What?
We seek to develop a replicable public school based mentoring program, beginning at a South Side Richmond Elementary School that partners with teachers, administrators and CIS Coordinators in deepening the academic, social-emotional, and character formation of targeted students through one-on-one weekly mentoring with a trained & caring adult. In addition to weekly mentoring we will include a school based quarterly “Micah Club” built to encourage interaction and community, celebrate achievements and reinforce the program’s goals. The Micah Club will happen during the school day and will be 45-60 minutes long.
The Micah Mentee goals will be established by the Communities in Schools staff person at the school and the Mentee’s teacher. The goals will likely seek to address issues of attendance, literacy, social/emotional learning, student confidence levels, etc…
Who?
For our first “pilot” group, we hope to match 15 Mentees with 15 recruited Micah Mentors that the Micah Initiative will recruit July – September, 2024. The Mentees will be selected with the guidance of the Communities in Schools Staff at the selected school. The Mentors will come from a variety of faith communities, organizations and referrals throughout RVA.
Where?
The Micah Initiative leadership is actively working with Communities in Schools and Richmond Public Schools this summer to determine the location of a South Side elementary school in Richmond that would be a good environment for the Micah Club Pilot Program. Find out much more by exploring the “How We Got Here?” drop down below.
How We Got Here?
Here is a snapshot of how we got here:
In the fall of 2023 we began exploring what Micah Initiative activity was still alive or budding around the Richmond Metropolitan community. We found there were some very dedicated, passionate and faithful Micah Mentors (or Volunteers, or Reading Buddies, depending on who you ask 🙂 at various faith communities around the city. The numbers may not have been huge but the impact continued to be.
Other folks were once a part of the Micah Initiative but found a way to operate out of their own church without the support Micah during the 18 months when there was no Micah Initiative Director.
The passion and legacy was still very much alive but the strands throughout the community were operating often without the knowledge of each other.
December 2023-Feb 2024 the Micah Advocacy Council began to pray and explore what a renewed Micah Initiative may look like and what the scope of our program was and is.
Feb 2024-May 2024. In February, coaching with the incredible Dwayne Bennet with Mentor VA began with Andrew, the Micah Initiative Director. Dwayne guided us through the process of determining what was uniquely “Micah”, how to reorient on that and deepen and build from there. The passion for mentoring, which often includes literacy (and other academic support), character development, active-listening, servant leadership, social/emotional support and sometimes simply the transformative power of just learning to “be” with your student, fully present.
How could we build upon Micah’s 25 year mentoring legacy, supporting those in the city and region faithfully and quietly showing up for our most vulnerable students, week in week out, while also increasing our impact through community?
We reached out to partners and advocates like Communities in Schools and of course, RPS, and asked their input.
The concept of the Micah Club, which allows us to go into the school quarterly for a 1 hour community building, goal reinforcing, celebratory and fun time together and also allows Micah Mentors and Mentees to meet each other and support each other, began to emerge from these conversations.
June 2024 – Communities in Schools and the Micah Initiative began honing in on the right elementary school in the South Side.
July 2024 – we meet with the RPS Community Engagement Team and RPS Principal Director, to finalize our location.
More updates coming soon!
What’s Next?
Well, we hope to discover that in the living of it.
Here is what were dreaming of and praying through:
We dream of the Micah Club replicating organically at other public elementary schools.
We dream of a Micah Club at public middle schools where our Micah Club at elementary schools already exist to support our Micah Mentees in the challenging journey into Middle School.
We dream of parental/care giver involvement with interaction at the beginning, middle and end of the school year, sharing goals and progress and working with CiS and the school to foster community involvement.
We dream of Micah Mentors coming from all around RVA with a diverse array of cultures, ages, faiths (or non-faiths) and expertise represented.
We dream of a deepening body of Mentors who gradually become activated and engaged as deeply passionate advocates of public education in metropolitan Richmond and in educational equity for all of our students in this city, not just those privileged to be in private schools or affluent areas of our city.
We dream of potentially expanding this program to support students and families during the summer and winter holidays in effective ways.
We dream of a well funded and supported Micah Initiative, allowing us to do our work excellently and without the anxiety of financial strain.
How You Can Support Us?
Pray.
Pray for the Micah Club Pilot Program. For the students who will become Mentees in the program. Pray for the Mentors who will be called both in this pilot program and in other schools across the region. Pray for existing Micah Mentors. Pray for all those who have served in the past. Pray for the next school year…for safety, for flourishing, for well being, that the creative seed would be nurtured and cherished in every one of our RVA students. Pray for teachers, CiS staff, administrators, janitorial and kitchen staff. Pray for the future dream God has for the Micah Initiative and that we may hear her speaking clearly and have the courage to follow and patience & persistence to build.
Mentor.
Learn about what it means to be a Mentor in our Micah Club Pilot Program or at another public elementary school.
Reach out to us if you are interested in Mentoring in the 2024/20205 school year.
Financial Support.
Micah exists because of faith communities and individuals believe so much in the mission of impacting our most vulnerable students in the RVA region that they regularly give financially to support a full time staff person who wakes up every day with the mission of finding ways to build passionate and lasting support for these students through mentoring. You can donate to our mission here.
Thank you.