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Heart for Youth

Empowering youth and young adults to reach their full potential.

Heart for Youth

See Our Approach
Our Mission

Connecting youth with life-changing mentorship

Heart for Youth is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping youth across Santa Clara County realize their full potential through thoughtful and ongoing adult mentorship.

Our Impact

Mentorship that lasts

75+

Youth and young adults connected with a mentor

81

Trained mentors working with our members

30+

Program members who have graduated high school

Member Story

Real lives, real change

Gloria

Gloria entered Heart for Youth in November 2019 at age 16, facing bullying, anxiety, and struggling with daily tasks. Her mentor Cynthia walked alongside her for three years — together they set goals and Gloria pursued her high school diploma through independent studies.

Today, at 20, Gloria is in her second year of community college and is on track to transfer to San Jose State University to study psychology or social work. She is volunteering, working as an intern, and thriving.

“H4Y has been such a support system when I needed to talk to someone. It is a community filled with people who want to help us succeed in life. It helped me connect to others and I felt less alone in a time when I really needed that.”

Learn more about our approach →

The Evidence

Mentorship makes a difference

According to the National Mentoring Partnership, kids considered at-risk who had a mentor were:

55%

M​ore likely to enroll in college

78%

More likely to volunteer regularly

81%

More likely to participate in extracurriculars

130%

More likely to hold leadership positions

The data is clear — mentoring makes a huge impact on the lives of at-risk youth.

Source: The Mentoring Effect: Young People’s Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, 2014.

Prevention is key

It’s easier to build up a child than to repair an adult

Kids who fall through the cracks are more likely to fall into negative-reinforcing systems such as criminal justice, homelessness, child welfare, and drug addiction. Mentorship intercepts at-risk youth and young adults before things go bad.

At Heart for Youth, our goal is to match at-risk youth and young adults with well-trained, well-supported long-term mentors — creating a positive ripple effect that empowers our members to:

  • Say no to gangs, drugs, violence, and crime
  • Stay in school and succeed in their studies
  • Have a plan after high school graduation
  • Consider themselves successfully independent from their risk factors
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