experience. I got the privi-lege to speak at a National Conference, and it was awesome.” Chardae piqued the in- terest of staff members at the Administration on

Children and Fami-lies after Building Dreams staff in-formed the federal liaison that Chardae, who has been mentored by Carol for three years, had gradu-ated salutatorian of her class and would be attending Clem-son University. From all of us at Building

Dreams, congratulations Chardae. Thanks for allow-ing us to be a part of your journey.

Building Dreams men-tee Chardae Anderson was featured at the 2008 Mentoring Children of Prisoners (MCP) National Conference in Washing-ton, D.C. , October 30-31. Accompanied by her mentor, Carol Stewart, and her mother, Tonya Anderson, Chardae played the role of emcee, and intro-duced several speakers to the conference atten-dees. “As I sat in the audience at the MCP confer-ence and listened to Chardae speak to over 450 participants, I thanked God for this powerful ex-perience and for opportu-

Building Dreams mentee featured at national conference

nities that the future holds for this beautiful, smart, and motivated young lady,” Carol said. “I never thought about it before, but the name ‘Building Dreams’ really fits.”

Chardae, too, was ap-preciative of the experi-ence: “I can honestly say it was a once in a lifetime

W I N T E R 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Sam Cureton Deputy Sherriff, Greenville Co. Sheriff’s Office and Assoc. Minis-ter of Reedy River Mis-sionary Baptist Church 1. What motivated you to become a mentor?

I feel that the most pro-ductive avenue to helping our young people is through mentoring. I became involved after seeing so many children in our society who were being led astray due to peer pressure which was a result of not having a support system at home. I've been with the Greenville Co. Sheriff's Office for 18 years and throughout these years I have seen many young people falling between the cracks. A lot of lives and a lot of talent being lost because they were listening to the wrong messages.

2. Can you share what you’ve learned so far from this experience?

MENTOR SPOTLIGHT

Mentoring Children of Prisoners

Building Dreams is a mentoring program for children who have an incarcerated parent. Building Dreams is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is a collaboration of Clemson University’s Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Angel Tree Ministries and community partners in the following counties: Charleston, Clarendon, Greenville, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg counties.

Chardae practices for her two days of introducing speakers at the MCP National Conference held in October in Washington, D.C.

Spotlight cont. from p. 1

It has definitely been a learning experience for me as well. Patience and time man-agement are things that we continue to build upon and my experience in the Building Dreams program has definitely been a plus in those areas.

3. What activities have you done with your mentee?

A lot of our activities have been with our faith-based group at Reedy River Mission-ary Baptist Church such as visiting the MLK Center and college campuses in At-lanta. We've attended Youth seminars together and gone to Drive baseball games. The simplest things have been go-ing out to lunch, assisting with Adopt-A-Highway trash pickup, and just hanging out.

4. What advice would you give to someone interested in becoming a mentor?

Relationships are built through good communication and you need to have a positive rela-tionship with your men-tee. Many of those individuals who need mentoring need con-sistency. To be a good mentor you need to be consistent.

P A G E 2

A Day at the Zoo

notes to folks in the community in service occupations).

• Go to the library to rent a free movie, par-ticipate in story time, play games on the com-puter, and/or research a topic of interest.

• Visit the nearest zoo.

• Ride bikes.

• Attend local festivals.

Unsure about what to do with your mentee? Is trying to think of things to do with a mentee keeping you from getting involved? Below are some ideas to help: • Practice random acts of

kindness (cook a meal and deliver it to some-one who isn’t expecting it; rake someone’s leaves; send thank you

• Cook a meal together.

• Go bowling.

• Play board games.

• Rent a movie.

• Paint pottery.

• Create a scrapbook.

• Play frisbee.

• Make a video. • Look in the local pa-

per for special events and free activities.

tors and mentees to get together, meet one an-other, and enjoy fun and fellowship for an after-noon,” said Beth Bagwell,

Building Dreams staff member. Employees of Kohl’s Department Stores vol-unteered to assist with the event and Kohl’s also made a monetary dona-

tion to support the Building Dreams pro-gram. Thank you, Kohl’s!

