What was your dream job?

Below is a clip from the latest Family Circle magazine which talks about students' dream jobs. SMILES thought this was interesting, since mentors often “worry” about their mentee wanting to be an athlete or singer. It's FANTASTIC that our children have a goal and dreams. Mentors are here to support their dreams and also help our students come up with a few back-up plans! We'll be polling our mentees and seeing what their dream jobs are, so keep your eyes peeled for those results!

What was your dream job when you were growing up?? Let us know by commenting on out blog!

SMILES Hiring New Facilitators! DoYou Have What It Takes???

It's an exciting time of year for SMILES, what with all of the preparations being made before the opening of programs for the new school year. It's especially exciting when the number of programs are growing. That means SMILES has the enjoyable task of hiring more program facilitators!!

It's a great part-time job and takes a special person to fill the role. Here are some of the qualifications to be a successful mentor:

First and foremost, a SMILES facilitator must be a good role model and must like - no, love - kids!

A SMILES facilitator must also enjoy interacting with adults and be willing to nurture each mentor-mentee relationship.

A SMILES facilitator must have excellent communication skills because s/he is on the front lines for SMILES, working with the school staff, the mentors and the children to have a successful year.

A SMILES facilitator must be punctual, professional, organized, and able to work both independently as a member of the SMILES team.

A SMILES facilitator must be reliable and have reliable transportation.

A SMILES facilitator must be able to help others have some FUN!!! Why? How many solid relationships do you know that exist between people who don't enjoy being with each other???

If you know someone who might be interested in being a SMILES facilitator, PLEASE SHARE THIS. If you would like more information, contact SMILES Program Manager Marie-Frances Rivera at the SMILES office at (508) 999-9300.

Join the SMILES Team!!!

Youth Mentoring Sets Sights on Dropout Prevention

To the Many Supporters of SMILES:

It's not too often that we find ourselves ahead of the curve, but in this case SMILES is out front by no less than seven years! It was seven years ago when we established our first pilot mentoring programs at two New Bedford middle schools. The mission was then as it is now - to use structured school-based mentoring as a strategy to help students achieve thier educational potential so that more of them will graduate from high school.

The following press release was issued recently by the three leading national mentoring organizations. It announces a "joint initiative to help combat America's school dropout crisis" and helps direct prospective volunteer mentors to communities with the lowest-performing schools. Fall River and New Bedford are among the 170 communites listed as having the lowest performing schools.

From a practical point of view, SMILES is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this initiative in our effort to achieve continued growth. Hopefully, broader recognition of the primary role mentoring can play in dropout prevention will translate into increased resources to support programs like SMILES that exist for the sole purpose of helping kids do better in school so they will graduate.

Whatever happens next, it's a good day when these three national mentoring organizations publicly and aggressively apply their considerable resources to the important and challenging work of dropout prevention.

- Jim Mathes -
Executive Director
SMILES Mentoring Program
A Program of People, Incorporated

July 16, 2010: Today, MENTOR, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Mentoring USA launched a joint initiative to help combat America's school dropout crisis that uses a Volunteer Referral Service to route potential mentors to mentoring programs throughout the United States, including 170 communities with the lowest-performing schools.

Known as Academic Achievement through Mentoring, the initiative was first noted at a 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service issue forum on mentoring as a solution to the school dropout crisis, where speakers included Joshua DuBois of the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives, Matilda Cuomo of Mentoring USA, Dr. Larry Wright of MENTOR and Karen Mathis of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Today's launch at www.mentoring.org/aatm/ allows potential mentors to access the list of 2,000 identified schools and then type their own zip code into MENTOR's Volunteer Referral Service consisting of more than 5,000 guality mentoring programs. If visitors to the site choose, they then can be connected with a mentoring provider for the identified school district, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and others.

Mentoring is a youth intervention that research shows can help keep students in school, out of trouble and working to achieve their potential as individuals and as citizens. During the Conference on Volunteering and Service, DuBois cited alarming statistics for the capacity crowd, including:

* 1.3 million American students drop out of high school each year.
* One-third of all children and one-half of low income and minority youth
fail to graduate on time.
* Of minority students who enroll in college, only 10 percent graduate.
* Only 3 percent of today's jobs are available to unskilled employees.
* The 2,000 lowest-performing schools are located in 170 communities.

Research has shown mentoring to have significant positive effects on two early indicators of high school dropouts -- high levels of absenteeism and recurring behavior problems. Youth in mentoring relationships present better attitudes and behaviors at school and are more likely to attend college than their counterparts.

What has four legs, four arms, four eyes, two heads and two HUGE smiles?
A successful mentor match, of course!

