Category: Impact

New Diversity + Inclusion Workshop for Mentors

By Rachel Lopez

Affinity Launches “Learning and Growing Together Series”
A discussion on race, culture, and inclusion in the mentoring relationship.

The goal of this workshop is for mentors to grow in their cultural intelligence and ability to use their expanded understanding to navigate cultural, experiential, racial, and other differences with their mentees successfully.

This will be an engaging and interactive session that deals with topics such as: cultural intelligence, cross-cultural communication, implicit bias, and healing racism.



Our goal is that attendees will walk away with:

  • increased cultural intelligence
  • elevated morale and energy
  • better communication and problem solving strategies
  • empowered to be even more effective mentors

All current mentors are encouraged to attend one of the three following training dates [a meal will be provided] :

  • Wednesday, August 7th [5:30pm-8:30pm] at the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan 
  • Saturday, November 9th [9am-1pm] at Mars Hill Bible Church 
  • Saturday, February 8th [9am-1pm] at Mars Hill Bible Church 

    • REGISTER NOW [Mentors Only]


    About the Speaker
    This workshop will be led by Julian Newman, Founder/CEO of Culture Creative, who consults across the nation with organizations on the integration of cultural awareness. He is recognized as a creative and inspirational speaker/leader/consultant in the areas of organizational diversity and cultural agility initiatives. Julian holds a CQ Certificate through the Cultural Intelligence Center, is a certified facilitator for the Woodrick Center for Equity and Inclusion, a member of the Urban Core Collective Transformational Leaders Program, and was named to the Great Lakes Multi-Ethnic Regional Team to facilitate racial reconciliation and diversity training in Michigan faith communities.

    About the Series

    This series is part of Affinity Mentoring’s larger mission to be a more culturally responsive organization. Funds to provide this training were provided by Herman Miller Cares and Steelcase Foundation grants. 

100 Days, 100 Mentors

Each year we have over 100 students on our waiting list, asking for mentors. With seed money from the Steelcase Foundation we are expanding to a 4th site this fall [Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center] to help meet that need.

But we need your help.

In the next 100 days, our goals are to recruit:

  • 100 new mentors
  • 100 match sponsors [to donate $10/month]

Will you join us?

Become a Mentor Match Sponsor 

Make a small, monthly contribution to Affinity. Your gift will not only help students academically, but it’ll also give them the social and emotional support they need to work towards a positive future.

Become a Mentor.

Sign up today to mentor one student for one hour week starting this fall and ask a friend to mentor too!

Local Mothers Group Donates 100+ Diverse Books

By: Rachel Lopez

March is #ReadingMonth! We know that reading is powerful. Books allow students to step into another world, reflect on their own life, and be inspired for the future.

However, 85% of books feature White Americans [1].

The majority of students we serve are children of color which is why we are intentional about purchasing books that reflect and celebrate diverse communities.

Diverse stories encourages self-reflection among readers and creates a sense of comfort. People like to see themselves and identify with the stories they read [2]. As you can see from the infographic below, there is a large gap in the number of diverse books [3]. It’s up to us as a community to ensure our students are being represented, uplifted, and inspired by the books in our libraries.


Last fall Natalie Hall, from the Greater Grand Rapids Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc (GGRJJOA), toured our Mentor Center. Natalie explains, “GGRJJOA seeks to be an integral part of cultivating positive change and growth within our local communities. Our National and local level organization focuses on initiatives that equips our members and youth with the power to make a difference in our chapters, communities and in the lives of children around the country! We connected with Affinity Mentoring due to the commonality in your mission in ways that positively affect change and growth in our communities.”

During the tour we discussed the disparity in children’s literature featuring characters of color. Natalie decided that she and the mothers of GGRJJOA would help us tackle that challenge by pledging to donate 100 books featuring students of color by March (Reading Month).

(L-R) – Natalie Hall, Tracey Brame, La’Leatha Spillers, Veronica Bradford, and Lisa Oliver-King

For the past few months Natalie, along with 20 mothers of her local chapter, have been actively collecting and purchasing books filled with diverse characters to reflect, inspire, and celebrate our students! Together, they collected over 100 books featuring characters of color for Affinity Mentoring!

The books vary by reading level (K-8th) and include fiction, non-fiction, and Spanish language books!

We know that it’s up to us as a community to ensure our students are being represented, uplifted, and inspired by the books in our libraries. Thank you GGRJJOA for stepping up as community leaders to ensure our students can see themselves reflected in our libraries!
—
Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated is a membership organization of mothers with children ages 2-19, dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders by strengthening children through leadership development, volunteer service, philanthropic giving and civic duty.

If you’d like to donate diverse books or create a service project that supports Affinity please contact info@affinitymentoring.org.

[1] Thomas, Ebony Elizabeth (2016). “Stories Still Matter: Rethinking the Role of Diverse Children’s Literature Today”. Journal of Language Arts. 94 (2): 112–120.

