Mentoring Youth on Journey Out of Poverty
Narrator: (over photographs of Plain Dealer headlines, and pictures that will be provided by Gilmore and Walton)
For the Second time in three years the city of Cleveland was ranked by the United States Census Bureau as the poorest large city in the United States.
It’s a sobering designation, but the real tragedy is what it means to the people who are living in the reality of it?
In some Cleveland neighborhoods 30 to 40 infants are dying for every 1,000 who are born – rates similar to those of Guatemala, Guyana, and Romania.
Nearly one half of the city’s children live in run-down or old housing, putting them at risk for lead poisoning, falls from missing or broken windows an asthma triggers such as cockroaches and rats.
Students are twice as likely to drop out of high school as those in other large cities.
John Begala, executive director of the Federation for Community Planning put the situation into proper perspective when he said, “We’ve got third World numbers for kids...if we don’t intervene now, we’ll lose another generation.”
Dr. Andrew Edwards is an Associate professor of social work at Cleveland State University
Dr. Edwards: (something like) after a few newspaper articles were discussed, our city has proceeded with business as usual. Neither our governor, our city officials, major organizations, nor various interest groups have declared Cleveland’s poverty to be a crisis.”
Narrator: The Reverend Thomas Gilmore is pastor of Fidelity Baptist Church in the Wade Park district of the city and president of the Cleveland Baptist Association’s Minister’s Council.
Rev. Gilmore: Talk about the city’s response to the departure of the Cleveland Browns.
Dr. Edwards: Talk about your view that individual churches are all doing something....but that together we should be demanding to know what the city officials are planning to do about the crisis.
Rev. Gilmore: “Since so few people and groups seemed to consider Cleveland’s poverty a crisis the CBA Minister’s Council began to draft a statement in which we, as clergy, would declare the poverty as a crisis. We plan to hand deliver it to the City and County Officials. (And whatever else you want to say about this.)
Narrator: Martin Rolfs Massaglia is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland:
Rev. Rolfs Massaglia: As we worked on the poverty crisis statement it became clear that we’d be making a much stronger case with city and county officials if we could also point to something tangible that we had begun together as a response to the crisis. The idea of establishing a mentoring program emerged quickly, in part because Cleveland Baptist’s had a successful experience some years ago with such a program.
Narrator: The Reverend Yvonne Carter, Associate Pastor of ? Baptist Church, and on the staff of American Baptist National Ministries was a key leader in the earlier program:
Rev. Carter: Describe briefly the program, some of its strengths, and briefly why it could not be sustained.
Narrator: In addition to the positive history that CBA had with a mentoring program it has strong appeal a response with proven success helping young adults to break out of poverty. Michael Walton, director of the NEO Solutions Network is a mentoring coordinator.
Michael Walton:
Narrator: (Over a power point type illustration of the program’s requirements.)
The program provides the opportunity to
Make a Friend
Change a Life
Become a Mentor
Those who would serve as mentors must be:
To young adults living in poverty the program asks:
Have you ever wished that you had someone to help you with:
And the only requirements for those being mentored are that they are
Why would someone want to become a mentor?
Michael Walton mentor’s two young men.
Michael Walton and/or another mentor:
Narrator: And what about those who are being mentored:
Mentee(s): _____________(first name only) entered the mentoring program? years ago:
Rev. Gilmore: Churches are a fantastic source for recruiting; not only from those who attend church regularly, but also from the extended church family; those whose participation is minimal, and those who are related to or connected to church members.
Rev. Rolfs Massaglia: As pastors we are in a wonderful position to get the word out to potential mentors and mentees. We can use not only the pulpit, but the other communication resources of our churches to quickly reach those who could benefit most from this program.
Michael Walton: Restate the need to take action:
Conclusion:
(Let Michael Walton have the last word)
Over Music project the following quotes
“We’ve got third World numbers for kids...if we don’t intervene now, we’ll lose another generation.”
John Begala,
Executive Director of the
Federation for Community Planning
“We the Clergy of the Cleveland Baptist Association are herby acknowledging the reality of poverty as a crisis in our midst”
CBA Clergy Statement
“We are driven by the spirit to proclaim by word and example the peace, justice, and forgiving love of God.
Perhaps by nothing more or less than our friendship extended to another....we can lead another to discover, “I too am loved by my Father in the Lord Jesus.”
Brennan Manning