In addition to trips such as this one, Building Dreams encourages mentors and men-tees to get involved in their com-munities. To that

end, we will be participat-ing in a service project on January 19, 2009, to do our part to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a day on and not a day off.

Participants in Build-ing Dreams, which fos-ters relationships be-tween volunteer men-tors and children of in-carcerated par-ents, have the opportunity for regular group outings that also include family members of both men-tors and men-tees. Twenty-eight mentees from Greenville, Pickens, and Oconee coun-ties, mentors and family members, enjoyed a Sep-tember visit to the Greenville Zoo and a picnic supper in adjacent Cleveland Park. “It was a great op-portunity for the men-

B U I L D I N G D R E A M S

What do mentors and mentees do together?

We Stand for Kids Travels to Birmingham, AL P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

In October of 2008, 35 youth and 11 adults journeyed from Anderson, SC, to Birmingham, AL, to spend a day learning about the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). “About 95% of our kids are African-American, and they don’t know about the Civil Rights Movement,” said Takesha James, project director for WSFK. “We decided to organize this trip to teach them, and to remind our-selves, that you don’t know who you are until you know where you came from.”

The group began their day watching the Magic City Classic parade, which celebrates the ri-valry between the state's two larg-est historically black universities—Alabama State and Alabama A&M. They then went to Kelly Ingram Park, which served as a central staging ground for large-scale demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The park is the setting for several

pieces of sculpture related to the Civil Rights Movement, a central fountain, and commemorative stat-ues of Dr. King, Rev.

Shut-tlesworth and other heroes of the move-ment. The day con-cluded with a trip to the Bir-mingham Civil Rights In-stitute, which documents the struggles of African-American citizens in Bir-mingham to become full participants in the city’s government and busi-ness community. “I learned things that I didn't know before, like about the bomb-ing at the church on 16th Street,

where the little girls were killed by white supremists,” said one of the youth who was able to par-

ticipate in the trip. “This

was a great opportunity and one that I will never forget.”

For more information on WSFK, visit their website at http://www.wsfk.org

• 1 in 33 American children—and 1 in 8 African American children—has a parent incarcerated.

South Carolina • South Carolina has historically ranked

between 5th and 8th nationally in the rate of incarceration.

• In 2006, South Carolina ranked first in the nation in the rate of violent crime. (FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2006)

• In the last 35 years, the number of fe-males incarcerated has increased 993%.

Global Incarceration • America is the global leader in the

use of imprisonment.

Nationwide Statistics • 1 in every 100 adults in the United

States is in prison or jail. (PEW, 2008) • 1 in every 32 adults is under some form

of correctional supervision (jail, prison, probation, parole). (BJS, 2007)

• 1 in 10 American children has a parent under criminal justice su-pervision—incarceration, on proba-tion, or on parole.

Did You Know ???

B uilding Dreams has been a pro-foundly humbling experience for

me…to build a relation-ship with a child who is an unwitting victim of her parent’s incarceration is a privilege…one of the most wonderful things in the world is to see her smile….

Stephanie Norton, Site Coordinator & Mentor

Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life

Clemson University

158 Poole Agricultural Center

Clemson, SC 29634

Phone: 864-238-0187

Fax: 864-656-6281

E-mail: mcleigh@clemson.edu

WE’RE ON THE WEB!!

For more information on the Insti-

tute on Family & Neighborhood Life at

Clemson University, and the Building

Dreams mentoring program, visit

http://www.clemson.edu/ifnl

Have a story to share? Topic you would like to see covered in the next newsletter? A match to nominate for the spotlight? Contact us at:

January is National Mentor-ing Month. Help us to find caring adults to serve as mentors for chil-dren of incarcerated parents. Share this newsletter, our website, flyers, brochures or postcards with your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. To receive materials or have a staff member speak to a group, just let us know!

Remember, in the time it takes to watch one episode of your favorite TV show, you can impact a child for a lifetime! To learn more about National Mentoring Month, visit our website.

Building Dreams Nonprofit Organization

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