Walsh launches Mayor’s Mentoring Movement

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, along with President and CEO of Mass Mentoring Program Marty Martinez and Massachusetts President of Bank of America Bob Gallery, launched the Mayor’s Mentoring Movement on Tuesday to provide support to the city’s youth, according to a Tuesday press release.

The Movement hopes to recruit 1,000 mentors in two years, a minimum of 10 percent of which are designated to be City of Boston employees, the release stated.

“We know that data and numbers tell us one thing,” Martinez said in a Tuesday press conference. “They tell us that young people who have a mentor are more likely to be better prepared for school, more likely to make healthier choices around keeping the community safe, violent crimes prevention and more likely to have skills to be ready for the workforce.”

The mentorship program is not a standalone program, but rather relies on partnerships with various organizations around the city of Boston, such as the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, Mass Mentoring Partnership, Bank of America and Sociedad Latina Mission Possible, to help recruit mentors and collect resources, Walsh said in the press conference.

Hoping to present youth with an opportunity to gain access to capable, successful adult mentors, the Movement is calling for support through mentor volunteers, Walsh said.

“To reach our goal of 1,000 mentors, we need everyone’s help,” Walsh said. “I’m talking about the cameramen in this room here today. I’m talking about the reporters in this room. We are going to be reaching out to everyone in the city of Boston. We’re going to be reaching out to CEOs of companies. We’re going to be reaching out to some of the scientists in the life sciences. We’re going to be reaching out to everyone so that we can give our young people the biggest possible opportunity to dream as they want.”

David Rosenbloom, a professor of health policy and management in Boston University’s School of Public Health, said the presence of a strong role model is vital for young people.

“For some young people, the absence of a sympathetic and caring adult in their lives is a real detriment, so mentoring programs, really developed around the country 15 and 20 years ago and continued today, provide at least in part for the absence of a caring adult. That’s the idea,” Rosenbloom said.

Walsh said in the press conference that the mentorship program has been formulated to ensure that the city’s youth can have trusted, caring, successful role models to whom they can bring any kind of problems.

“We want to make sure that our young people are successful, and they grow, and they have opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have,” he said. “We are going to be reaching out to everyone so that we can give our young people the biggest possible opportunity to dream.”

As an example of the City of Boston’s employees’ dedication to the Movement, Rebecca Arellano, an employee in Boston’s Department of Health and Human Services, gave a statement during the press conference about how her role as a mentor stems from her desire to give back to the community.

“I grew up with a single mother, so I know what it’s like to need that extra support and not have it,” Arellano said. “Giving back to the community and just being that positive influence in a young person’s life, is something that I didn’t have, and I just definitely wanted to make sure that someone in my community had.”

Several residents said the Movement has the potential to have a positive influence if it is conducted properly.

Sabrina Chartrand, 21, of Brighton, said the movement is great, not only for youth looking for guidance and support, but also for students looking to expand their horizons through experiences, jobs and internships.

“It the [Mayor’s Mentoring Movement] would be a really good idea. It would be really helpful for the youth here. It’ll help them with internships, with looking for certain colleges, picking out degrees, figuring out what they’re interested in,” she said. “It’s a good way to keep them out of trouble and on the right track.”

David Irwin, 62, of East Boston, said the program is an all-around victory as it benefits both the volunteers and the mentees.

“It sounds like a win-win to me, both for the mentor and whoever is being mentored,” he said.

Marie Thompson, 56, of Dorchester, said the program could help have a key role in cutting down drug and substance abuse.

“It’s [Mayor’s Mentoring Movement] right because drugs are a major concern, and that’s my first thing just to keep that out of the city,” she said. “Once we get a grip on that, everything else will fall into place.”