Can anyone be a mentor? Can the qualities of mentorship be taught? The answer to both questions is yes. This is the foundation of the idea behind MentoringBR, an initiative led by the Urban Congress on African American Males in Baton Rouge.
MentoringBR consists of a network of entities dedicated to strengthening the quality of mentoring provided to African American males. The ultimate goal is to significantly increase the number of active mentors through the quest to train 1,000 community members and then connect them with organizations in the network who are currently seeking mentors.
We recently sat down with Eric Dexter, one of the facilitators of the recently held MentoringBR training sessions. His role as a facilitator involved guiding mentors throughout the training process. The goal of the training is to equip attendees of all backgrounds with the tools necessary to effectively mentor African-American male youth in our city.
In his day job, Eric is the Director of Business Development for Civil Solutions Consulting Group, a local civil engineering firm that assists governmental agencies and developers on infrastructure and public works projects, as well as disaster response & recovery programs.
He also serves on the Steering Committee for the Urban Congress on African American Males in Baton Rouge and is the co-chair for the Goal #5 work group,which focuses on cultivating generational wealth.
The Urban Congress is a strategy of the not-for-profit MetroMorphosis. The mission of MetroMorphosis is to develop and mobilize a critical mass of engaged citizens in inner city neighborhoods to design and implement sustainable solutions to persistent community changes.
Click here for a link to the interview.
For more information on MentoringBR, contact [email protected].