Empowerment II Mentorship Program
Program Overview
The new project aims to provide key protective supports to help mentees reduce their likelihood of delinquency and substance/opioid misuse and to promote their ability to thrive. The Leadership Foundations (LF)Mentoring Network will provide a 36-month, $4 million program to support quality mentoring relationships by training 1,000 caring adults to become mentors matched with 3,000 youth through one-on-one and group matches.
The program objectives for youth include decreasing risk factors for substance abuse and increasing protective factors and resilience through mentoring and connecting youth and their families to resources such as health and social services, prosocial community activities, and neighborhood resources, including mental health and law enforcement agencies. The Jacksonville First Coast Leadership Ministries, a participating Local Leadership Foundations, will integrate the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s Operation Prevention curriculum in their training and programming.
Who We Are – The Jacksonville First Coast Leadership Ministries
The Jacksonville First Coast Leadership Ministries’ vision is to change our streets from battlegrounds to playgrounds (Zech. 8:4-5). Our mission is to transform lives and transform communities by connecting leaders of good will and good faith. Our guiding principles is the serving leadership model. This consists of purpose, upend the pyramid, raise the bar, blaze the trail and build on strength are the five powerful actions to transform your team, business, and community found in the book “The Serving Leader” author Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert. Our innovative and strategic core values are built upon the wheel of change model that is three interconnected functions of first engaging leaders of Good Faith and Good will with our membership and civic engagement program initiatives. Next, building the capacity of others with our holistic wrap around community development program initiatives. Finally, development of joint initiatives such as S.T.E.A.M. and Empowerment 2 Mentorship year-round programs for youth and adults.
Our Empowering 2 Mentorship community service partners are: Team Nitro MMA for social and emotional mentoring through Martial Arts, Nspire Learning Academy for academic and learning, Nerdy Enterprise will provide Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Hands and Feet Foundation that provides referral services for substance abuse and mentoring for incarcerated youth and adult
Who is The Leadership Foundation?
LF is an international nonprofit organization that supports and equips local leaders to work for the spiritual and social renewal of their cities and communities. Founded in 1978, LF has 38 affiliate members or Local Leadership Foundations (LLFs), serving and impacting more than 350,000 individuals globally. Each LLF works to transform its city by engaging leaders of good faith and good will, building the capacity of others, and developing joint initiatives to address their city’s most pressing needs.
Our Traction
While LLFs engage these needs in a variety of ways in cities across the world, a common focus is positive youth development. In 2008, LF formed a U.S.-based Mentoring Network to build the capacity of LLF mentoring programs and improve youth outcomes. This network provides and supports group, peer, and one-on-one mentoring matches through 29 LLFs in 20 states, including: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.
On its previous OJJDP grant, the LF Mentoring Network reported a number of promising outcomes with the youth they serve, including:
- 99% of mentees have not offended or re-offended
- 49% of mentees reported improved parent-child relationship
- 64% of mentees demonstrated an increase in school attendance
- 86% of mentees demonstrated an increase in social connectedness and support
- 95% mentor retention rate
To learn more about the local mentoring initiative, please contact us at mentordirector@tfclf.org or call 904-329-1372.