[2] Wopperer, Emily (2011). “Inclusive Literature in the Library and the Classroom”(PDF). Knowledge Quest. 39 (3): 26–34. Retrieved 7 November 2018.

[3] Reflection Press (2017). “Children’s Books as a Radical Act.” http://www.reflectionpress.com/childrens-books-radicalact/

A Mentor Story: Brandon Reyes

“When I was 5 or 6 years old my mom and I fled Veracruz, Mexico. Escaping an abusive relationship with my father,” explains Brandon. “As a young kid I still understood what was going on and why we had to leave.” Brandon vividly remembers crossing with the Coyotes to the United States, “I had really bad asthma and walking through the hot desert made it so much worse. We ran out of water so we ended up giving up. We turned ourselves in.” That was the first time.  

“My mom is a very kind and loving person. She’s really strong and has a big heart,” smiles Brandon. His mom knew she needed to leave the country in order to get them out of the abusive relationship. “The second time we traveled from Juarez, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona to Chicago and finally to Grand Rapids. My aunt lived there.” His aunt was able to help his mom find work at a local factory. Brandon and his mom lived in a small apartment with his aunt and six other people for the first 5 years. “During that time she was my mom and my dad.” A few years later “Popo” came into his family, becoming his step-dad and eventually “dad.”  

“I started school at Burton Elementary at the end of 2003. I had never gone to school before. We couldn’t afford it in Mexico. Everything was new. New culture. New language. Everything sounded blurry.” Brandon remembers one of his teachers, Ms. Pena, who made him feel welcome and helped him understand the new culture and language. She was married to a Latino and had learned Spanish. “My mom and I were really surprised.”

Although Brandon was getting used to his new life and new school. He still struggled with English and reading. His teacher, Ms. Morningstar, helped him get a mentor, Allan. “At first I was kind of scared. I didn’t know much English. It was tough to say words at the beginning. He made me feel confident and not worry if I said it correctly. He would show me a graph of objects and pictures – made sure I knew the basics to help me communicate.”

“Soon I started looking forward to [mentoring]. One time I got upset I couldn’t spell the words on a quiz. I tried to memorize them as best as I could. He cheered me up.” Allan, cared about him and just showed up. “I remember him asking me ‘how was my day, how’s mom, how do you feel in school’ –  he always started there. My mom wasn’t always at home, she worked a lot. It helped having someone ask me how my day was.”

One of Brandon’s favorite memories was going to Spring Hill Camp. “It was incredible. I had never gone camping. We did tie dye shirts, rock climbing, there was a lake – it was the most incredible thing. One day kids started getting cards and gifts from their parents. I thought my parents probably didn’t know. Then I received a bag of candy and a card from Allan.  I thought no one would remember me. It made my day to be honest.”

“When I came home I was talking about camping so much we finally went as a family. My parents wanted to go. In the Latino culture we usually stay close to our community. It was new for us. We went to Silver Laker and it changed the perspective of my family a lot. Now we go camping every year.”

“My mentors and teachers saw potential in me. Without my mentors I wouldn’t have graduated from high school. I wouldn’t have done a lot of activities or been as involved. I probably wouldn’t have the job that I do now. Now I go to Grand Rapids Community College, I enjoy graphic design, and I work at a nonprofit, Health Net of West Michigan. I’m really involved in the community and like to help people access resources.”

Brandon has also volunteered for FitKids, Michigan United, and Cosecha GR. “I’ve done a lot of public speaking about immigration, immigrant rights, sharing my story, and how to get involved.” In the future he hopes to start a nonprofit. His dream school is Calvin College. When asked about what he hopes the future will bring the mentoring program, “I hope a lot of kids are participating, I never want the program to end. It benefits the whole community.”

 

If you’d like to support other students like Brandon please consider giving the gift of mentoring starting at $10 a month. 

Affinity’s Match4Match Fund

 

Join Affinity Mentoring as we work to support our new cohort of 65 mentor matches, Match4Match!

Each year we have over 100 students on our waiting lists, anxious to see if this is the year they’ll get a mentor. With support from our community partners, volunteers, and generous donors we were able to recruit, screen, train, and match 65 mentors with a student!

We matched students like:
Kimberly, a friendly 4th grader, always has a beautiful smile on her face. She likes to play outside on the monkey bars. Her favorite subjects are Science and Math. When we asked her what she thought of her new mentor she responded with a big smile, “Emily is good, she is special to me.”

Angel is a quiet 3rd grader. His new mentor, Luis, has been helping him to become more talkative. Luis likes to ask Angel questions to engage him in conversation and boost his confidence.

Making the match was only the beginning…

Now, it is our goal to raise $10,000 by December 31st to ensure each of these new matches receive the ongoing match support (supplies, training, family engagement, books, etc.) needed to have a successful year!

 

Will you join us?

Any size donation helps support our students. If we can all give a little of our time, talent, and treasure, together we can make a big impact!

 

Checks

Please make checks payable to: Affinity Mentoring

Affinity Mentoring
3501 Fairlanes Ave SW
Grandville, MI 49418