Finding time to mentor

Deutsche Bank joined other companies for the inaugural “Good for Me. Good for My City.” Citywide Speed Mentoring Event. Organized by NYC Service, a division of the Office of the Mayor, the event engaged over 175 corporate volunteers from 13 businesses as mentors to over 200 high school students.

“Today’s Citywide Speed Mentoring Events are about connecting NYC high school students to adults who care, creating pathways to positive youth development,” said NYC Chief Service Officer Paula Gavin. The speed mentoring format allowed adults and students to have meaningful conversations even in a short time period.

The events were held at six transfer high schools across all five boroughs. Students in transfer high schools are typically overage and under-accredited. NYC Service identified the transfer high school population as having less access to traditional mentoring programs. These students face tremendous adversity but choose to remain in school. NYC Service seized the opportunity to expose them to the possibilities in their own futures. Deutsche Bank employees volunteered at Manhattan’s Emma Lazarus High School, which serves English language learners.

In addition, the speed mentoring events supported NYC Service’s “Good for Me. Good for My City.” campaign, through which 20 businesses collectively pledged to engage 5,000 of their employees as volunteer mentors to high school students this year. The campaign is one of the first strategies launched to support the NYC Youth Mentoring Initiative, which aims to establish mentoring programs in 400 NYC high schools by 2022, annually engaging 14,000 New Yorkers as volunteer mentors to 40,000 high school students. The initiative further supports the City’s Equity and Excellence plan to achieve 80 percent high school graduation and two-thirds of graduates college ready by 2026.

For more on Deutsche Bank’s involvement with the "Good For Me. Good For My City." campaign, please click here.