NEW MENTORING PROGRAM FOR TEENS AND YOUNG WOMEN OF COLOR

New Jersey, May 17, 2018.  The National Girls and Women of Color Council, Inc. (NGWCC),  a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization in Jersey City announced the launch of the application acceptance period for the PACE Mentoring Program. PACE is a unique, high quality, curriculum-based one-on-one, group and e-mentoring program created using a holistic approach to address the unique needs, challenges and issues of teens (ages 13 through 17 ) and young women of color (18 and up) from underserved communities.

According to executive director and founder of the National Girls and Women of Color Council, Inc., Dr. Donnamaria Culbreth, “we developed the PACE Mentoring Program using four distinct pathways (1) Personal Enrichment, (2) Academic Success, (3) Career Exploration and Preparation and (4) Extracurricular Interests, based on community assessments, research and best practices identified by MENTOR, the national mentoring partnership. Each pathway is essential in building life-long learning foundations that will equip program participants with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to reach their full potential in life and higher ground. In addition, we will provide quality advice, guidance, coaching, and resources to program participants.” The program, scheduled to officially launch on September 7, 2018, is the first mentoring program in Jersey City to focus on the

• unique needs, visibility, voices, experiences, challenges, issues and traumas;
• psychological, emotional, physical and social well-being and growth; and
• personal enrichment, academic success, career exploration and preparation and the pursuit of extracurricular interests of teens and young women of color.

“We strive for program participants to reach for the stars believing and knowing that the sky and beyond is the limit and that the power to achieve their dreams is within. We strive for them to become success stories in their own right, to discover their unique callings, talents and strengths and then share their knowledge, skills and abilities acquired through the PACE Mentoring Program with the world and strive to leave the world better than they found it,” said Dr. Culbreth.

The program’s e-Mentoring component will allow teens and young women worldwide to participate in the mentoring program. “This is monumental” said Dr. Julie Jung, Vice President of the Board of Directors and co-founder of the National Girls and Women of Color Council, Inc. “because we will be able to help teens and young women worldwide reach for the stars at any time and in any place.” The e-mentoring component will also include e-workshops and custom designed videos focusing on the four program pathways.

Dr. Culbreth stated, “teens and young women of color have been sending out “SOS” signals, we heard their voices loud and clear and developed PACE in response because we are our sisters’ keepers. PACE will make a difference.”

The group mentoring sessions will be held at the Community Room of the United Way of Hudson County on Bergen Avenue in Jersey City. “We are thankful and grateful to the United Way of Hudson County for their support because absent their support, we would not be able to launch PACE,” said Dr. Culbreth.

When asked about her passion to help girls, teens and young women of color, Dr. Culbreth stated, “my late parents were educators whose talents and unique callings enabled them to touch the lives of so many young people in Jersey City. I guess the passion spilled over to me because this is my unique calling that has become my passion and life’s work. I do what I do because it is deeply ingrained in the inner fabric of my being and because I have a “heart full of grace and a soul generated by love” (King, 1968).

Dr. Culbreth is the daughter of the late Ollie E. Culbreth, Jr. who was a retired Jersey City educator after whom Public School #14 in Jersey City is named, and the late Rev. Dr. Ada B. Culbreth who was also a retired Jersey City educator.

The PACE Mentoring Program is accepting program applications through the end of July. For additional information, please visit the website of the PACE Mentoring Program.

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