FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mark Zanni

                                                                                                   P: (502) 292-6140

C: (502) 553-6770
Mark.Zanni@Metrounitedway.org

Metro United Way Launches Mentoring Website

Clark County Mentoring Collaborative Effort

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 17, 2009) - A new website, focused on expanding mentoring efforts throughout Clark County, has been developed by Metro United Way and other organizations that are members of the Clark County Mentoring Collaborative.

The  Clark County Mentoring Collaborative is a joint effort formed between Communities in Schools of Clark County; 3,2,1 Read; Clarksville Community Schools Mentoring; A.S.S.I.S.T. Mentoring Program; Moving On Up Fifth Grade Mentoring Program, One Southern Indiana, and Metro United Way.

The organization is working to provide practical and quality mentoring programs for students. 

The website provides a quick and easy way for community members to find volunteer mentoring opportunities in the Southern Indiana area.  Once on the website, potential volunteers can select the community they would like to participate in, the grade level they would like to work with (elementary, middle, or high school) and when they would like to participate (during or outside of school hours). 

Next, a display screen shows information on the mentoring opportunities that meet the search criteria.  Visitors no longer have to search each mentoring site separately; the collaborative has simplified the search process by combining many area-wide opportunities into one easy-to-use tool.

According to Cathy Graninger, Executive Director of Communities in Schools, “The Clark Mentoring Collaborative strives to match caring adults with every child in need of a mentor, but we need the appropriate program for the preferences of the volunteer.  By combining our efforts and listing all the available programs, the volunteer is able to make the choice as we have programs from first grade through high school.  Mentoring is a great way to change the community one student at a time.”

Tonya Fischer, Director of Community Development & Government Relations says “One Southern Indiana is excited to be serving on the Clark County Mentoring Collaborative.  All too often the business community struggles to find skilled workers to perform the most basic tasks.  Mentoring is the perfect opportunity for the business community to give back to today’s young people by helping them understand how important they are to the future of this area.  This new Mentoring Website is the ideal way to match up those business people to the youth that so desperately need them”.

By combining their efforts, the Collaborative hopes to increase the number of young people with mentors in Clark County, share best practices in mentoring programs, and mobilize the local community to support and engage in mentoring.  Ultimately, the community will benefit from mentored students who are prepared for their transition into adulthood.

To visit the website and learn more about mentoring in Clark County, visit www.metrounitedway.net/mentoring.

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Metro United Way’s mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community. For over 90 years, Metro United Way has worked diligently to create the most vital, caring community in the nation, while at the same time respecting the diversity that makes our community unique. When you invest in your community through Metro United Way, you help to advance the common good by focusing on education, income and health. These are the building blocks for a good life—a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health.  With our agencies and partners, we help provide vital services to individuals and families and connect people to needed services through 2-1-1. We also prepare our youngest children to enter school ready to succeed with initiatives like Success By 6 and the Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow, which simultaneously coaches students’ parents in the principles of fiscal responsibility. Metro United Way serves a seven-county area that includes Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby and Bullitt counties in Kentucky, and Floyd, Harrison and Clark counties in Indiana.