Get Ensuring The Future Of The African American Male 2012-2013 Rays Of Hope Scholarship Application

In addition to providing positive role models, male mentors can also help boys develop important life skills. This is particularly important for boys who may not have positive male role models and/or healthy fathers in their lives.

"Students tend to get tied into the mentor's network of colleagues, and that creates more open doors." Graduate students with mentors are also likely to be more satisfied with their programs, be more involved in professional organizations, and have a stronger sense of professional identity, Johnson says.

Mentoring can support Black youth's ability to excel when mentors use their connections and skills to sponsor young people and help them access opportunities that may have otherwise been invisible or inaccessible to them.

students to succeed. For example, African American males in mentoring programs tend to show higher self-esteem, higher levels of academic motivation, and performance.

Increased emphasis on mentoring was a significant component for creating a supportive environment (Brooks, Jones & Burt, 2013). African American male students tend to experience greater satisfaction and persistence when connections with the faculty and other students are perceived as needed (Britt, 2013).