Mentoring Children of Promise
By Linda Easterlin
It’s Monday night and George Dent is checking homework in a room at the Dominion and Power Ministries church in Harvey, La., a small suburb of New Orleans. The school season has just begun and Dent wants the boys at his table to get a good start. Each of the youths is busily working his pencil while waiting for pizza—not unlike the millions of other school-aged children across the country. The difference is that each of the boys sitting with Dent has a father or mother in prison.
For three years, Dent and other mentors have spent every Monday night, and other times as well, shepherding children in Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans’s Mentoring Children of Promise program. In the past, many initiatives have overlooked families as co-producers, ensuring better futures for the children. But Mentoring Children of Promise uses a two-generation approach with an emphasis on families, making it possible to create sustainable and positive outcomes. Mentors like Dent help to ensure those outcomes.
In conjunction with the invaluable mentoring Dent and his colleagues perform, the program also offers a unique listing of critical services through its multi-faceted, family strengthening approach. Family visits and referrals to ensure each individual’s needs are met; children are given digital cameras to journal their daily lives and share those priceless moments with their incarcerated parent; parenting education trainings are provided through Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans’ Family Resource Center, partner agencies and churches. Volunteers of America understands that by educating individuals while still incarcerated helps them to appreciate, improve and embrace their role as a parent and family provider, resulting in a positive reentry experience and reducing the rate of recidivism.
Against All Odds
As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, many Volunteers of America properties and programs were lost to the torrential rains and floods, leaving residents, participants and staff members scattered in nearby regions. The devastation created was so completely overwhelming that the Mentoring Children of Promise program seemed to have been lost forever in the wake of Katrina’s wrath. Catastrophes like Katrina hit the economically disadvantaged and vulnerable harder than most. The stress levels of these families reached extreme highs while their feeling of hope for the future often dropped to all-time lows. The Mentoring Children of Promise staff immediately went into to action to get the program up and running. They understood the impact the hurricane would have on their participants. After weeks of beating on doors and announcing their return, it wasn’t long before the stellar program was receiving community support and providing services to their families once again.
“We were able to reenergize [the Mentoring Children of Promise program] as soon as possible after the storm with the help of many partnering churches who were and still are essential,” said Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans President and CEO Jim LeBlanc. “Because so many community resources were destroyed, reaching out to children with incarcerated parents became even more important. Our program’s children and caregivers rely on us to help them cope and work through the many issues that come to light when a parent becomes incarcerated.”
Not only does Volunteers of America understand the trauma of loss these children experience, but also the range of economic and social challenges that result from incarceration. Volunteers of America makes a commitment to stay with these families for the long-term, hoping to help them conquer the barriers so often associated with those affected by incarceration. This is the key to the program’s success.
Mentoring Children of Promise has continued to blossom with support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Louisiana State Corrections Department, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the invaluable generosity of the program’s committed donors. The initiative now serves more than 350 youths, ages 4 to 18. Much of Mentoring Children of Promise’s success can be directly linked to its partnerships and support network. Currently, a dozen churches and four community organizations serve as mentor sites. In these special places of healing, volunteer mentors and mentees meet together to overcome the stigma, heartbreak and trauma that so often surrounds the incarceration of a parent.
The program is led by the professional and compassionate Volunteers of America staff—and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. This year the program was awarded a Volunteers of America/Annie E. Casey Foundation Family Strengthening award. This award confirms the commitment made by both organizations to work toward improving the outcomes for children by helping families succeed economically and interpersonally and connecting to natural support systems in their community.
Also to the program’s credit, in December 2008, the HHS’s Administration for Children and Families recognized the program for making history with matching one caring mentor with one child for the 100,000th match in the government’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners initiative.
Volunteers of America’s commitment to these children and families is reflected in the words of National President Charles W. Gould when he said, “We are dedicated to comprehensively supporting families as they overcome barriers, break the cycle of poverty and achieve long-term success. By strengthening families, we are strengthening the prospects of success for the next generation.”
One of the Boys
Dent believes the best things he offers his mentees are his presence and his story. Sharing these things is simple and powerful.
“I was a kid without a father,” said Dent. “I was mentored by an uncle and his son-in-law. Later, when I grew up, I was fortunate enough to be mentored by men I worked with.” Dent married young and began working for Jefferson Parish, the suburban area where he lives. “I started on the sanitation truck. I was on the back of the truck. Then, a supervisor took an interest in me. I earned my GED. I was soon driving the truck. Then I became a supervisor, then I moved even higher to manage a lot of people. I was lucky to have had a great 40-year career and a good family. I was able to rise because someone saw something in me. I see something in these kids.”
One of three boys Dent mentors is Santana Hudson. Hudson, a fifthgrader with a shy smile whose favorite subject is math, says he knows his mentor’s life history well. Hudson’s siblings also are part of the program and he doesn’t hesitate to name his favorite mentoring activity. “It’s going to New Orleans Hornets games,” he said, identifying Chris Paul as his favorite player.
