San Diego BRIGHT Families Mentor Project

The San Diego BRIGHT Families Project is a mentoring program to help youth negotiate through their turbulent teen years. A primary goal of the program is to provide youth with the knowledge and strength to avoid teen pregnancy. In addition, the program focuses on teaching teens how to have positive relationships, fostering a caring environment to help build self esteem, and exposing teens to different opportunities for careers and education.

Mentors spend six months with their teens, for at least five hours per month. They talk with teens about reproductive health, teach them how to set and achieve goals, help with homework, and form positive relationships. BRIGHT Families trains mentors on the reproductive health curriculum, and also shows them how to effectively work with their mentees. In addition, the project provides mentor support and holds fun and educational group activities every month.