Horton's Kids | Volunteering

The children of Horton's Kids face hardships every day such as neglect of basic needs at home, poor self-esteem, and violence in their neighborhood and schools. To help them overcome these obstacles and realize their potential, Horton’s Kids needs volunteers to serve as mentors to children from ages 8 to 18.

Each mentor is paired with one mentee based on personality, interests, gender, and feedback from the potential mentor/mentee. The pairs spend 6-8 hours per month together with other mentors and their mentees on fun, social, Hkids-sponsored field trips held two Sundays per month. The volunteers meet at the Capitol South metro stop at noon the day of the field trip, take yellow school buses to pick-up the kids (they all live in the same housing project area so this does not take long) and head to the activity. We feed the kids lunch, take them home, and return volunteers to the Capitol South metro by about 4:00 pm.

After a volunteer has at least two months experience with Horton’s Kids and has been approved by staff, he/she may spend time with the child one-on-one in place of the group activities to fulfill the 6-8 hour monthly commitment. In addition to spending time with the child, mentors are expected to make weekly contact with their child and monthly contact with the child's mother or guardian.

Mentors play an important role in the children ’s lives and therefore need to take their commitment and responsibilities very seriously. Mentors undergo a rigorous background check and commit to one year of working with their assigned child. Mentors strive to help their mentees form a trusting relationship, build life skills, improve school attendance, build socialization skills, and improve confidence. Horton’s Kids provides workshops to help mentors develop the skills and knowledge they need to work with the children.

Mentor Commitment

Serve as a mentor to your mentee for a minimum of one year. After completion of one year, there is an opportunity to extend the commitment if both the mentor and mentee choose.
Spend at least 6 to 8 hours per month with your mentee. There will generally be two Horton’s Kids-sponsored activities per month on Sundays that you are invited to attend with your mentee to fulfill this commitment. If you have been volunteering more than two months with Horton’s Kids and have been approved by the staff, you may coordinate alternate activities to do with your child outside of or in place of the planned activities.
Contact your mentee at least once per week. On any week that you do not see the mentee, you should call him/her. If the mentee does not have access to a phone, find alternate ways to make contact such as mailing them a letter or postcard.
Contact your mentee’s mother or guardian at least once per month. If the guardian does not have access to a phone, find alternate ways to make contact such as mailing a letter.
Help your mentee work on the following skills/objectives: forming a trusting relationship with you, building work ethic, gaining leadership skills, improving school attendance, building socialization skills, and improving confidence.
Complete and follow the guidelines of all paperwork, trainings, and evaluations set forth by Horton’s Kids. This includes going through the mentor application and background check process, attending a training before starting as a mentor, completing monthly evaluations, and attending quarterly mentoring meetings and workshops held throughout the year.