It’s easy to see why Dent is committed to the mentees at Dominion and Power Ministries. With their laughter, good manners, attention and energy, these children are as full of promise as their leaders could hope. While mentors do many one-on-one activities with the children, regular get-togethers at the mentoring sites provide the structure and family feeling the children crave. Year-round, the groups meet to play ball, applaud accomplishments, have picnics and go on outings to movies and athletic events. On the outside, it may appear the focus is on fun, but the mentors know that this is really an integral part of the healing and support these children so desperately need. And, in turn, the caregiver gets a well-deserved break from the overwhelming responsibility of caring for the incarcerated parent’s child.
Barbara Williams, who as site coordinator organizes the Monday gatherings at Dominion and Power Ministries, was motivated to volunteer as part of her activism in the church. Like other congregations, Dominion and Power was an early, active supporter of Mentoring Children of Promise as part of its mission to promote social justice. “Once you get to know these kids, you are certain they can achieve [great things],” Williams said. “We have a teen here with a 4.0 grade average. Some of our kids have been through a lot; their parents have real problems and continue to have a lot to deal with, but there’s no reason they can’t do well. It’s our job to encourage them and keep them on the right path.”
The success of the program is also driven by the mentors’ ability to align themselves with the children, and the children’s engagement with the program services and activities. Mentoring Children of Promise Program Coordinator Sherlyn Hughes confirmed that the achievements of the program greatly depend on the youngsters desire to keep coming back. The benefits of the program are well known in the community, as Hughes often gets calls from parents asking if their children can participate. She has to tell them that the program is designed only for children who meet the criteria and having an incarcerated parent is part of that criteria.
One Child, One Commitment
Louisiana has one of the country’s highest rates of incarceration, with one in every 55 persons behind bars, according to research done by the Pew Center. When parolees are added to 23 the mix, the number rises to one in 26. There are thousands of children who have an imprisoned parent in the New Orleans area and each experiences common vulnerabilities and disruptions. “Every child has his or her own unique story,” said Hughes, “and Mentoring Children of Promise recognizes that although there are losses common to every child with an incarcerated parent, each child must be viewed as a unique person with his or her own potential.”
Training mentors and caregivers helps to fortify the family strengthening focus behind the program. Volunteers of America teaches mentors—who agree to spend at least two hours a week with their mentees—how to connect with children facing challenges associated with incarceration of a parent. Social workers educate and guide mentors and caregivers to understand and address the many issues their children may face surrounding substance abuse, peer pressure and sex to name a few.
Hughes joined the Mentoring Children of Promise staff after Hurricane Katrina. She explained that her goal for training volunteers helps them understand what a mentor is and, more importantly, what a mentor is not. “Mentors are not substitute parents,” Hughes said. “They are not there to judge. They are positive role models. If they have to admonish the kids, they must do so with love. With our mentors, we are trying to build that village it takes to raise healthy kids.”
The training behind the program is focused on addressing the issues surrounding the family dynamic between the child, the caregiver and the incarcerated parent. It is important for staff members to always be aware that by providing for the needs of each of these individuals, the family strengthens itself from the inside out. Each child is carefully matched with a mentor based on his or her age, gender and specific needs. An open line of communication between all involved keeps the program on track and moving forward to helping these families create positive change. While many mentors like Dent work with more than one child and family, they must agree to give each the individual attention they need relevant to their unique situation.
It’s a Calling
Mentoring programs are as varied as the organizations that sponsor them, but those who make the heroic commitment to become mentors are a unique breed. Dent became a mentor when he retired, and his wife has also been involved in Mentoring Children of Promise. He always encourages others to join. “You see so many kids not finishing school, going to jail, doing dope,” said Dent. “How can you not help?” Dent tells people that becoming a mentor is not as time- and energy-consuming as many think. He devotes three hours a week to his mentees. “You make time for the things you want to do. This is one of those things,” Dent said.
Children are referred to Mentoring Children of Promise through a variety of sources, including staff visits to local jails and prisons. Hughes has sought out children with incarcerated parents who may be overlooked. She has visited Orleans Parish Prison and, with the rising number of women behind bars, she makes a point of visiting a state prison for females in St. Gabriel, La. “It’s usually the fathers who are in jail, but more and more you see kids with imprisoned mothers,” Hughes said. “When we went to talk with women inmates about the program, most all who had kids wanted them to take part [in the program] and were eager to give us their contact information.”
The rising number of incarcerated mothers has been seen in other states as well. Many of these women have been placed behind bars due to tougher legislation passed for sentencing individuals involved in what were once considered smaller crimes.
Ironically, many of these incarcerated mothers only broke the law to provide for their families; and now they find themselves unable to care for them at all. This is where Mentoring Children of Promise can have the most impact by providing a link between the parent, caregiver and incarcerated parent.
“Volunteers of America has been in New Orleans for more than 100 years,” said LeBlanc. “One of our first actions in the late 1800s was to aid destitute widows and orphans, who faced extreme challenges. In today’s New Orleans, children with a parent in prison are one of the great at-risk groups. Our organization’s mission is to serve at-risk youth and children, families, seniors and persons with disabilities, so this is one of the most critical programs we offer.”
