As long as there are children living in poverty and facing inequity, every day is Red Nose Day

Child poverty has long been a crisis, but right now it is nothing short of an emergency. A gift of any size can protect children facing poverty from the ripple effects of COVID-19.

We need your support to help give children living in the most vulnerable communities across the U.S. and around the world a chance at a better life and a brighter future.

As long as there are children living in poverty and facing inequity, every day is Red Nose Day

Even when the unpredictable happens, like the crisis of COVID-19, your ongoing support helps give children living in the most vulnerable communities across the U.S. and around the world a chance at a better life and a brighter future.

A monthly gift goes even further, because giving a little each month adds up to big change.

When you give monthly, you’ll also become a member of The Sandbox, Red Nose Day’s community of monthly givers.

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National Mentoring Month

How Red Nose Day Celebrated National Mentoring Month in January

News
2 Feb 2022

January was National Mentoring Month, and Red Nose Day celebrated National Mentoring Month by spotlighting our grantee partner – The Brotherhood Sisterhood Sol. 

What are Red Nose Day Grantee Partners?

Money donated by you; works to fund programs at The Brotherhood Sisterhood Sol, which empowers young people through impactful mentorship-mentee programs. 

The Brotherhood Sister Sol, a Harlem-based youth development non-profit organization, leads the Rites of Passage program. The program supports and mentors young people, helping them prepare for politically-engaged and self-sufficient adulthood. Members learn critical thinking skills, knowledge of self, global awareness, and the power of community. Through their intensive and gender-specific Rites of Passage work, young people receive the education, guidance, and space to develop a moral and ethical code that they strive to live by throughout life. 

The Brotherhood Sister Sol also has a “Liberation Program.” Through the program, BroSis facilitators hold space for youth leaders to learn and develop skills that help them identify problems within their communities, analyze solutions, and take action to create social change. In addition, the participants regularly learn about past and current movements and leaders on the local, national, and international stages. The program aims to develop social justice advocates, change agents, activists, and future community leaders. 

Let’s take a closer look at why mentoring is essential for children and teens.

 

Why Is Mentoring Important?

Mentorship can make a difference, especially for young children and teens. Through mentorship, young people can learn leadership skills and get professional development opportunities to help them reach their full potential, forge successful paths and be a driving force to create change in their communities. Empowered youth are the next generation of leaders, change-makers, and advocates.

Mentorship is an opportunity to connect an individual who has a lot of knowledge and experience with someone who hasn't gained that same knowledge or experience and is seeking to advance their career or skills.

Mentoring young people while also encouraging them to set goals and expectations empowers them to make their own decisions and parameters of success as they grow older. A successful mentoring relationship is also rooted in listening with empathy, sharing experiences, developing insight through reflection, and encouraging the mentee to achieve self-driven goals. 

Through mentorship, a person looking to train, learn or study a craft or skill can do so by asking for advice, seeking guidance, and receiving instructions or lessons from an individual more established and experienced. Mentorship is proven to be a crucial asset in the continued growth and development of any individual seeking career or life goals. 

Some prominent examples of successful mentorship, or mentors and mentees, include American poet Maya Angelou and television personality Oprah Winfrey. Others include American business magnate Warren Buffet mentoring Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple visionary Steve Jobs mentoring Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

 

Mentorship and Red Nose Day

At Red Nose Day, we believe in the power of empowering young people to make lasting positive change in the world. It’s a simple fact: Young people are a driving force for social change. Their courage, leadership, and creativity propel our society forward, and investing time in our youth through mentorship is a powerful way to help shape a more equitable future.

At Comic Relief, we established the Youth Advisory Council in 2020. The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is made up of eight promising young leaders from around the world. As YAC members, all receive a stipend and access to learning opportunities, training, and mentorship and act as grantmakers in developing the Juntanza Fund, a youth-designed fund supporting youth-led organizations worldwide.

Moreover, we believe mentorship programs can help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by creating more economic opportunities and making lasting social change by building confidence and civic engagement skills. Red Nose Day’s investments in mentoring and empowerment programs focus on communities most impacted by poverty, helping to develop local capacity and fostering sustainable change to help break the cycle of systemic poverty and change the story for good.

Money raised through Red Nose Day supports several organizations like The Brotherhood Sister Sol, which provides multi-layered programs focused on mentorship, leadership development, and educational support for youth in economically distressed communities, especially girls and young women. These programs and resources include after-school care, counseling, summer camp, job training, college and employment preparation, activist training, community gardening, mental health support, and arts education. Through supporting mentorship programs,  we are building a necessary and crucial space where youth have a voice, develop new ways of thinking about the world, and are helped to step into their power as agents of change. 

Watch to learn more about The Brotherhood Sister Sol!