On Friday, Oct. 4 all Rhode Island Starbucks locations will host staff from MENTOR Rhode Island and local mentoring programs to spread the word about the importance of youth mentoring. Starbucks is participating to engage and inspire community members to learn more about how easy it is to become a mentor. With over 900 Rhode Island youth on program wait lists, we are seeking to recruit 100 mentors as part of the national 10,000 Connections mentor recruitment campaign (www.mentoring.org/10kConnections).

With one in three young people unable to identify a mentor in their lives, the need for mentors is great. National surveys show at-risk youth with a mentor are 55 percent more likely to enroll in college than at-risk youth who don’t have one and are 78 percent more likely to volunteer in their communities.

A local school-based mentor program’s annual survey also confirms the positive outcomes of mentoring for students including 66 percent of teachers reporting mentees having improved attendance, 91 percent showing improvement in one or more core subjects, and 95 percent reporting that mentees appear more self-confident.

Nationally, Starbucks joined forces with LinkedIn, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR), and organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the YMCA of USA, City Year, and Year Up, to launch a nationwide campaign designed to connect more than 10,000 mentors and mentees across the U.S.