Mentors set young people on path to success

Central New Mexico program matches professionals with disadvantaged youth

We’re almost through the first month of the New Year. It started with news of several major businesses shutting their doors in Albuquerque. Then more news about the ongoing struggles of our education system: Low student test scores, low performance ratings for Albuquerque Public Schools, thousands of third graders who can’t read well and debates on how to fix it all.

Are we on track for another year of the same old, same old? Or will 2017 be the year that we start making significant positive change as a city?

I believe that we can do the latter — make positive change to help our children and our economy. Both are tightly intertwined.

When the economy struggles, our families struggle and our kids suffer. They suffer from not having enough food and not receiving quality education. And rates of abuse increase.

When we’re on an economic upswing, rates of child hunger, low education performance and child abuse tend to be better.

So what can we, as members of the business and professional communities, do differently this year to start a tide of positive change to help our kids and our economy? It may sound simple, but I have a suggestion that will put us on the path to a brighter future. It’s mentoring. If it takes a village to raise a child, I believe that it takes the business leaders of that village to help a disadvantaged child see the way out of poverty. I know, because I’ve been there.

Growing up, my family was so poor that we received block cheese and powdered milk from the commodities assistance program.

Fortunately, I had loving parents who set a good example about working hard and never giving up. I carry that with me, and it motivated me to earn my degree and become an attorney. Not all New Mexico children are as fortunate. Thousands live in abject poverty, and many don’t have the benefit of supportive parents. Some are from single-parent homes where that sole guardian is working three jobs. Or no jobs. The mere idea of finishing high school is a stretch. The thought of college is downright absurd.

That’s why they need a mentor: Just one trusted adult who takes time to encourage them, help them set goals and access the resources available to achieve those goals. They need us – professionals who recognize that helping a child on the path to success is a reward for that child, and for our city’s future.

We won’t be around forever. Younger generations of business leaders will take our place. They need the tools, guidance and confidence to take what we have built and help it grow even stronger.

I’ve mentored young people and adults in Albuquerque for many years, through the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association, the State Bar “Bridge the Gap” program and on my own. I’m also an official mentor in the Mentor 2.0 program for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central New Mexico.

I’ve always supported that organization’s work to help disadvantaged children succeed, but my schedule didn’t allow me to be a mentor in their traditional program. When Mentor 2.0 started, it was the perfect fit.

Mentor 2.0 matches busy professionals like me (and you) with a high school freshman. It is academic-focused, and BBBS-CNM provides a structured online program to help you guide your student through high school and prepare them for college or the workforce.

You email your mentee once a week and meet with them in person every month at an official BBBS-CNM event. Those few hours per month are life-changing for the student, and for the mentor.

It is such an easy way to make a huge difference to a child, and to our city’s future. I encourage all professionals in Albuquerque to become a mentor, and spend a few hours each month changing the course of a child’s life.

We will all be better for it.