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Welcome Statement

 

Welcome to our new website for the Work Appreciation for Youth Mentor Program.   We called the program “WAY”

 

We are a small neighborhood-based program for children, youth and young adults living in Visitacion Valley, a small isolated neighborhood in the southeast corner of San Francisco.  Visitacion Valley is the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the City comprised primarily of Asian-Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Pacific Islanders and others.  It is considered a violent neighborhood, but what most forget about the community is that it is also comprised of many law-abiding citizen who work, own homes, businesses and who do not engage in violence.  Their children are more likely to be the victims of or witnesses to violence in the community.  While there are city services for children and youth, there are too few programs that help children realize they can control their future with proper planning and guidance.

 

WAY began in 2008, when two teenagers decided they no longer wanted to be involved in neighborhood violence and approached LeAndrew Jenkins (one of our founders) asking for help to straighten out their lives so they no longer had to be involved in criminal activities.   LeAndrew helped these young men to return to school, complete their education and guided them through a job search resulting in gainful employment, which they retain to this day.

 

In 2009, LeAndrew and Ruth Jackson traveled to New York City to visit the Children’s Village to learn more about the organization and its work with at-risk youth.  At Children’s Village, they received training in mentoring a population  similar to Visitacion Valley successfully.  LeAndrew and Ruth spent three days with Children’s Village staff learning about the WAY program and how to implement it in Visitacion Valley.  Over the years the mentoring program grew to serve over 150 young people, as well as our core volunteers, who also mentor the youth.

 

Now we are incorporating the program in an effort to bring more resources to the children and youth to become the future leaders of Visitacion Valley.  Until this year the WAY was funded entirely by Ruth and LeAndrew, along with donations from community members, small business owners and specific donations from the Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth for specific activities such as summer camp, college visits, peer mentoring, and many other services.  Over the next few weeks, this website will evolve to provide links to valuable resources to help in achieving these goals. We look forward to continuing to serve the needs of the Visitacion Valley community in an expanded role.

THE WAY MENTORS

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