Minds Matter!

Meghan (right) with her co-mentor Arthur and their mentee Stephanie at the “Million TreesNYC” Spring Planting Day. That day 250 volunteers planted 2,500 trees and shrubs in a forty-acre shrubland on the northern edge of Floyd Bennett Field.

Minds Matter is a not-for-profit mentoring organization whose volunteers help students who have the potential and ambition to go to college, but lack the resources to do so. Started by six Wall Streeters in 1991, the organization has grown to six cities, and has an amazingly high success rate as far as college acceptance: 100% of graduates of the Minds Matter program have been accepted to a four-year college or university. Meghan O’Reilly at Mancini•Duffy has been involved with the organization since last year, and recently told us about it.

Q: So, tell me what volunteering entails.

Meghan: Most of the work is done on Saturdays, and a typical Saturday will go from 9:30 to 2:30. In our group, there are six students, twelve mentors, and a team leader – so it’s kind of a team effort. What you do in the program is dependent on what year your student is. The student I mentor, Stephanie, is a sophomore, and so the curriculum for her year focuses on writing and critical thinking, public speaking, debate, and PSAT prep. The goal for the year is to place students in a college summer program so they can get a taste of what college will be like – hopefully, they’ll get introduced to a wider world beyond what they know. Minds Matter pays for the cost of the summer college program, so it’s all about a student’s motivation, and not their financial resources.

Q: What are some of the activities you do with the students?

Meghan: As an example, each week a student will present an article from the New York Times, and lead a discussion about it. The program helps open up the students to a multiplicity of attitudes, of ways of learning. And a lot of the time is spent piloting students through the admissions process – Stephanie and I have completed at least five applications for summer programs. It’s time consuming, but it’s also good practice for college applications, and it certainly helps them hone their writing skills.

Q: What are the students like?

Meghan: These kids are very determined, very smart – they not only give up their Saturdays to do this, but spend time during the week on the writing assignments we give them. This is of course in addition to their regular schoolwork. A lot of the students are first-generation in this country, and the first in their families to go to college, so often there’s not a lot of experience with the college application process. My personal experience has been terrific – Stephanie is so motivated. I love being able to help her navigate through this process and, because of the nature of the program, I’ll be working with her for the next two years as well. So it’s a big commitment but, for me, the rewards of doing this kind of work – helping a talented young person to succeed – are huge.

A truly volunteer-driven organization, Minds Matter estimates that the value of time volunteered for their programs since the program began is $2,000,000. The volunteer-to-paid-staff ratio is approximately 275:1, an extremely efficient ratio for a charitable organization. To make a tax-deductible contribution to the New York Chapter of this 501(c)3 organization, go here.