If you light a lamp for someone it will also brighten your own path.
What Does it Mean to be a Partakers Mentor?
We hear from our Mentors every day about the extraordinary impact being a Partakers’ Mentor has had on their lives. Most people who learn of our work focus, and rightly so, on the transformative nature of our work for our students’ lives. There is however an equally powerful transformation that occurs for our Mentors- people who give of their time and their hearts to show our students that someone cares, someone believes in them and someone is there for them at every turn in their journey-be it inside or when they return home.
Our mentors amaze us and they are our heart and soul. For many of our volunteer mentors, they may have never before met someone who has been impacted by the carceral system prior to joining Partakers. The experience changes their perspective and their lives profoundly as they forge lasting bonds with the students they support, guide and celebrate.
Knowing that I have these women in my life who I thought were going to look down on me because of society has changed my life in so many different ways. Please,if you have it in your heart, be a Partaker for someone, it is the best thing that you could ever do."
~Partakers College Behind Bars and PEP Graduate
What Does it Take to Be a Partakers Mentor?
Simple-Share Your Heart.
Partakers has two distinct Mentor Opportunities:
Our College Behind Bars Program and our Reentry program, The Partakers Empowerment Program (PEP)
As a Mentor in our College Behind Bars Program you will be part of a small team of mentors. Together you will support, visit, guide and correspond with a student inside who is pursuing an academic degree or educational programming.
As a Mentor in our Reentry Program (PEP) you will join a 12 session weekly remote cohort. PEP Mentors are a support system of friendship, guidance, encouragement, care and counsel for their mentees as they navigate the difficult path of returning home.
Our Mentors are the center of Partakers’ success. The best mentors are those who are thoughtful, patient, supportive, and understanding. We welcome mentors from all organizations, faith-based groups, corporations and businesses, colleges and universities, and individuals who simply want to make a difference in a student’s life.
As a dear friend of Partakers has said of our work:
“One of the things that Partakers does best is to show that we are capable of humanity.”
“…a humbling and rewarding experience…”
There isn't a person alive that doesn't need somebody to say you are worth my time and I am going to do the best I can because you are going out of your way for me.
~Partakers Graduate
My mentors are essential to my being. They have mentored me for over 5 years...they have become my family.”
~Partakers Student