Mentoring, at its core, provides a young person with an adult figure who is invested in their future. It’s someone who’s in their corner that they can look up to and help them navigate their day-to-day challenges. For Justin, a shy high school freshman enrolled in the Stay In School initiative having a mentor made all the difference in his academic and career pursuits.
For more than a decade, employees from Exelon and ComEd have mentored an astounding 25,000 middle- and high-school students in the Chicago region. As part of an effort to fight dropout and high truancy rates in Chicago Public Schools, employees from the two utility companies are paired with students from six United Way community partners as part of the Stay In School (SIS) Initiative. Those agencies include B.U.I.L.D. Inc., Corazon Community Services, Gary Comer Youth Center, Project: VISION, Young Men’s Educational Network’s, and Youth & Opportunity United.