Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 28, 1991                   TAG: 9103280442
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MUTUAL GAINS FOR MENTORS AND YOUTH

The Junior League of Roanoke Valley, in a creditable show of leadership, is sponsoring a conference next month on mentoring. Mentoring is a proven method of coupling at-risk youth with adult role models. Business leaders, among others, have been invited to a one-day workshop in Roanoke to learn how to set up mentoring programs.

The conference is billed as a "time to collaborate" for Roanoke Valley schools, businesses, churches and civic organizations. Certainly, the issue couldn't be timelier. If there were any question about why businesses should take an interest in mentoring, information in the brochure accompanying the invitation makes the point clearly.

The 21st century is only 18 school semesters away, it is noted. The work force of the next millennium is in school now. The question is: What sort of labor pool can be expected to emerge from the Class of 2000?

According to Harold Hodgekinson of the American Association of School Administrators:

Twenty-four percent of the class will have grown up in poverty.

One-third will be non-white.

Eighteen percent will have been born out of wedlock.

About half will be living with a single parent.

Two-thirds will have grown up with mothers working outside the home.

Twenty percent of the young women will have been pregnant during their teen years.

More than 15 percent of the class will have physical or mental handicaps.

Eighty-two percent of the new workers will be a combination of female, non-white or immigrant.

Say what you want about such a work force, it clearly won't be like the work force businesses have grown accustomed to in the past.

That's part of the reason - along with concern for the youths themselves - why a mentoring partnership steering committee has been formed, led by the local chambers of commerce, church groups, educators, the Coalition of 100 Black Women and the Office on Youth Employment Training. Now, more business involvement is needed.

Mentoring ultimately benefits both partners. It's one way to foster self-esteem in at-risk youth while bridging the gap between their lives and the adult work world they'll be entering. There are other ways as well.

The point is that there's no time to waste. The Junior League and other organizations involved in the effort are on the right track. Let there be more workshops, more partnerships and bridge-building, more intervention with today's youth to address the risks they're subjected to. The next century's work force is now in third grade.