At the Education Fund, we’re big believers in the idea that every child should have a mentor. We’re happy to know that we’re backed up by rapper and activist Killer Mike, who paid a visit to the Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert this week to talk about, among other things, how crucial it is to grow up with a mentor.
He told Colbert that when he speaks at colleges with predominantly white students, he advises them to become a mentor to someone from a different background.
“Get outside the college environment, find a child who is marginal or doing exceptional in school who’s a minority, who doesn’t look like you, not of the same religion not of the same background — help that child matriculate into college.”
He went on to say, “teach them the path you were taught to help them become a successful human being. What you’re going to get out of that experience is another human being that’s taking full advantage of an educational system that can help them within their community, but more than that, it grows you as a human being to have empathy … for someone who doesn’t look like you and is culturally not from your background.”
We couldn’t have said it better.
This month is National Mentoring Month. If you have been looking for the right opportunity to become a mentor, this is the perfect time for you to sign up for our Mentoring for Success Program. We partner with the San Francisco Unified School District to provide adult volunteers who meet one-on-one with students for about an hour each week. Mentors help students through activities that encourage personal growth, skill-building and more. To get involved in the program, reach out to Tom Laursen, our Senior Coordinator of Volunteer Engagement, by emailing tlaursen@sfedfund.org
And watch the full interview with Killer Mike below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhudugDROn0]
