Mentor Program for L.A. Youth

Our city, Los Angeles, in 1992, will be remembered for the riots. This newspaper and others across America have looked for the reasons why, and also for the answers. Meanwhile, our schools continue in 1993 to be the center of gangs and violence; instead of places of safety, they have become a place for fear.

For almost 15 years in Los Angeles, our organization, the Fulfillment Fund, has been putting students together with mentors in the community to work together at keeping that student off the street and in the school. The idea behind the program is simple. Bright men and women lead gangs and participate in gangs for the acceptance and challenge they don’t find elsewhere.

What would happen if you took these same kids, the future leaders of gangs, and channeled that energy and interest toward medical school, law school, politics, or business? Our organization trains 240 long-term volunteers from all parts of Los Angeles each year and matches them on a one-to-one basis with disadvantaged but promising eighth-graders. We then support this relationship over a five-year period with quarterly seminars and meetings where the mentors can share their frustrations and triumphs with each other.

From our students, we have seen dramatically improved attendance records and school involvement. A large percentage of our students go on to institutions of higher learning across the country.

Currently, the Fulfillment Fund is the fastest growing mentor program in California and is the largest private donor of scholarships and monetary awards to both students and educators within the Los Angeles Unified School District. We currently serve more than 1,500 students, and this number is growing rapidly.

Our students attend sporting events, concerts and museums with their mentors. They visit college campuses, and we underwrite their SAT tests. We have become, over the years, everything our schools used to include in the price of an education.

We need people who can speak the students’ language, who can understand where they hurt, what buttons they need pushed, who can feel good about bringing change. Though you may never win an award for what you do, if you feel good about saving a life, that is who we are looking for.

ANDREA COCKRUM

Executive Director

Fulfillment Fund

Los Angeles