Argus Supports Youthnet Mentoring Programme
The Argus Group is supporting West Pembroke Primary School through YouthNet, a new Business Partnership Initiative of local mentoring. As part of the partnership, volunteers from Argus have been visiting the school on a weekly basis to read to and mentor two classes of P2 students. In addition to time investment, Argus has also made a financial donation to YouthNet to cover the cost of the books used.
YouthNet delivers a school-based literacy and mentoring programme designed to unlock the potential of young people through building positive relationships with adult mentors in a nurturing environment. It currently serves more than 750 students in 25 schools, with the ultimate goal of developing new generations of responsible, educated and contributing members of society.
YouthNet launched its Business Partnership Initiative as an efficient and sustainable means of providing its mentoring services, working in collaboration with companies, non-profits and government agencies, as well as faith-based, sports and other community organisations. The initiative provides a mutually beneficial opportunity for organisations to be strengthened by working together towards a common goal. To make the process of getting involved in this initiative really straightforward, YouthNet provides information and training, coordinates the mentoring schedule and carries out the necessary police checks.
The Argus mentoring team of 16 employees works on rotation, whereby each volunteer commits to reading twice a month at the school, so that students enjoy contact with mentors on a weekly basis.
Clare Mello, Executive Director, YouthNet, says: “We launched the Business Partnership Initiative to recruit more volunteers for the Reading Mentoring Programme. Our goal is to have enough mentors to read in all primary classes [P1-P6] in the four Hamilton primary schools by June 2014. To achieve this YouthNet is seeking to recruit an additional 80 mentors.”
“In addition to the primary benefits that are delivered to students, we have found that businesses get a lot out of the initiative. Through mentoring as a team, people from different departments that might not normally work together can build relationships and cross-company communications are improved as a result. We are grateful to the support of Argus and BTC in launching the Business Partnership Initiative and hope we can inspire more companies to get involved by seeing it in action and working successfully.”
Alison Hill, Chief Executive Officer, the Argus Group, says: “My fellow mentors and I have found the YouthNet partnership to be a very rewarding experience, personally and professionally. By working as a team, we share our commitment to West Pembroke School. Mentoring is widely recognised as a powerful strategy for empowering young people to shape their own world around success by keeping them focused on developing their strengths and new skills. The work that YouthNet does and this partnership provides a vehicle to combine our resources to deliver real results.”
Other companies interested in joining YouthNet’s Business Partnership Initiative can contact Clare Mello on 297-5400 or email: clare.mello@youthnet.bm.
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