Why Boys to men

Creating a Brighter Future For Our Community

Every day, 10.9% (over 3.5 million) of our nation’s eighth-graders abuse drugs and/or alcohol,1,2 and teenage boys are committing suicide at the highest rates on record.3 With over one million boys dropping out of high school each year4—fueling 75% of reported crimes5—the urgent need for targeted interventions has never been clearer. At Boys To Men Mentoring, we are dedicated to reversing these trends by providing boys with strong role models who offer empathetic attention and compassionate mentorship. Our program provides in-school mentoring, sports programs and outdoor field trips, all designed to encourage emotional resiliency, healthy living and positive development among young men.

We are Boys To Men Mentoring of Northern California (B2M NorCal), part of a network that began in San Diego in 1996 and has since expanded to 26 regions across the United States. Each geographic area within the Boys to Men network operates under its own 501(c)(3) not-for-profit designation and is locally governed, with support and oversight from our national organization, Boys To Men USA.

B2M NorCal established its first pilot program in Northern California in Santa Cruz County in 2017. It was followed by programs in Contra Costa, and Nevada Counties. Our goal is to extend these transformative mentoring programs to more communities throughout Northern California,  joining the legacy of B2M Mentoring groups nationwide by continuing three decades of support for educational institutions and communities that serve boys and young men who are at-risk.

All B2M Mentoring activities are designed to foster connection, enhance self-esteem, and promote community involvement, aiming to help young men build a positive self-image and optimistic outlook. Our programs provide deliberate guidance and structured activities essential for developing healthy, empowered adults. Endorsements from school administrators and heartfelt letters from students attest to our impact. These testimonials, particularly from students, highlight our program's pivotal role in helping participants discover their values and avoid paths like addiction and gang involvement, often with lifesaving results.

We accomplish our mission by sending trained mentors into schools to hold weekly mentoring circles. We serve youth from 6th grade to 12th grade. In addition to weekly mentoring, we offer periodic Adventure Outings (field trips) where we engage in a multitude of different outdoor activities that can include: mountain biking; rock climbing; nature exploration; wilderness skills; kayaking; archery and much more. Seasonally, we offer camping expeditions and for boys 14 through 17 we offer Teen Rites of Passage experiences. These can take a the form of a week-long backpacking sojourn and/or a specail rites of passage weekend at the Boys To Men Ranch in Southern California. All our outdoor adventures are designed to be fun and engaging, help with self-esteem building, and the skills of communicaiton, cooperation and teamwork. In today's modern era, we believe it is vitally important that our youth spend less time on screen and more time connecting with each other and nature.

B2M also offers community sports programs that help boys connect with each other and learn how to cooperate and compete. Community sports programs often operate out of local community centers. 

For in-depth information on Boys To Men Mentoring of Northern California check out our Executive Summary. Our vision is to follow in the footsteps of our Southern California counterpart and have 50 schools with weekly mentoring groups, serving over 1,500 boys and young men by 2035. Mentors, donors and people like you are what make this vision a reality.

Thank you for your interest in Boys To Men Mentoring. Please visit our CONTRIBUTION page and make a difference today in a boys life.

CITATIONS

1) 10.9% of eighth graders report they use illicit substances [National Center on Drug Abuse Article pub. date Dec. 13th, 2023]

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

2) Determining 8th Grade Enrollment [US. Census; American Community Survey; Current Population Survey]: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2013/demo/acs-cps-ccd_02-18-14.pdf

3) Provisional Numbers and Rates of Suiciced by Demographic [NVSS - Vital Statistics Rapid Release #24 Sep.2021): https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr024.pdf

4) Dropout Rates in 2022 [National Center for Education Statistics]

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20there%20were%202.1,ages%20of%2016%20and%2024.&text=The%20overall%20status%20dropout%20rate,to%205.3%20percent%20in%202022.

5) Dropouts commit 75% of reported crimes. [Smiley, Travis Reports: "Fact Sheet: Is the Dropout Problem Real?." February 26, 2014]: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/fact-sheet-drop-out-rates-of-african-american-boys/.]