Sunnyvale Leaders Launch Mentoring Initiative

There’s something stirring in Sunnyvale “in a very cool way,” as Captain Doug Moretto of Sunnyvale Public Safety will often remark at Challenge Team meetings.  Community leaders are coming together to steer youth away from drugs and juvenile delinquency through the Sunnyvale Youth Mentoring Initiative. 

Public Safety officers, business leaders and Reach Potential Movement’s Mentoring Coordinator, Angie Garcia-Stonehocker met with two focus groups of Sunnyvale youth this week to hear their thoughts on everything from what they would desire out of their mentoring program to the challenges they face navigating school, pressure from gangs, home life and the most common complaint of being “bored.”  Though many students were unfamiliar with the concept of having a mentor, the idea of having an older person that they can build a friendship with over lunches and various activities energized both the students and adults.

In January 2010, Barack Obama proclaimed the month to be National Mentoring Month. “As tutors, coaches, teachers, volunteers, and friends, mentors commit their time and energy to kids who may otherwise lack a positive, mature influence in their lives. Their impact fulfills critical local needs that often elude public services. Our government can build better schools with more qualified teachers, but a strong role model can motivate students to do their homework.  Mentors are building a brighter future for our Nation by helping our children grow into productive, engaged, and responsible adults.”

Community leaders launched the Sunnyvale Youth Mentoring Initiative on May 26th at the Sunnyvale Challenge Team which draws city, education, business, nonprofit and faith leaders at the Department of Public Safety from 7 to 8am the last Wednesday of the month.  Dr. Ben Picard, Sunnyvale School District’s Superintendent encouraged everyone at the end of the Challenge Team meeting that the group of forty leaders were “really starting to gel as a team.”  The Sunnyvale Youth Mentoring Initiative is being coordinated by the Challenge Team’s Mentoring Advisory Group and Reach Potential Movement.  “Our team effort has been a model of collaboration,” said Rob Schulze, Reach Potential Movement’s Coordinator.  “We have a motto that our team has no bench, everyone plays!”

If you would like to be a part of the Sunnyvale Youth Mentoring Initiative by helping plan group outings for youth and their mentors, gather business sponsors or be a mentor yourself, please contact Reach Potential Movement.  Click here to learn more about being a mentor and to download an application.

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