When we visit churches, schools, and other groups to talk about mentoring, many people think Boone County has no need for formal youth mentoring. There is a belief Boone County, which is affluent and wealthier than almost every other county in Indiana, has moved beyond youth achievement gaps, college and career readiness, and other needs. Our friends at Sylvia’s CAC encounter this thinking when discussing child abuse — that somehow “abuse doesn’t happen here.” But it’s far from universally true.
For virtually everyone reading this right now, we know that adults play a critical role in developing a young person’s potential. College aspirations came from your parents who also went to higher education, or maybe your career got a boost when a local friend of the family encouraged you to take part in a training day or mentioned an opportunity.
Plenty of us have experienced dark periods in our lives, like after the death of a loved one, where family and friends, pastors, or a caring teacher helped us move forward. All of this is informal mentoring.
Boone County Mentoring Partnership is formal mentoring. Formal mentoring is much less common in most people’s lives but no less important. In fact, for many kids who may have unexpected deaths of a parent, little family nearby due to job relocations, or any number of other life factors, formal mentoring is critical to helping close achievement gaps academically and financially.
Differences between formal and informal mentoring for kids of all ages and backgrounds
In Dr. Robert Putnam’s book Our Kids, his team at Harvard conducted research on formal-vs-informal mentoring and how it impacts kids when you factor in family income:
“Formal mentoring can help at-risk kids develop healthy relations with adults, including parents, and improve attendance, self-worth, and reduce substance abuse, even with careful controls from variables. These measurable effects are strongest when they’re long-term. Upper-class kids have many informal mentors, so adding a formal mentor does not add to their achievement.”
In other words, wealthy kids tend to have lots of informal mentors by the nature of their family connections, so adding one more doesn’t necessarily change a lot for them. However, plenty of kids, regardless of income, just need a little more one-on-one time, may be more introverted or shy, or just a good role model. As another example, wealthy kids tend to be involved in more sports, which exposes them to more coaches and trainers. But for low-income kids, these opportunities are much less frequent, so a formal mentor is life-changing.
Yes, there really is a need — even in Boone County
Boone County enjoys tremendous opportunities for a lot of people. But still, as of 2023:
- 50% of adults over the age of 25 do not have a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
- 5% of kids under the age of 18 meet the definition of “in poverty” — that’s about 680 kids.
- Over 2,400 families receive food stamps, which puts Boone County solidly “in the middle,” at 45th of Indiana’s 92 counties.
- 2,800 kids were on free or reduced school lunch in 2024, placing us 38th of 92 counties.
There are many hundreds of kids and teens in Boone County — today — who are in a position to benefit from formal mentoring.
Mentoring gaps most significant in elementary school
As Dr. Putnam explains, the informal mentoring gap (of family connections, teachers, coaches, neighbors, friends, etc.) is substantial in elementary school and steadily increases as children age through middle and high school. This is why we support efforts to read to kids in elementary school. Not only does it boost their reading comprehension and ability to learn later, but it’s one more adult in their life.
Then, as they age into middle and high school, formal mentoring outside of school becomes even more critical to help close those gaps.
Putnam writes:
“In 2013, a nationwide survey asked about informal and formal mentoring. 62% of all kids reported some sort of informal mentoring, versus 15% for formal. Informal relationships last about 30 months on average compared to 18 for formal. Combining frequency and duration, American kids get 8x as much informal as formal mentoring.”
This makes sense. The informal connections we all have from colleagues, friends of friends, gym buddies, group memberships, and other connections come along more often in our lives — but with far less quality time.
Not-so-formal formal mentoring
Formal mentoring provides quality time, which grants mentors and mentees the opportunity to develop deep friendships, learn fun new things, and tackle big problems. Call it a “not-so-formal” formal friendship, like the one Joe and Jack share despite a nearly 30-year age difference. Joe and Jack bonded over basketball, but it also likely ensured Jack finished high school.
Dr. Putnam notes that affluent kids are savvier about navigating social structures, college admissions, and other systems designed to improve social mobility. Poor kids, or even just those from a family who has never gone to college before — which, remember, is half of Boone County — are “baffled by financial affairs offices, occupational opportunities, and public and private programs” like student loans or even just how to really visit and understand a school or workplace.
To be clear: this isn’t anyone’s fault. In fact, most of the time, parents are bewildered despite all the best intentions for their kids. We can all recognize you just don’t know what you don’t know.
Even if you account for “People can figure things out eventually,” how often have you been confronted with a work problem — like using new software or equipment — only to ask for a quick bit of help? We instinctively know sometimes it’s just faster and better to ask, even if we surely could “figure it out eventually.”
Formal mentoring isn’t all college applications and paperwork. For most all of our matches it’s rarely about that at all. It’s about building relationships and strengthening the bonds of our community. Mentoring serves as a way to help kids learn about all sorts of new things, from bird watching to battleships or engine repair to tending to horses.
Any serious efforts by Boone County to address opportunity gaps — whether in education, career opportunity, or even improving self-esteem and our worth — must come from connections. And formal mentoring is an excellent way to start.