Danielle Herschitz works as a team leader at a Jewish youth and teen organization that participates in charity events and fundraisers. In the following article, Danielle Herschitz discusses the reasons community leaders and mentors are important to charities, with a focus on those charities that benefit teenage demographics.
The youth of today will assuredly be the caretakers of the youth of tomorrow. However, in order to grow with the best chance, leaders should be aware of the impact they have on the future, and the benefits they can achieve for themselves! With these benefits in mind, let’s consider the role of mentors and community leaders in supporting teen charity work.
Mentors and community leaders play a vital role in charities, especially those that benefit teenagers. According to a study done by the BBBS, education, behavior, and overall well-being were all improved in teens who were mentored by community leaders.
In this article, Danielle Herschitz explains more on the benefits both to the teenagers and the community leaders, themselves, in partnering with charity.
Why Community Leaders and Mentors Are Important to Teen-Based Charity
Charity is it’s own reward, as has often been said. However, this is especially true when it comes to those individuals who take responsibility on themselves in the form of leadership, especially leadership in charities for teenagers.
Danielle Herschitz explains that it can be intimidating to work with the cutting edge of the next generation, especially the underprivileged or those who struggle mentally, emotionally, or physically.
To combat the intimidation that comes with the task, Danielle Herschitz prepared a list of the top 3 reasons community leaders and mentors are important to teen charity.
- Educational Benefits
- Behavior Benefits
- Insight and Improved Leadership Skills For Mentors
Ms. Herschitz takes a more in-depth look at each of these reasons in order to understand just how vital community leadership and mentoring is, not just for the benefit of the teenagers in the charity, but for the leaders themselves and the community at large.
Educational Benefits
The education of youth today is intensely important. After all, the presidents, business leaders, engineers, inventors, and overall leaders of tomorrow are embodied in the teenagers of today. Unfortunately, as has been well documented in pop culture and generational experience, education is not often a teen’s most attractive priority.
Danielle Herschitz reports that this is where leadership and mentoring can come in to save the day. According to a study done in the year 1995 by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program, mentored youth experienced a higher rate of good grades than those in the same age range who tackled their educational tasks on their own.
Even school attendance had been notably higher in studies of teens who are mentored during their academic career.
Students who have an adult or a community leader, who is not even involved with their school faculty but exhibits care and concern for their academic performance and cheers them on, are much more likely to prioritize school attendance, too.
Behavior Benefits
Not only can education be improved by the presence and positive influence of a mentor in teen charities, but so can overall behavior.
Being a teenager with many of the budding responsibilities of an adult and all of the conflicting identity crises that are natural while growing up is difficult enough. Danielle Herschitz reports that without a mentor or leader to guide them through these emotional hurdles, it is no wonder behavior can take a hit.
However, another study by the BBBS proved that youth who had mentors avoided the use of substances such as alcohol or drugs significantly more than those in the same age and school grouping. Actually, 6.2% of these youth who had mentors present began use of drugs, which is much fewer than the recorded 11.4% of youth without mentors who did decide to use drugs.
In fact, those who were mentored in this group were less likely to engage in any violent activity than their peers by a huge 32 percent!
Insight and Improved Leadership Skills for Mentors
The benefits are not only on the side of the teens affected by charity. The community leaders and mentors who actively participate are treated to higher levels of self-esteem as they see the effects of their involvement on their mentees.
They are also given a sense of accomplishment, and often, a community of their own in the form of charity networking. Danielle Herschitz says that this support is an excellent benefit, and is added to by the insight a mentor can gain into adolescence, as well as great practice opportunities in disciplines like patience and supervising skills.
In Conclusion
The importance of community leaders and mentors in teenage charities cannot be overstated. Not only do teenagers receive a leg-up on challenges they might face in behaving well or accomplishing school tasks, but leaders benefit, too!
Danielle Herschitz says that the sense of accomplishment and aid to the community that a mentor or community leader gets is irreplicable. Indeed, the future is in the hands of the teenagers that are aided by charity, and this charity would be lost without both mentors and leaders!
