Dear Prospective Mentor:
The Morris Academy of Collaborative Studies is a high school located in the South Bronx with a mission of building student leaders who serve their community with character. For the last 7 years, teachers and administrators at the school have identified students showing the potential to benefit from a mentoring relationship and selected these students for our program. In any given year, there are between twenty and thirty students participating in our program. Our goal is to find a mentor for each of these students.

Our program is affiliated with Hope for New York (www.hfny.org), a non-profit organization providing volunteer and financial resources to organizations serving the poor and marginalized of New York City. In short, our goal is to help our mentees develop the skills they need to make good life choices. To do this, our mentors (who are mostly young professionals living and working in New York City) meet with students twice a month during the school year to participate in two to three hour sessions, usually at the high school. About half of our sessions are substantive in nature, where we lead the students in discussions such as preparing for college or picking a career. Our other sessions are more social in nature, like ice skating, bowling or sporting events. These social events are designed to help build long-term one-on-one relationships between mentors and mentees. Above all, the Morris Academy Mentors Program is an experiment. Our volunteer mentors are from all walks of life, from investment bankers, doctors and lawyers to students, actors and comedians. Each one of us has decided to dedicate two Saturdays a month during the school year to come to one of the poorest communities in this country and spend time with the students trying to succeed there. Over time, we hope to help these students not only to prepare for college, but to build skills that will help them excel and ultimately graduate from college and to start a career that fulfills them.

If our program sounds like something you’d be interested in participating in, we’d love to hear from you. If you have questions for us, or if you’d like to set up a time to observe a session, please reach out to us at the email address note below. You can also join us at one of our social events, which take place about once a month. For a list of dates for these social events, please take a look at the calendar section of our website.   Please note that we conduct a very thorough application process for new mentors to join the program in order to facilitate the needs of our mentees in the best way possible.

Thanks for your interest in the program! We are waiting to hear from you at HFNY.morris@gmail.com

Mentor qualifications summary statement:  A highly effective mentor would be passionate in sharing their time and resources with youth and focused on integrity for both themselves and the people they work with.  They would be an active listener who graciously responds with generosity, care and love to people in all communities.

Mentee qualifications summary statement: A responsible mentee demonstrates their commitment to the program in a two-fold way. Firstly, in a practical way by having at least 80% attendance, and communicating consistently and substantively throughout the year. Secondly, by having an open mind and heart, with a hunger to learn; integrity of character; a sense of humor; and a generous heart toward community instruction and correction.