Mayor Announces Mentoring Program for Duval Schools | News

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Hundreds of school-based mentors will be available to Duval County school students by April 1, the mayor announced today.

Mayor's Mentors is a public-private partnership to put 500 school-based mentors with Duval County Public School students by April 1.

The United Way of Northeast Florida will coordinate the effort, which Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown said would not cost the public anything.

He urged the public during a news conference today at the Jacksonville Main Library to give one hour per week to influence a child.

The goal of the Mayor's Mentors initiative is to "recruit, train and match mentors with Duval County Public School students to increase on-time, next grade promotion and graduation rates."

To help the Mayor's Mentor effort, the public can call the United Way at 211 or visit the mentoring website.