Seedling, a nonprofit organization based in Austin, has spent almost 20 years mentoring students to help offset the effects of parental incarceration. In that time, Seedling has provided mentoring for over 3,000 children in over 125 schools in the Austin area.
“[Austin ISD] was seeing the gap in access to support for the children, and so Seedling looked into best practices for what can best help kids who have an incarcerated parent,” CEO Dan Leal said. “It was discovered that mentoring would be the best answer, to provide a school-based mentoring program, where mentors could go into local public schools, starting with Austin ISD, to spend that one lunch hour per week to make a measurable difference in a child's life by pouring into their life with unconditional friendship during the lunch hour.”
Effects of parental incarceration and Seedling’s impact
Students who have one or both parents incarcerated have shown not only emotional impacts, but physical impacts as well. Some of the effects school districts tend to notice in the children are increased attendance issues, depression and anxiety, income stress, increased exposure to drugs and alcohol, increased propensity for a heart disease and increased challenges during adulthood.
To help combat this, Seedling’s mentor program introduces a stable relationship for impacted students. Seedling mentors typically spend an hour a week, usually during lunch time, to connect with their mentee and develop relationships with them.
“Our average mentor has been with Seedling for four years,” Julie Barschow, Chief Development and Communications Officer, said. “It's a really unique mentoring program in that we train and support our mentors with one-on-one support. We have paid mentor directors, and really robust training, orientation and support all through their mentoring journey. This is one thing that really sets Seedling apart from other mentoring organizations and results in things like us having an average match duration of 26 to 30 months.”
Seedling has experienced many success stories through their mentor program, including one such story from former Del Valle ISD student Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was connected with her mentor, Miss Barbara, after experiencing depression following her father being incarcerated. Through the connection they formed, Kaitlyn went on to apply for scholarships, attend The University of Texas and ended up completing her student teaching program at the same school where she started the Seedling program.
“She went from being a Seedling mentee who was isolated and sad at school to later becoming a young adult who is thriving and giving back to public education thanks to her Seedling mentor,” Leal said.
How else you can help
For those who are unable to commit to being a mentor, Seedling always appreciates any kind of monetary support. Despite being a volunteer program, it still costs money to uncover students in need and to recruit, train, and support mentors in their matches.
Specifically, people can sponsor a mentee-mentor relationship for $100 a month. If not that, anything from $10 to $25 a month can add up and help offset the cost of the program, or even dedicate a gift in honor or memory of someone during the holidays here. Seedling recently launched a new group to encourage young professionals to get involved.
“We're trying to start this message of, hey millennials and Gen Zers, let's help usher in the next generation of leaders,” Barschow said. “Now is the time for us to step up. If you can't mentor, you can support a mentoring relationship.”
To learn more about becoming a mentor or how you can support Seedling, visit the website.
The above story was produced by Community Impact's Senior Multi Platform Journalist Sierra Rozen with information solely provided by the local business as part of its "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.
