iMentor’s unique program model connects young people, adult volunteers, and corporate partners to cultivate Chicago’s future talent pool and bolster students’ social capital.
iMentor Chicago Executive Director Nina Nicole Longino recently authored an op-ed in Crain’s Chicago Business that details the need for further investment in Chicago Public School (CPS) students to access and thrive in college. For Longino, that investment is one-to-one mentorships between high schoolers and adult volunteers from some of Chicago’s most renowned employers including Northwestern Medicine, W.W. Grainger, and William Blair.
iMentor Chicago is still recruiting 200 more mentors to ensure every student in its program is paired with a positive role model. As Longino shares, the organization has demonstrated success in elevating equity in college access: “We focus on the South and West sides’ most under-resourced schools, where 99% of the population are students of color and a majority are the first in their families to go to college. Impressively, these partnerships are paying off: 66% of iMentor’s 2022 graduating class immediately enrolled in college – 5 percentage points higher than the full CPS average.”
Click here to read Longino’s full article via Crain’s Chicago Business.*
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