Norwalk Mentor Program

The mission of the Norwalk Mentor Program is to encourage the social, academic and mental growth of Norwalk’s children through a one on one mentoring relationship; where a caring adult serves as a role model to a youth as he or she goes through a difficult period or faces new challenges.

The strength of the mentoring relationship is that it can impact so many different risk factors among youth and support many different protective factors at the same time. The mere presence of a mentor can provide a youth with personal connectedness, supervision and guidance, skills training, career or cultural enrichment opportunities, a knowledge of spirituality and values, a sense of self-worth, and perhaps most important, goals and hope for the future.

Established in 1986, the Norwalk Mentor Program is one of the longest running and most acclaimed mentoring programs in the country. In January 2009, the Norwalk Board of Education voted to transfer the coordination of the Norwalk Mentor Program to the Human Services Council to work in partnership with the Norwalk Public Schools. The Norwalk Mentor Program’s original premise remains constant today - matching deserving students with positive adult role models makes a significant difference in the lives of those students served.