Executive Summary
Boys To Men (B2M) Mentoring is a community service organization dedicated to supporting at-risk youth by providing mentorship for boys and young men through in-school and after school programs. Our mission is to help them become the best versions of themselves, fostering genuine connections with people, community, and nature through mentorship and positive experiences. All mentoring services are offered free or by donation to the students.
Our program is time tested and robust, offering weekly in-classroom mentoring, athletic programs, outdoor experiences and adventure sports. We have done the work to make the B2M Mentoring program a reality and we need the help of our community to keep it going and expand it to additional schools to serve more of our at-risk population. This executive summary illustrates the challenges our youth are facing, the solutions that B2M Mentoring is offering, our financial needs and opportunities for you to help.
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR BOYS?
Today's youth face unprecedented mental health challenges, with 21% reporting experiencing anxiety in the past two weeks and 17% experiencing depression. Substance abuse is also a concern, with 10.9% of eighth graders using drugs and/or alcohol. Alarmingly, suicide rates among teenage boys and young men specifically have reached record highs and constitute 80% of all youth suicides. Additionally, 20% of young people have considered suicide, and 10% have attempted it.
It is estimated that at least one million young people aged 12-17 in the U.S. are involved in gangs. Boys are particularly affected by academic challenges, with 6.3% dropping out of high school compared to 5.1% of girls. High school dropouts are 3.5% more likely to be arrested, as 75% of crimes are committed by high school drop-outs and there are currently 60,000 boys and young men under the age of 18 incarcerated in the U.S.
80% of boys deemed "at risk" come from fatherless homes which is a big part of why we believe the mentoring services we offer are so important. Here are some statistics on boys from fatherless homes:
90% of boys who run away or become homeless in the U.S. are from fatherless homes.
63% of youth suicides involve boys living in fatherless homes.
85% of boys with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.
75% of rapists are motivated by displaced anger linked to feelings of abandonment.
Boys from fatherless homes are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to those living with their fathers.
WHAT WE DO AT BOYS TO MEN
Boys To Men provides weekly on-campus mentoring for at-risk middle-school boys and young men, alongside day outings, weekend camping trips, and week-long backpacking experiences. We also operate in teen and community centers and sponsor community sports programs such as basketball, baseball, and soccer. Participation in these programs helps boys build healthy self-esteem, cultivate teamwork skills, and develop a deeper connection to their own life. All B2M mentoring services are offered free of charge.
While a mentor is not a substitute for a father, our 28 years of experience working with over 13,000 boys and young men have shown that those with role models and mentors fare better in life than those without. The B2M Mentoring program helps boys grow into young men in a conscious, connected way. We receive hundreds of letters each year from participants, some of whom share that B2M Mentoring has been life-changing, and in some cases, even life-saving, stating that our program literally prevented them from committing suicide.
PROGRAM RESULTS
Participation in our middle school programs equips students with the skills needed to navigate the pressures and emotional challenges of high school and adolescence. They emerge with essential life skills and social tools, a better understanding of their personal values, and a clearer sense of meaning in their lives.
Reported benefits from school staff and parents include:
Reduced truancy and bullying
Improved classroom participation and test scores
Fewer arguments and fights at home
Increased respect for parents, teachers, and other authority figures
Benefits reported by participating students:
Renewed hope and motivation for the future
Increased self-esteem and ability to handle intense emotions
Better academic performance and motivation to graduate high school
Reduced depression and suicidal thoughts
Improved anger management
Clearer goals and direction
Improved self-advocacy and empathy towards others
Effective strategies for managing ADD and ADHD
Better ability to not take things personally
Heightened gratitude for life
OUR SERVICES
Middle School Classroom Mentorship
Boys To Men offers weekly mentorship opportunities for middle school boys. We begin our programs at the entry level grade of each new school and expand by adding a grade each year. This approach allows us to provide continuous mentoring throughout a student's entire middle school journey.
Mentoring groups run for the full academic year, divided into two semesters of approximately 15 weeks each, totaling 30 weeks of mentoring. Our curriculum, refined over 28 years, includes a series of well-vetted, engaging lessons and activities designed to be meaningful and impactful for the students.
