Juvenile Enrichment Program (JEM)

Mid Valley Mentors’ Juvenile Enrichment Mentoring Program (JEM) provides one-to-one volunteer-driven mentoring for at-risk youth, ages 4-18, in Marion and Polk Counties.  In addition to weekly mentoring, JEM participants benefit from exposure to higher education, life skill development and community involvement opportunities.  JEM focuses on providing quality mentoring relationships by supporting volunteers with ongoing supervision, development trainings, support groups, regular mentor-youth group activities and access to resources.  Mid Valley Mentors also operates the Mentor Activity and Resource Center to provide a safe, supervised environment with a variety of games and resources for mentors and youth to utilize for their mentoring meetings.

Who JEM Serves:

Mid Valley Mentors JEM Program provides mentoring and support services for at-risk youth ages 4-18 who have a parent incarcerated, are on probation or have multiple risk factors associated with greater risk for criminal involvement.  Clients served are primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds.

JEM Services:

Mid Valley Mentors Juvenile Enrichment through Mentoring program provides:

• Risk and protective factor assessment and action plan
• One-to-one mentoring
  • Social and emotional support and development
  • Academic support and encouragement
  • Life skill development
• Life-skill training and prevention education
• Exposure to higher education
• Community involvement through service learning
• Mentor Activity and Resource Center:
  • No-cost supervised-setting for mentoring meetings
  • Activity materials that support positive interaction and facilitate relationship growth
  • Organized group activities for mentor-mentee matches
  • Mentor training and development opportunities
  • Information on activity and educational resources