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NEW EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN PLUS
Middle Alantic Region

MENTORING PROJECT

Members of the 2007-08 Black American Princesses Mentoring Group, which NEW Plus has sponsored since 1996.

In the spring of 1996 the principal of Logan (WV) High School asked New Empowerment for Women Plus Director Joan Hairston to meet with a group of African-American female students because some of them were exhibiting behavior problems. Joan, who is African American, found that the students felt left out of school life and lacked concrete plans or hope for a successful future. Out of the first meeting the Black American Princesses (BAPs) mentoring group was formed and has been operating since that time.

The need for the project continues because young people who live in poverty are especially vulnerable and at risk of failing in or dropping out of school. With the decline of the coal industry and the exodus of many educated and skilled persons, Logan County has become a pocket of poverty. A third of public school children receive free and reduced-price school lunches. The high school graduation rate is 63 percent, compared with a national rate of 80 percent, according to Census Bureau figures.

The mentoring program seeks to help break the cycle of inadequate support in the educational system by enhancing learning and life experiences through college visits and enrichment projects, by supporting students as they complete high school and by encouraging the young people to pursue post high school education to obtain the skills they need to meet the challenges in their lives.

"Remembering from Back Then: Stories of our grandmothers" produced by members of the BAP Mentoring Group

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