The Kindness Of Strangers: Adult Mentors, Urban Youth, And The New Volunteerism

The Story

Many of us care deeply about the fate of young people growing up in poverty. We worry about their future and the future of an increasingly fragmented society. We want to help, but it's often hard to know how, or even where to start.The Kindness of Strangers reveals how caring adults in cities across America are trying to turn young lives around. It also tells of the much celebrated mentoring movement they have created. In this vivid portrayal of that movement, Marc Freedman shows how ordinary citizens can reach out to the children who are growing up in poverty and community violence--alone, exposed, and forgotten.Based on interviews with over three hundred mentors, youths, foundation officials, scholars, and youth workers, The Kindness of Strangers takes a hard look at mentoring: How much can really be accomplished? What makes the difference between a successful program and a program fraught with difficulties? What kinds of people make the most effective mentors? Is mentoring really the best way to reach kids with tough lives? Marc Freedman brings experience, research, and realism to these questions in an effort to reach the truth about today's mentoring movement.