Today Jessi and I had the chance to meet with Jazmine McDaniel, a wonderful lady from the non-profit organization IMPACT Family Counseling here in Birmingham. This meeting is a result of our interest in connecting with more local non-profit orgs, churches, and artists in the upcoming year. Jazmine was able to tell us more about IMPACT Family Counseling which provides faith-based counseling to kids and families who are at risk. One of the programs Jazmine told us about is IMPACT’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners program.

There are 1200 kids in Jefferson County with incarcerated parents and the statistics are stacked against these children. Children of prisoners are six times more likely than other children to be incarcerated at some point in their lives. Without effective intervention strategies, as many as 70% of these children will become involved with the criminal justice system. To keep this from happening in our community, IMPACT’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners program matches a volunteer mentor to a child between the ages of 4 and 16 who has one or both parents in prison.  Research has shown that kids with a positive mentor in their lives have better school attendance, are less involved with drugs and alcohol, and have more trusting relationships with adults. MCP has seen firsthand how much positive change can happen in a child’s life when someone takes the time to be a friend and a mentor.

Many of the kids in the MCP program have barely left their neighborhood and live at or below the poverty line. Jazmine said that something as simple as feeding ducks at a pond or picking out fruit at the grocery store can be a fun and new experience for these kids. The main thing the kids need is to have an older friend who takes an interest in them and cares enough to hang out with them once a week.

Qualified mentors are much needed, especially men. Right now there are 60 kids in the MCP program with about 60 more on a waiting list, and IMPACT receives new referrals every day. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of time or money to be a mentor to one of these kids. Mentors must be over 19 years old, go through a background check, and commit to spending just one hour per week for one year with the mentee they are paired with.

The MCP program is just one of many run by IMPACT Family Counseling. To find out more about these programs, visit their website: www.impactal.org.

And if you’re interested in being a mentor, contact Jazmine McDaniel at jaz@impactal.com. IMPACT hosts training sessions twice a month for potential mentors as well as on-going training throughout the year for all current mentors. You can also connect to IMPACT through their facebook group, IMPACT Mentoring .

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