Dear Potential Mentor or Motivator of Students,

The Black Star Project has 100 Chicago area schools with students who are waiting for classroom mentors and motivators. We need 1,000 mentors and motivators for these students and schools.

Many of these students need heroes and role models like you. Many of them have never seen or talked to people like you. The students don't want athletes, entertainers or musicians as mentors and role models, they want you. You can teach them how to take advantage of life's opportunities. In a real sense, their success or failure is in our hands.

We need you at least one time per year for two hours to motivate students to do well in school, to mentor students to have good work ethics, and to model for students how to succeed in life in our new global society. (Or you may motivate several times a month if you wish.)

The name of this campaign is "One Thousand Mentors; One Hundred Schools!" If you need it, we will train you to be successful mentoring our children. You personally can make a big difference in the lives of hundreds of youth this school year.

One hundred schools are expecting men and women of all races to mentor and motivate their students this school year. Forty schools from the west side of Chicago and the western suburbs are in the program this year. We need you to:

--Become a Black Star Mentor/Motivator
--Recruit 10 additional people into the program with you
--Encourage your business to become a partner in the mentoring of children with a corporate investment (contribution) in their future workforce
--Share this information with fellow employees at your government agency or not-for-profit organization
--Ask your pastor or faith-based leader to encourage members of your congregation to mentor our youth through this program

ComEd is principle sponsor for the 4th consecutive year for the Black Star Project's Student Motivation Program. Cheryl Hyman, Illinois Congressional and Community Development Liaison of ComEd, is our new Board Chairman for the Student Motivation Program's Advisory Board of Directors. Please see below to join us, call us at 312/842-3527 or email us at blackstar1000@ameritech.net for more information about this opportunity to help students succeed in life.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Black Star Project’s Student Motivation Program is the largest of its kind in the United States. Since 1996, we have provided volunteer speakers who have motivated more than 85,000 students in over 175 schools. These speakers, from different educational and career backgrounds, share their life and work experiences with students. Our motivators:

• Inspire and motivate students to do well in school
• Expose students towards college and career options
• Encourage students towards healthy and positive livestyles
• Help students to make good decisions and to create viable life plans

Student motivation via classroom mentoring adds substantial value in the development of upper grade and high school students. When students see examples of what they can become, they are more likely to take school seriously, to do well in school academically and to graduate from elementary and high school with college aspirations. Our motivators also emphasize “soft” employment skills such as punctuality, good attendance, working in teams, accepting supervision, effective workplace communication and other work-readiness skills.

Many students in Chicago schools do not have appropriate mentors or role models and they are not given practical information about jobs, careers and life early enough to make good use of that information. The Black Star Project’s Student Motivation Program seeks to increase the level of encouragement, engagement, inspiration and motivation for 6th- through 12th-grade students by providing informative and interesting outside speakers to classrooms at these grade levels.

Students in the program participate in presentations given by speakers from many career fields and backgrounds, with the goal of encouraging higher academic achievement, stronger motivation to attend and complete college, an awareness of viable career opportunities, and the promotion of healthy and positive life choices.

Schools are offered up to four motivational presentations per year with three to six motivational speakers per school per session. The motivational speakers are recruited, screened, trained, oriented and managed by The Black Star Project. We have also created, and use, a Student Motivation Training Manual with our motivators. Currently, there are about 260 motivators volunteering in the project. To enhance this program, our motivators are able to set up field trips for students to their places of work or business, as an enhancement of this program.

The programs of the Black Star Project are in about 90 Chicago area schools during the 2004-2005 school year. During the month of May 2005, The Black Star Project provided career mentors and motivational speakers to more than 8,000 students in 40 schools. For the last four years, ComEd has been the principle sponsor for this program.

Research consistently shows that relationships with caring adults, in addition to one's parents, can help a young person grow up healthy. In a landmark study of 1,000 young people, mostly urban youth ages 10-14, researchers found that students engaged in mentoring were significantly more likely than those without mentors to have developed the attitudes and habits that can help ensure success. Compared to the other group, the children with mentors:

• Were 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
• Were 27% less likely to begin using alcohol
• Were 53% less likely to skip school
• Were 33% less likely to engage in school violence
• Had improved school attendance and performance and better attitudes toward completing school work
• Had improved peer and family relationships


Grossman, Jean Baldwin, ed. Contemporary Issues in Mentoring.
Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 1999