By Bonnie Williams | Staff member
Imagine, as a kid, if no adult ever noticed what you were good at, or encouraged you to develop a talent? More than 100,000 Ukrainian children living in orphanages and government institutions are growing up without parents. They often miss out on learning the social and life skills they need to successfully enter the world of work. Every year about 10,000 of these youth leave the child welfare system and must fend for themselves.
Enter the Ukrainian Mentoring Association for Children and Youth (UMA), created and overseen by Kidsave. Since 2017, the UMA has found and trained mentors and helped 750 at-risk youth significantly improve their emotional, financial, and legal literacy. By giving these teens connections and opportunities mentors have helped them consider and explore interests, gain confidence and self-sufficiency, find internships and jobs, and enjoy the individualized guidance of a caring, successful adult.
A small team of dedicated social workers recruits and trains mentors and matches them with the youth. The program, called Pathways to Success, won a United Nations Sustainability award. This award recognizes the world's best, most innovative practices to create, promote and implement United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Pathways to Success is groundbreaking, and successful. One of its mentor serves as press secretary to the Ukrainian president. She is featured in this video shown recently at the European Mentoring Summit in Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd8YFhtRjY&feature=youtu.be
TV personality and ambassador to the Ukrainian Mentoring Association, Oleksandra Kucherenko, helps promote the program. This video shows some of the youth who hope to get mentors and Ms. Kucherenko’s information about the program: https://vimeo.com/455766431
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