help cement a relationship, he says.
A proper mentorship should last between nine-12 months, with about four hours a month, says Brewster. GMC has an eight-hour training session, and potential mentors can apply on the organization’s website gvlmentoring.org.
While GMC offers mentoring opportunities for men and women of all backgrounds to work with boys and girls, Gibson says one of the greatest needs they have is for Black men. Recently, the group hosted a cookout and fireside chat with Levon Kirkland, former Clemson University and NFL linebacker, to help with recruiting.
“You cannot be successful without other people helping you along,” Kirkland said.
What’s required of a mentor
- A sincere desire to be involved with a young person
- Respect for young people
- Active listening skills
- Empathy
- Ability to see solutions and opportunities
