United Way aims to recruit greatest number of volunteers ever to mentor school kids

Can Allegheny County recruit 4,000 new volunteers to help school kids learn to read over the next three years?

Can we afford not to?

“It’s enormously important that we help more children understand the great futures they can have if they work hard at school and graduate,” says Bob Nelkin, president of theUnited Way of Allegheny County, which is teaming with the Youth Futures Commission to launch the Be 1 In a Million campaign. It’s part of a three-year volunteer initiative, spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama, to recruit 1,000,000 mentors, tutors, and readers nationwide for the country’s youngest school-age kids.

The county has a head start, Nelkin says; its Be A 6th-Grade Mentor program should already have 400-450 volunteers by Oct. 1. The new Be 1 In a Million volunteers will concentrate their efforts on children through the third grade in as many as 30 local schools, chosen because their students face the greatest challenges. These are schools underperforming academically, schools with a larger number of children who have been abused or neglected, and schools with a greater number of students whose parents are incarcerated.

The United Way and other local agencies will be available to connect volunteers to needs in specific schools. All types of volunteer are desired, whether they can spend an hour a week or an hour a year – although, as Nelkin emphasizes, “The greater commitment of time and effort, the greater the results.”

Do Good:

• To Be 1 in a Million, click here or simply call 211.

Writer: Marty Levine

Source: Bob Nelkin, United Way of Allegheny County