Contact:
Meredith O'Malley Johnson, public communications officer, (904) 322-9233 (c)
City of Jacksonville mjohnson@coj.net
Jerri Franz, vice president of marketing and communications, (904) 390-3242 (o)
United Way of Northeast Florida (904) 610-1440 (c)
Connie Hodges, president, United Way of Northeast Florida (904) 390-3218 (o)
mayor's mentors
celebrates national mentoring month
JACKSONVILLE, FL, Jan. 18, 2012 – Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown and his Mayor Mentor's initiative will be celebrating National Mentoring Month in January by ramping up efforts to recruit mentors. Mayor's Mentors Rallies will be held at local businesses to recruit mentors and public service announcements will be airing on TV and radio.
Since the Dec. 7, 2012 kickoff luncheon, 524 volunteers have signed up to be Mayor's Mentors. Of those, 376 have been placed with one of the five in-school mentoring partner organizations for training and pairing with mentees. Mayor Brown set an initial goal of 500 new school-based mentors in place by April 1. This goal will be expanded as more organizations are trained and brought under the umbrella of Mayor's Mentors, as there are thousands of students in Jacksonville that would benefit from mentorship.
Mayor Brown recorded Mayor's Mentors public service announcements to air starting in January. The public service announcements are being played on WJCT, Renda Broadcasting, Clear Channel and Cox radio stations and First Coast News, CBS47/FOX30 Action News and WJXT Channel 4 television stations.
Mayor's Mentors Rallies will be scheduled in January for Brightway Insurance, VyStar, JEA, the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Wells Fargo, EverBank, Duval Teachers United Retired Teachers, the Jacksonville Giants, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, UPS, NorthgateArinso, St. Vincent's Healthcare, CitiGroup, Gateway Community Services, Everest University, McCall's Service, the Jacksonville Alliance of Black School Educators, the Duval County Health Department and the Greater Harvest Christian Fellowship of Jacksonville.
"Mentoring only takes one hour a week and the reward is helping a child reach their full potential," said Mayor Brown. "In honor of National Mentoring Month, I encourage businesses to host a Mayor's Mentors Rally and citizens to sign up to help give a child a brighter future."
Mayor's Mentors is a public-private partnership to train and place 500 new school-based mentors with Duval County Public School students by April 1 at no cost to taxpayers. The mayor's goal is to recruit, train and match mentors with Duval County Public School students to increase on-time, next grade promotion and graduation rates. For more information on becoming a Mayor's Mentor, the public may call United Way's 2-1-1 or visit www.nefl211.org.
###
January is National Mentoring Month! Sign up to be a Mayor's Mentor today by visiting the website www.nefl211.org or calling United Way's 2-1-1.
