Elycia Cook, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Colorado, remembers her mentor well. And she remembers one decision her mentor helped her make in particular.
“I had a mentor who encouraged me to move to Japan,” she said, adding that having a mentor who looked like her made her more comfortable with the decision.
The move proved transformative for Cook and eventually for her organization, which has been matching “Bigs” with “Littles” for 118 years. Her own experience opened her eyes to how to best serve the people she is tasked with helping — according to the National Institutes of Health, 76 percent of youth participants in mentorship programs identify as a person of color.
But it’s not just support for young people. Cook is making intentional efforts in addressing the systemic reasons that prevent people of color from volunteering, too.
“Our content and messaging has changed, we’re in the community,” she said about their organizational efforts to grow diversity in opportunities for more people of color to volunteer to become mentors, particularly, Black men.