Barack Obamaさんのインスタグラム写真 - (Barack ObamaInstagram)「⁣It doesn’t take a pandemic to see how vital mentorship programs are to our communities—they ensure young people, especially those growing up in underserved neighborhoods, don’t get left behind. I’d like to share the story of one mentorship organization going above and beyond in my hometown. ⠀ ⠀ Since 2005, New Life Centers of Chicagoland, a MBK Alliance Seed Community partner organization, has been providing mentorship and outreach to kids in the Little Village, Brighton Park, Humboldt Park, and Midway neighborhoods. The idea is that mentors and youth “walk together” through life—not just in the big moments, but through all the milestones in between so they never have to feel like they’re alone.⠀ ⠀ New Life Centers knew that this crisis wouldn’t just change the way their mentorship programming worked––they knew they had to adapt to meet the new needs of the youth they served. And for a lot of the families in their neighborhoods, the crisis has made a disproportionate impact. It meant hunger. It meant loss. But it didn’t mean losing hope. ⠀ ⠀ Since Chicago started sheltering in place, New Life Centers has been safely distributing healthy food to more than 400 families a week. They’ve also kept up their mentoring, tutoring, street outreach and even deployed video game consoles for virtual tournaments to keep up a little joyful communication and competition while families stay home. They’re still making sure that no kid has to walk alone, even if they can’t walk together right now. ⠀ ⠀ When you ask New Life Centers staff what keeps them motivated to see this work through, it’s an answer that rings true for so many organizations just like theirs: “Our young people keep us motivated. We know they’re facing the same challenges we are. And that’s why we do the work. We just want to make sure they know they have someone in their corner.”」4月18日 4時21分