Mentoring Program

The Mentoring Program on JCCA’s Pleasantville Cottage Campus seeks eager, compassionate mentors just like you who are interested in improving the lives of at-risk young people, ages 15-18, in JCCA’s residential treatment programs.

Why Mentor?

Research shows that caring adults can make a difference in children’s lives.* [*Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2003 (S.1419 1st Session 108th Congress)]

• Forty-five percent of mentored teens are less likely to use drugs.
• Fifty-nine percent of mentored teens have better academic performance.
• Seventy-three percent of mentored teens achieve higher goals generally.

Children who have mentors have better relationships with adults, fewer disciplinary referrals and more confidence to achieve their goals.
Mentoring programs are cost-effective approaches to decreasing the occurrence of many social ills such as teen pregnancy, substance abuse, incarceration and violence.

“It’s a joy to give of my time and receive an unspeakable bond that will always have a place in my heart.”

Campus mentor

Mentor Overview

Before you begin:

• Complete an application, interview and reference and background check.

Mentor responsibilities

• Mentors spend a minimum of four hours, one-on-one, each month with an at-risk child.
• Mentors and mentees establish a meaningful relationship through respectful communication and shared activities.
• Mentors have a sincere desire to help young people. They use practical, creative problem-solving skills to support adolescents in achieving personal, academic and career goals.
• Contacts with a mentee begin inside the Pleasantville Cottage Campus, and after the relationship grows more familiar, mentors and mentees spend time together in the community.