Information session – Become an East Bay College Fund mentor

Have you ever thought of becoming a mentor to one of Oakland’s youth? Did you miss the last information session, but still want to learn more?  It’s not too late — you are still needed!

President Napolitano has designated UCOP as a partner of Oakland Promise, an initiative to triple the number of Oakland youth that graduate from college within the next 10 years. The lead agency, East Bay College Fund (EBCF), provides students with college scholarships and mentoring to help qualified need-based Oakland students prepare for, attend, and succeed at UC campuses.

This year, EBCF hopes to match 300 dedicated new mentors with four-year scholarship recipients, and they need your help to reach their goal.

The amount of time required for volunteering is very reasonable: Mentors commit to attend two “retreats” and have at least one interaction per month with the student while they are in college. These could occur in-person or by phone, text, Google Hangout or Skype.

More about EBCF

EBCF’s model of pairing financial support with services such as mentoring, advising, retreats, on campus peer-group support, ensures that their scholars graduate college at four times the national average for low income students. Ninety percent of their students are low income and the first in their family to attend college, and 85 percent are African American and Latino.

To learn more about becoming a mentor, join UCOP and EBCF staff at a brown bag information session. Cookies will be provided, but feel free to bring your lunch, too.

If you have any questions, please contact Deanna Berg, director of Constituent Partnerships, at 510-987-0889 or deanna.berg@ucop.edu.