The ImPact School-Based Mentoring Program (ImPact) is designed to offer school-aged youth a sense of connectedness with a caring adult to provide academic, social-emotional support, and to strengthen resilience in youth. ImPact is a whole-child model designed to work closely with schools to implement strategies and services that integrate critical school, community, and family resources to promote positive behavioral and social outcomes of students.
Approach to Mentoring
One-on-One
In this traditional model, one mentor is matched with one mentee. The mentor/mentee matches are deliberate. ImPact matches a young person and adult together based on certain criteria, such as future career choice and goals. Mentors and mentees never meet alone - there are designated meeting times in which mentors and mentees meet together in a space with several other ImPact volunteers.
Peer-to-Peer
Peer-to-peer mentoring leverages peer power and uses Club members to create caring communities that inspire members to show up. In addition to building on youth's social ecology, this style of mentoring offers the potential for having a dual impact in which mentees benefit from what mentors are offering, while the youth serving in the mentor role also experience.
Group Mentoring (PACT TEAMS)
Youth are grouped into "PACT Teams" based on their career interests then paired with a mentor in their chosen career field. PACT teams meet twice per month in one-hour interactive and engaging sessions to ensure young people are staying on track for high school graduation, participating in Club programs, and progressing toward their identified goals.
Why the ImPact Mentoring Program is Needed
Youth violence is a significant public health problem that affects thousands of young people each day, and in turn, their families, schools, and communities. Law enforcement and public health officials characterize youth violence in terms of an epidemic, pointing out that serious violent crimes are now being committed by younger people and that youth victims of violence are also younger. Youth violence is an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that can have long-term impacts on health and wellbeing, including risk for behavioral and mental health difficulties. It can harm development and contribute to impaired decision-making, learning challenges, decreased connections to peers and adults, and trouble coping with stress.
However, research shows youth thrive with support form a caring mentor who notices them- and their potential. When Boys & Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast pairs young people with mentors, they help kids grow into confident, capable adults.
Youth who participate in mentoring exemplify:
Youth with a mentor are:
Steps to Become a Mentor/Volunteer
Steps for mentees in the ImPact program:
By working closely with school districts, ImPact will focus on five strategies and services:
Collaboration
ImPact will develop and maintain a strong community partnership with the schools and the school district, as well as community organizations, professionals, and families.
Mentoring (Traditional, Peer, Group)
ImPact will pair referred students with mentors in order to improve youth participants' behavioral, social, and academic skills.
Parent Engagement
ImPact will design training to increase parenting knowledge and skills. Classes will include stages of child development, community resources that support families, and understanding cultural differences.
Professional Development
For K-12 teachers and school staff, ImPact will provide professional opportunities focused on developing a school climate that encourages family engagement.
Parent Education
ImPact will offer classes and workshops for parents of youth participants designed to promote the view that school is a resource to the family and to build a foundation for effective communication.
Key Contacts
Billy Barnes
ImPact Mentoring Director
Morgan Bogolin
Senior Director of Operations
BGCGC Administrative Office
P.O. Box, Gulfport, MS 39503
(228) 896-3770
Clubs, Districts, and Schools Served
Gulfport
BGCGC 19th Street Club
3319 19th Street, Gulfport, MS 39501
West Elementary School
4051 15th Street, Gulfport, MS 39501
Gulfport Central Middle School
1310 42nd Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501
Harrison County
BGCGC Forest Heights Club
201 Holly Circle, Gulfport, MS 39503
Harrison County Alternative School
11072 US 49, Gulfport, MS 39503
North Gulfport Middle School
4715 Illinois Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501
Biloxi
BGCGC East Biloxi Club
610 Water Street, Biloxi, MS 39530
Biloxi Upper Elementary
1424 Father Ryan Avenue, Biloxi, MS 39530
Biloxi Junior High School
1921 Tribe Drive, Biloxi, MS 39532
Multidisciplinary team
A Multidisciplinary Team is a group of people bound by a common purpose with shared goals to deliver results to address the need. As part of the ImPact program, a cross-sectional multidisciplinary team composed of leaders in public, private, and non-profit sectors was created to create partnerships, share in decision making, and inform processes.
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The ImPact Multidisciplinary Team members are listed below:
PACT TEAMS Story
PACT Teams are inspired by the story of Drs. Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins, known as the Three Doctors, who made a pact as teenage boys growing up on the tough inner-city streets of Newark: they would stick together, go to college, graduate, and become doctors. Today, all three men are practicing physicians, authors, and have traveled the country telling their story of resilience and accountability.
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Mailing Address
P.O. Box 2804
Gulfport, MS 39505
Program Services Office
11975 Seaway Road, Ste A160
Gulfport, MS 39503
© Boys & Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast is an equal opportunity provider.