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California’s youth
are facing serious problems that threaten the health and well being of
our community. Four social epidemics have been identified.
Teen pregnancy
Drug and alcohol abuse
Staggering school dropout rate
Gang participation
Creating and retaining successful mentoring relationships in
California has been proven effective for several years. The California
model is leading the way for the entire nation on how to mobilize a
state initiative to improve the quality of life for youth.
Mentoring is proven to be a simple
approach for a range of complex issues.
A recent study conducted by CMF documents the following:
98% of youth matched with mentors stayed in school
98% of youth matched with mentors did not become a teen parent
98% of youth matched with mentors avoided gang participation
85% of youth matched with mentors did not use drugs
Mentoring has also proven to be economically efficient as the most
potent, cost-effective, preventative youth development strategy
available today. CMF research shows the cost benefit of supporting a
child through mentoring far outweighs the benefits of costly social
programs. Below are the facts.
Annual costs to support a youth in social programs:
$30,000 for drug treatment
$40,000 to confine youth at the California Youth Authority
and ONLY $400.00 for youth to be matched with a Mentor Program
Bottom line, the federal government spends over 10 billion a year
on fighting the four social epidemics, making mentoring a highly
leveraged investment, not a cost. |
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