Celebrating National Mentoring Month and Our SFUSD Mentors

Mentors and mentees at Visitacion Valley Middle School

January is National Mentoring Month and we appreciate the mentors who are supporting about 400 SFUSD students. This year, mentors have already logged nearly 1,000 hours of service. SFUSD’s school-based mentoring program, Mentoring for Success, pairs students with highly qualified and efficient adult mentors that serve as positive role models who motivate students to be their best. The program is set on a foundation of building racial equity through anti-racist practices. Mentoring is a research-validated practice that leads to school success, regular attendance, and pro-social behavior.

Mentoring for Success is coordinated by School Social Workers in SFUSD and any SFUSD employee is welcome to apply. Community members also serve as mentors to students through a partnership with the San Francisco Education Fund. Healthy Choices AmeriCorps members also help support coordination of the program and mentor students themselves.

Mentors receive an orientation at the beginning of each school year and meet up with their student on campus for about an hour a week (at lunchtime or during an after school program) to participate in asset-building activities, such as social-emotional learning or STEM activities.

A mentor and student at Jose Ortega Elementary School garden together

There are many benefits for students who have a mentor, including an increase in having a sense of school belonging, decreasing unexcused absences, and having an adult at school who cares for them and can advocate for them.

Mentors from SFUSD will be honored at a special event on January 19 at the San Francisco Education Fund. You can learn more about Mentoring for Success and how to become a mentor on our website.

Thank you to all of our mentors in SFUSD!