mentor (noun) -a trusted counselor or guide

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly a quarter of Hoosier children live in poverty. For children under the age of six, the rate is even higher.
 
Do you have an hour per week that you could share with a youth?   

• With a mentor, kids are more likely to graduate from high school.
• With a mentor, kids are more likely to attend a four-year college. 
• With a mentor, kids are less likely to fight in school or become involved in criminal activities.

Great mentors are patient, consistent, dedicated, and good listeners. You do not need to be perfect to be a mentor, and you don't need to spend money. By being a mentor, you can help to improve your mentee's self-esteem and academic success. You can help your mentee to discover new talents, attitudes, and dreams, and increase his or her ability to find and keep a job.

Mentors benefit, too. They get to share their skills and talents with a young person who wants to learn, and mentors gain valuable experience that is important to their own professional development.

By spending an hour a week as a mentor, you can help to change someone's entire life for the better.

If you'd like to learn more, join us at the Library on Tuesday, October 16th, at 7pm, when Bill Stanczykiewicz, President and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute, talks about mentorship.

2012 United We Read Programs

By now, you probably know that the book that Boone County is reading together for the 2012 United We Read program series is “The Other Wes Moore,” by Wes Moore. This engaging nonfiction story is about two young men who did not know each other, but shared the same name and grew up in the same city at the same time. Today, one of these men works on Wall Street and is happily married, while the other spends every day in a prison cell for his participation in a botched robbery that ended in murder. What choices, both large and small, did these men make during their lives that led to such drastically different present-day outcomes?

Wes Moore read about the other Wes in a news article about the murder, and mailed a letter to him in prison. The letter began a friendship that emphasized the ways in which the choices each had made during moments of hardship and decision affected their destinies. What if you found out that someone with your name, who grew up nearby you, was living a startlingly different sort of life than yours? Even if you never meet another person with your name, what choices did you make that brought you to your current lifestyle, and would you change any of those choices? What about the choices you make today and will make tomorrow?

Read “The Other Wes Moore” and then come to the United We Read programs at the Library during October to discuss the ways in which choice, family, education, and interactions with others affect our lives and the lives of those we encounter.

Zionsville Book Talk
Monday Oct. 1st, 6:30pm
Talk about the book at this discussion led by Zionsville librarians Ellen Leffler and Barbara Litkowski.

Choice and Accountability: Influencing the Future
Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, 7pm
Dr. Greg Keller, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at IUPUI, talks about how your daily choices and behaviors affect your future.

Humanity: Commonalities Among Us All
Tuesday, Oct. 9th, 7pm
Dr. Marvin Scott, Professor of Sociology at Butler, talks about racism and society’s role in the success and failure of young adult minorities.

Mentorship: Bridging the Opportunity Gap
Tuesday, Oct. 16th, 7pm
Bill Stanczykiewicz, President and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute, talks about mentorship- what it is, who does it, and how it is important to the success of at-risk youth.

Products of Our Expectations: Family, Community and Success 
Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, 7pm
Dr. Tamara Leech, Assistant Professor of Sociology at IUPUI, talks about the role of family and community upon an individual’s success in life.