Adventure Mentorship Outings
We engage students in nature-based "field trips" and activities that foster a sense of friendship with the environment and demonstrate the benefits of cooperation and teamwork. Our outings include a range of fun, outdoor activities designed to enhance communication and problem-solving skills.
Each mentoring group at a school or community center participates in a day outing each semester, a weekend-long outing each year, and a special week-long backpacking adventure after graduating eighth grade that acts as a Teen Rites of Passage experience.
Outings focus on nature awareness, personal discovery, and team-building exercises. We equip students with basic wilderness skills and introduce them to adventure sports such as kayaking, canoeing, river rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, fire making, shelter building, and archery.
Teen Rites of Passage
The Teen Sojourn - Our week-long backpacking adventure, often seen as a rite of passage for teens, challenges teenage boys to step beyond their comfort zones. This journey allows them to apply the life skills they've learned and acquire new tools for leading a meaningful life. The adventure includes various challenges designed to empower them to succeed in areas they previously found difficult. Graduates of the Sojourn frequently report a newfound confidence, feeling capable of achieving anything they commit to. This outing deepens their connection with nature and helps them experience the interconnectedness of life.
The Adventure Mountain Weekend - We also have an adventure weekend that takes the form of a rites of passage experience for teen boys. During the weekend the boys wrestle with what it means to be a boy stepping into being a young man. Teens learn what values they want to live by and what habits or barriers they have in living as the best self. Young men emerge with a zest to pursue their dreams and a desire to contribute to the society in which they live. One of the key components of both the week-long and the weekend experiences is turning entitlement to gratitude.
Community Sports
Boys To Men (B2M) Mentoring currently sponsors a community basketball league in Grass Valley, CA. We offer open play gym time twice weekly, alongside a league that provides leadership opportunities and recognition for all participants. This program encourages healthy competition, physical fitness and challenges individuals to continuously improve their skills and teamwork. The league offers opportunities for healthy interactions between boys and men, encouraging mutual learning and striking a balance between competition and recreation.
MENTOR TRAINING
We have developed time-tested training methods to prepare men for roles in youth mentorship. Our training focuses on helping mentors connect with their inner mentor and revisiting their own adolescent experiences. We emphasize listening over giving advice, with a strong emphasis on empowering young men to make informed and positive choices for themselves. This approach creates an environment where they can feel truly heard and seen, which contributes to increased self-esteem and self-accountability. New mentors (junior mentors) receive a six hour “Level 1” training to get started. After working with a lead mentor for one or more years (depending on performance assessment), a junior mentor can apply to be a lead mentor. A junior mentor is required to complete our Level 2 Training before applying for a lead mentor position.
OUR ROOTS & WHERE WE ARE NOW
Boys To Men began in San Diego (founded in 1996) opened it's first in-school mentoring program in 2009 and today has mentoring programs in 38 schools serving over 800 boys each week of the school year. Boasting nearly 30 years of experience, B2M San Diego has developed time tested mentorship training and an exhaustive curriculum for all B2M chapters to employ. With a vision to bring mentoring services to schools across the country, each chapter of B2M is an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with its own governing board.
We are Boys To Men Mentoring of Northern California. Our Santa Cruz County pilot program has been operating since 2017; we added a program in Nevada County in 2021 and one in Contra Costa County in 2023. We are reaching out to you and our community for funding to keep our three pilot programs thriving and continue opening new programs in Northern California schools to serve more of our at-risk population. Our mission is to have 50 programs operating in Northern California by 2035. This will only be possible with community support and people like you.
PROGROMA COSTS
A middle school program, fully running with all three grades, two aventure outings per semester, a weekend campout each school year and one teen rights of passage experience (Teen Sojourn or Adventure Mountain Weekend), costs around $40.000 per year to operate.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Contribution Opportunities for Any Pocketbook
Your contribution makes a stand for children’s lives now and is therefore also an investment in our nation’s future. You can help us tackle one of our large expenses or simply make any size donation that you are comfortable with. You can also earmark funds for the area of need of most interest to you (e.g. Current Programs; Opening New Programs; Purchasing Equipment; Administration; and etc.). No donation is too small and any contribution, at any level, will be put to good use. Our mission is to have 50 mentoring programs operating in Northern California by 2035. This will only be possible with support from our communities and this means people like you.
