Mentoring Urban Students & Teens (MUST)
Organization Details
| Name | Mentoring Urban Students & Teens (MUST) |
| URL | https://www.mentoringisamust.org/ |
Organization Description
| Mission statement | M.U.S.T.’s mission is to provide a space for Black males to liberate themselves through mentoring. |
| Service(s) description | Mentoring Urban Students and Teens is a 4-year near-peer mentoring program that serves our mission to provide a space for Black males to liberate themselves through mentoring. We serve underserved Black males in South Seattle High Schools. We train our Mentors and pay them to mentor between one or two underserved Mentees through their high school career. Mentors receive financial, social, and emotional support through their college or career paths. Mentors become a model to the Mentees. It is important that our Mentors are relatable in that they overcome many circumstances that the Mentees may be facing as well. Our mentoring program provides emerging Black male role models to underserved Mentees. Although underserved can be deemed subjective, we are allowing our target population (and their families) to determine if they deem themselves underserved and how that applies to them whether it be academically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and/or physically. |
| Program impact | Mentees join the M.U.S.T. community during the summer leading up to their freshman year in high school. They are paired with relatable, emerging adult Mentors (young Black males ages 18-30) to help guide and inspire them over the course of their high school tenure as they form a vision for their future and discover their authentic path in life. Likewise, Mentors are paired with volunteer Coaches committed to supporting them on their own path by assisting them in the development of their leadership styles and life skills. The Mentor/Mentee relationship is cultivated through weekly breakfast meetings before school as well as bi-weekly weekend outings with their cohort. In addition to creating a space for Mentees, Mentors and Coaches to liberate themselves via their relationships with our mentoring community, M.U.S.T. also provides support in the form of monetary compensation and transportation independence for Mentors, along with food assistance for participants and their families. |
Community programs are organized into categories known as Community School Elements. All community programs associated with Mentoring Urban Students & Teens (MUST) are listed below and each program may be provided at 1 or more schools. You can use the 'Show Details' buttons to learn more about each program.
Racial/Cultural Identity (1 program)
Programs that support strong, positive identity development and understanding of one's culture grounded in the experiences of a student's racial/cultural group, and their own individual experiences as members of particular racial/cultural groups.