Every young man needs a man in his face challenging him with wisdom regarding the critical issues and decisions in his life. The absence of a positive, mature male influence directly contributes to the male adolescent crisis occurring in our schools and community. Our mentoring program, "Talks My Father Never Had With Me" offers a solution to this male adolescent crisis. It is a mentoring program that pairs one older mature man, with three young maturing men, elementary school age through high school. 

The one man mentoring three young men concept multiplies the effort, discourages manipulation and unhealthy bonding, and provides an interesting dynamic for interaction. Mentors meet with their mentees for 30 minutes each week throughout the school year at their mentee's school, community center, or church and begin their interaction by reading together and discussing a chapter from the "Talks My Father Never Had With Me" book.

The Vision of The "Talks" Curriculum

• To share wisdom between generations-to expose young men to the wisdom of older men and the elders.
  
  
• To provide the opportunity for constructive dialogue and exchange of ideas between the generations.
  
  
• To provide an atmosphere for instruction in moral, ethical and responsible living by mature men to young men.
  
  
• To provide boys with traditional wisdom that will help them be successful in life.
  
  
• To encourage men to be aware of the struggles of boys and give men something they can specifically do to help.
  
  
• To expose young men to mature men who can model for them and mentor them is the initial goal. Ultimately, the goal is to lead the young men to a personal commitment to integrity and excellence.

The Curriculum in General

• A comprehensive, concise curriculum for mentoring young men.
  
  
• Allows agencies to partner with the community to take a proactive position in remedying the moral disintegration and decline among young men.
  
  
• A structured, practical and pragmatic curriculum that addresses topics that tare often hard to discuss otherwise.
  
  
• Because of the structured curriculum, the book can be the "villain" that brings up the challenging subjects that need to be discussed.
  
  
• Utilized in a small-group setting of one mentor to three boys.
  
  
• One thirty-five minute mentoring session each week (for men who will be leaving work to mentor, it is only a one-hour a week commitment inclusive of travel time).
  
  
• One chapter from the book is read each week, and the questions and quotations at the end of the chapter are discussed.
  
  
• Twenty-six chapters in all.
  
  
• Various topics include: Living in Poverty; Fears and Anxieties That Stop Us In Life; Gangs; How Does Your Size Affect You; Drugs; My First Job; Your Concept of the Work Ethic; I Was Treated Unfairly Today (Prejudice); and many other pertinent topics. 

The mentoring program does not target particular schools per-say, all of our youth are at risk and need good adult role models, however, ICAAM initially made a deliberate effort to offer the program to the principals of our urban schools. Currently, the "Talks" program is in over thirty IPS schools, including the Pacer Academy, where over thirty Pacer Front Office employees mentor students. Other Township School Systems using the program are Warren, Pike, Wayne, Lawrence, and Decatur. Additionally, many PAL club members, Public Defenders, and Indianapolis Fire Fighters have been trained and are mentoring in our schools. 

Our mentors come from all walks of life and are recruited by ICAAM and school personnel. We take the lead in training the first group of mentors and a site coordinator who provides ongoing coordination of the program at each school. The 100 Black Men of Indianapolis have adopted this curriculum and added it to the majority of their youth programs. It is estimated that the "Talks" Mentoring Program has touched over 3,000 youth and 1,000 adults in the Indianapolis area. ICAAM has also introduced the curriculum for girls, "Talks My Mother Never Had With Me", to schools and other agencies working with girls in Indianapolis.

• Talks My Father Never Had with Me
• Talks My Mother Never Had with Me

If the Talks Program is not currently in your child's school, other mentoring opportunities are available in Marion County/Indianapolis.  For a full list of these opportunities, click here

For more information regarding mentoring opportunities, call the Mentor Hotline, 317-921-1277

 Hints for finding mentoring opportunities in your area:

• Check local newspapers for ideas

• Check with local religious organizations

• Check with neighborhood schools

• Look for resources in the yellow pages 

• Check with local multi-service centers

• National Center for Fathering Newsletter

If you know of or are affiliated with any programs not listed on our site, please let us know. You may contact us at 317-327-5775 or DROZZELL@Indygov.org.