If you, your company, or organization, have a large budget for community service, please consider funding an entire school program. If your company or organization has grants for at-risk youth programs, please contact us. You can easily make a donation of any size and set up recurring monthly donations on our website. A great way to support us right now is by joining our Peer To Peer Fundraising Campaign for the 2024-25 school year.
IN CONCLUSION
We at B2M NorCal have the heart, experience and drive to mentor more of our at-risk youth but we need your help to keep our pilot programs alive as well as expand our services to more schools to serve more of our communities’ at-risk youth. We are poised to train new mentors and open new B2M programs as funding increases. The reach of B2M NorCal is only limited by financial support and we would like to see every school in Northern California who needs such a program have the opportunity.
If you represent a company, we are eager to explore any grants, donation matching or partnership opportunities you might offer. At the very least, please consider one of the five ways you can directly contribute to this cause. Together, we will build a healthier community and a brighter future for everyone. Please click the CONTRIBUTE Tab to see which one of the five ways to support B2M will work for you.
CITATIONS
Juvenile incarceration reduces the probability of high school completion and increases the probability of incarceration later in life: https://www.nber.org/papers/w19102
High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested in their lifetime: https://www.literacymidsouth.org/news/the-relationship-between-incarceration-and-low-literacy
21% of adolescents reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety in the past two weeks and 17% reported experiencing symptoms of depression: https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/recent-trends-in-mental-health-and-substance-use-concerns-among-adolescents/#:~:text=Key%20takeaways%20include%3A,report%20experiencing%20anxiety%20or%20depression.
10.9% of eighth graders use drugs or alcohol: https://nida.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/2023/12/reported-drug-use-among-adolescents-continued-to-hold-below-pre-pandemic-levels-in-2023#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20adolescents%20reporting,to%20the%20latest%20results%20from
Alarmingly, suicide rates among teenage boys and young men have reached record highs and constitute 80% of all youth suicides: https://19thnews.org/2023/09/suicide-rates-teenage-boys-firearm-access/#:~:text=Suicide%20rates%20were%203.2%20times,by%20suicide%20using%20a%20firearm.
20% of young people have considered suicide, and 10% have attempted it: https://jedfoundation.org/mental-health-and-suicidestatistics/#:~:text=22%25%20of%20high%20school%20students,suicide%20in%20the%20past%20year.
It is estimated that at least one million young people aged 12-17 in the U.S. are involved in gangs: https://ccj.asu.edu/studycastsnewlightgangmembershipus#:~:text=The%20estimate%20of%201%20million,year%2Dolds%20are%20gang%20members.
Boys are particularly affected by academic challenges, with 6.3% dropping out of high school compared to 5.1% of girls: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb//population/qa01503.asp?qaDate=2018#:~:text=The%20status%20dropout%20rate%20in,its%20lowest%20level%20since%201975.
There are currently 60,000 boys and young men under the age of 18 incarcerated in the U.S.: https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/youth-incarceration/americas-addiction-juvenile-incarceration-state-state#:~:text=On%20any%20given%20day%2C%20nearly,These%20rates%20vary%20widely.
90% of boys who run away or become homeless in the United States are from fatherless homes: https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/fctsheetfathersmatterpassiton#:~:text=Data%20suggests%2084%25%20of%20homeless,children%20come%20from%20fatherless%20homes.
63% of youth suicides involve boys living in fatherless homes: http://www.rochesterareafatherhoodnetwork.org/statistics
85% of boys with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes: https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/issue-brief-fatherlessness-and-its-effects-on-american-society
Boys from fatherless homes are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to those living with their fathers: https://1819news.com/news/item/amie-beth-shaver-the-link-between-fatherlessness-andcrimewhetherwelikeitornot#:~:text=Consider%20the%20following%20facts%20from,abuse%2C%20or%20a%20dysfunctional%20household.
Many of the above statistics can also be found here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2019R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/169072