Okay, so that's not the best riddle you ever read and it's a pretty weak example of humor but it's the thought that counts, right?

Humor and mentoring go hand in hand, just ask Charlie Appelstein. Appelstein is an author, speaker and therapist who has been working with troubled kids for years. In his book, No Such thing As a Bad Kid, Appelstein stresses the importance of humor in establishing and nurturing a relationship with any youth.

Now, not all of us were born comic geniuses, right? Being funny and having the ability to make other people laugh seem to come naturally to some people but what about the rest of us?

Appelstein suggests buying a joke book and reading some jokes out loud to your mentee. You could even memorize a few. You know, build a repertoire! Other ideas include showing up wearing a funny hat or plastic nose and black glasses, or other funny costume; using props such as wind-up toys, cards and magic tricks; taking traditional games like Bingo and adding twists to them that make them silly and more fun than they already are.

Those are just a few of the ideas that Appelstein writes about. One thing he warns against is using any kind of sarcasm, as it, in Appelstein's words, "masks feelings of hostility" and is "a put-down."

Really, a little humor, especially the self-deprecating kind, can really brighten a child's day. And, it's another gift that you can give to your mentee: The gift of laughter.

The PSA at the bottom of this blog entry is a great example of how humor and laughter can help to strengthen a relationship. After you watch it, SMILES would love to know how you have used humor in your mentoring relationship, or any ideas for sharing humor that you might have.

Mentor matches blooming all over the place!

It's garden season, isn't it? Planting and watering, sowing and weeding, and looking forward to the flowers blooming and the vegetables ripening.

Well, here at SMILES, everything is in full bloom now, with lots of positive results from the year's mentoring programs. And, there's plenty of evidence, such as this letter from the parent of a mentee to one of our facilitators:

Mrs. Brown,

I just wanted to thank you for doing the SMILES program and including Will. He really loves it and looks forward to it each time. Will had a tough year with diabetes and not feeling well. the SMILES program gave him a boost each week. He especially loved the exercise that all the kids wrote nice things about each other. I said to him 'We tell you those things all the time.' He said: 'Yeah, Mom, but you're my parents, you HAVE to say that.' It really added to his sense of self. So, thank you.

Then, there are notes like this one written by a 2nd grade student in a SMILES Literacy program:

And, SMILES loves to get comments such as these from teachers whose students are in literacy-based programs:

"The mentors share stories about their lives, and the children love it."

"The mentors allow the children to share their stories one on one, they are great listeners."

"Many of the children are so pleased with their reading fluency that they now volunteer to read out loud in class."


It's great knowing that the SMILES garden is in full bloom as the school year winds down. Thanks for letting us share with you. And remember, there are sooo many more children who need mentors. If you'd like more information on becoming a SMILES mentor, do contact the office at (508) 999-9300, email Nicole at nalmeida@smilesmentoring.org or check out our website at www.smilesmentoring.org.

Girl Power in Mentoring

Ladies, this one's for you!

Roosevelt Middle School in New Bedford is interested in starting a Girls Mentoring Program!

Some of the SMILES staff attended a Girl's Tea at the South End school recently, where 100 professional women shared their experiences with 100 7th Grade female students. The idea was to give the young ladies the opportunity to meet area women who could share some of their experiences about becoming successful, productive women.

It was a great event! Looking around the room, you could see the shyness and anxiety of meeting new people melt away as the tea cups were filled and the breakfast sandwiches were served. And, when the idea was introduced to build on the event by establishing a weekly GIRLS mentoring program, several women said they'd be interested in participating.

What are your ideas for building mentoring programs in the community to answer the need for positive role models? Let us know!

School-based & Community-based Mentoring makes a strong partnership

Mentor Tony and mentee Dominic are a 4 year strong match whose relationship would not be as powerful had it not been for the strong partnership SMILES and our community-based mentoring partners Big Friends, Little Friends (BFLF) and Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) have established.

Each spring, as our school based programs wind down for the year, we ask mentors if they would be interested in continuing with their mentees over the summer with either BBBS or BFLF.
Once a rapport and trust has been built in the school environment between a mentor and mentee enhancing the relationship by being able to "hang out" as Dominic and Tony so nicely put it is so powerful! SMILES currently has 30 active matches who are supported by Big Brother, Big Sister of Greater New Bedford and Big Friends, Little Friends of Fall River!

So, if you have a little extra time to spend with you mentee it's an excellent option! To see if this would be a good option for you and your SMILES mentee - please email Marie-Frances Rivera at mrivera@smilesmentoring.org

Also, for our SMILES mentors who are not able to commit at this point, but want more information either email mrivera@smilesmentoring.org or call 508-999-9300.