Consider Mentoring a Young Latina in Your Community
In January, NHLI is joining organizations from across the country celebrating National Mentoring Month to bring attention to the critical role mentors play, to encourage more individuals to mentor, and to celebrate those who have guided us in our personal and professional careers. In this newsletter edition, NHLI explores the mentoring needs of young Latinas, shares mentoring success stories and ideas for how you can get involved.
According to MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, a mentor is person who provides support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement and constructive examples. When you mentor a young Latina, you can:
- encourage her to stay motivated and focused on education;
- provide a positive way for her to spend free time;
- help her face daily challenges and cultural issues;
- advise her on career and life options; and
- help her gain skills and knowledge.
Mentors can play a critical role in redefining the future of our young Latinas. In recent years, trends among Latina youth are alarming — a mere 47% of Latinas graduate from high school. Among those Latinas who do go on to higher education, only 15% finish their bachelor’s degree. Statistics also indicate other troubling issues in our communities. The attempted suicide rate of young Latinas is 150% higher than any other group of girls. In 2008, an estimated two million young Latinas in the U.S. attempted suicide. Latinas also have the highest teenage pregnancy rate of any group: 1 out of 4 Latinas under the age of 20 becomes pregnant.
Mentoring is an effective intervention and leadership development tool for young Latinas. Mentoring and personal transformation are critical cornerstones of NHLI’s training model, and what differentiates it from other leadership programs.
NHLI’s requirement that all participants in its leadership development programs mentor other Latinas has produced telling results. According to NHLI’s Impact Study: Transforming Latina Leaders and Communities, 52% of the Executive Leadership Program (ELP) alumnae indicate mentoring six or more Latinas. As of 2007, at least 5,086 Latinas have received direct mentoring from NHLI alumnae; and 57% of ELP alumnae, regardless of position, continue to seek mentors, further demonstrating a need for mentoring among Latinas from all age groups and all levels of professional success.
The majority of NHLI’s Latinas Learning to Lead (LLL) participants, college students between 17-22, come to the program seeking mentoring — and following graduation they leave inspired to mentor others. For example, Christal Dimas, a 2009 LLL graduate, is organizing a mentoring program for elementary school girls in her Gainesville, Georgia community.
In January during National Mentoring Month, remember the young Latinas in your community who can benefit from your skills and knowledge. Young Latinas are the nation’s future workforce that will increase the size of our markets, support social security, and revitalize our communities, but we need to improve the educational and economic outcomes of the Hispanic community to ensure progress.
NHLI hopes you will make a commitment to mentor today’s young Latinas to reach their goals and meet the challenges that lay ahead.
To read more about alumnae mentorship experiences and mentoring tools and tips, click here.
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