The Greene County Board of Supervisors recently proclaimed January as National Mentoring Month.

The goals are to raise awareness of mentoring, recruit individuals to mentor and encourage organizations to engage quality mentoring in their efforts. Greene County Iowa State University Extension offers their Kids With A Connection Mentoring Program to achieve those goals. Director Lori Mannel says coordinator Janice Harbaugh matches a Greene County youth with an adult mentor and they spend time together, which is a critical part of their program.

“What makes it successful is how detailed we are and ensuring a proper match. It is a lot of work, but talk about priceless returns on helping these kids. What I hear is that the mentors really get more back than what they give, because it’s spending time with these kids.”

Research shows that youth who are at risk of not completing high school, but who had a mentor were 55 percent more likely to enroll in college, 81 percent more likely to participate in extracurricular activities and 78 percent more likely to volunteer in other organizations.

For more information on how you can become a mentor or a mentee, call Harbaugh at 386-2138.