National CARES Mentoring Movement

Welcome to the Official Web Site of Minneapolis CARES Mentoring Movement

Minneapolis CARES Mentoring Movement is part of the National Cares Mentoring Movement (NCMM). NCMM's mission is to create a highly visible and effective national mentoring campaign targeting the Black community. The specific goals of the Minneapolis CARES Mentoring Movement are to bring guidance to the lives of youngsters by pairing them with organizations that offer mentoring services and programs and to significantly increase the pool of caring Black mentors.

The Minneapolis CARES Mentoring Movement (MCMM) is a call to action to every able and caring Black adult to help end the crisis in our community by mentoring our young people who are at risk and by recruiting other caring adults to mentor. MCMM does not offer mentoring services; instead, we encourage local leaders to raise awareness of the need and benefits of mentoring, as well as recruit mentors for organizations that provide mentoring and other youth-support services.

We target the needs of Black youngsters, who are greatly overrepresented on long waiting lists for mentors. Unfortunately, Black adult mentors are grossly underrepresented as volunteers for the youngsters in the Black community. MCMM works to fill the pipelines of local organizations with caring Black men and women.

Due to the unfortunate underrepresentation of Black adults who volunteer as mentors for the youth in their communities, Black youth are grossly overrepresented on long waiting lists for mentors. MCMM targets the needs of these youth and works to fill the pipelines of local organizations with caring men and women.

News

Susan Taylor (first row in red), former editor of Essence Magazine and Founder of National CARES Mentoring Movement, recently visited the Twin Cities to work with the Steering Committee (above) of the newest CARES chapter in Minneapolis. Mpls CARES is being established as a separate 501(c) 3 and is being led by staff from Kinship, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, Bolder Options, City of Minneapolis, Mad Dads, Mentoring Partnership of MN, and United Way. It is being funded by grants from local corporations who believe in mentoring and applaud the sharing of resources among mentoring organizations.

This collaboration of mentoring organizations and other key players in the mentoring world has come together to plan and execute eight major mentor recruitment events over the next year. The focus of the group is to invite African American adults in Minneapolis to reach out to African American children waiting on our collective lists. Kinship is pleased to be a part of this team and excited to announce the first event to you, our supporters.
Please save the date - December 10th and join us at the International Market Square at 5:00 p.m. Susan Taylor will again grace our city by flying in for this event and joining in on the activities. While the goal is to recruit African American Adults, all are welcome - especially prospective mentors! Bring a friend! It is sure to be a great evening!

It is said that collaboration is the way of the future. Kinship, Bolder Options, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, MADDADS, United Way, and the City of Minneapolis are proud to collaborate with people who work so diligently to find solutions for vulnerable kids and to move our city forward in friendship and shared concern.