Center Will Offer Mentoring Workshop

A workshop to teach the basics of mentoring is scheduled Thursday at the Volunteer Center Assistance League of Southern California.

Presented by One to One, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that provides assistance to mentoring programs, the workshop will describe the commitment mentoring requires as well as ways to develop a one-on-one relationship with at-risk youth, said Joan Kagan, director of the center’s volunteer services.

“A lot of people want to give back to the community but many of them do not know what mentoring entails,” she said. “This is a wonderful and much-needed workshop that will hopefully provide some answers to questions about being a mentor.”

Kagan said mentoring combines academics and friendship in a relationship between an adult and an at-risk youth.

“There are so many young people out there today who don’t have someone they can look up to or caring adults that they can talk to,” Kagan said. “A mentor can develop a good relationship with a young person and give them encouragement and show them things that they may not know about.”

Referrals will be made at the workshop for those interested in becoming mentors, she said. The workshop will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the center, 8134 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 200, Panorama City.

For more information, contact the center at (818) 908-5146 or visit the Web site at www.volunteers.org