YLD CHILDREN & THE LAW COMMITTEE SEEKS MENTORS

Oklahoma’s youth is our most important asset. Indeed, our future is in their very hands. Yet many young people in Oklahoma face serious problems that greatly elevate their “risk,” including teen violence, gangs, bad peer group choices and exposure to a culture that devalues the importance of an education and strong work ethic. A common thread running through all of these problems is the lack of positive role models.

“As young lawyers, just about every one of us can look back and pick out one or two individuals — a coach, a teacher, a family friend — who influenced our lives and helped to shape us into who we are today,” said Carol King, co-chair of the YLD’s Children & the Law Committee. “Unfortunately, as young professionals, there is also a tendency to get so caught up in our careers that we forget about the needs of children and making a difference in their lives. As a result, there have been fewer and fewer role models for children to look up to.”

Last year, determined to do something about it, Ms. King, along with committee Co-Chair Lily Debrah, decided to set up “Mentoring for Success,” a YLD project that matches lawyer and law student volunteers with elementary and high school students who have been identified as borderline cases, falling behind or just needing some extra help. Each mentor meets with his or her student once per week at that student’s school. Though the sessions must take place during school hours, meeting times are otherwise flexible, thus allowing mentors to come and go as their schedule permits (such as over the lawyer’s lunch break). During the mentoring sessions, the participants are free to engage in virtually limitless activities aimed building self-esteem, establishing positive and supportive relationships, helping children overcome negative behaviors, improving the student’s classroom participation and developing the character necessary for each student to make the right choices and achieve his or her dreams.

In Oklahoma City, the YLD Children & the Law Committee has teamed up with Integris Health Inc., an Oklahoma not-for-profit corporation. Lawyers and OCU law student mentors are paired with students attending targeted Oklahoma City elementary schools, including Dunbar Elementary, Fillmore Elementary and Western Village Academy. In Tulsa, the YLD is continuing the partnership it forged with Hale High School in 2006, though King hopes to expand the YLD’s involvement to other area high schools, including Street School, which is approximately five minutes from downtown Tulsa.

Though the time commitment is only one hour per week, the impact a mentor can have on a child’s life during that one hour is profound. A recent study revealed that young teens who met regularly with a mentor for one year demonstrated an overall improved academic performance and were:

• 46 percent less likely to start using drugs;
• 27 percent less likely to start drinking;
• 52 percent less likely to skip a day of school;
• 37 percent less likely to skip a class; and
• 33 percent less likely to have engaged in violence against others

Additionally, children with mentors are less likely to get arrested, apply for welfare, start smoking or carry a weapon.

Mentoring is not difficult nor does it require formal training. It can be whatever a young person needs it to be. Often the mentor is guided by the young person’s questions, responses and attitudes.

“The most important thing is that these young people have an adult take an interest in their lives,” Ms. King said. “What surprised me, though, was the positive effect being a mentor had on my own life. It’s only an hour out of my week, but I come back to work with a bounce in my step.”

If you are an attorney in the Oklahoma City area and would like to volunteer as a mentor for an elementary school student, you can act today by contacting Lily Debrah at ldebrah@dmw-law.com. To mentor a high school student in the Tulsa area, contact Carol King at carol.king@sbcglobal.net. If you live in a rural community and would like help implementing the Mentoring for Success program locally, contact YLD Chair Chris Camp at chriscamp@h2law.net.

1. You can help one student stay in school, stay free of drugs and prepare for a life of independence.
2. You can enrich your life by helping to build a child’s character and self-esteem.
3. You have had help along the way. People believed in you. Now it’s your turn.
4. The children waiting for mentors are the future of our nation.
5. You will have fun.
6. The values and behaviors of children are shaped by what they see. A mentor can provide a positive role model.
7. When children abandon their education, become teen parents or get involved in drugs or crime, it becomes everyone’s problem.
8. Children who stay in school will have the skills to stay above the poverty level.
9. Mentoring works.
10. If not you, who?