Buffalo News (New York), January 31,2005, Monday

Copyright 2005 Buffalo News
Buffalo News

January 31, 2005, Monday

HEADLINE: Mentoring program for students expanding

BYLINE: By Fred O. Williams

BODY:

The rest of the week, Angela Pettigrew is a sophomore at City Honors high school.
But on Thursday afternoons, she works on a membership database for WNYCOSH, a workplace safety group in Buffalo.
"It's helped me learn more on the computer," says Pettigrew, who plans to become an engineer.
The 15-year-old is one of 10 Buffalo high school students in a mentorship program organized by the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Formed in 2002 to help students prepare for the working world, the program is now seeking to expand by attracting more employers and college-student mentors.
The mentoring program is aimed at students seeking a skilled, living-wage job after graduation, as well as the college-bound, said Angela Jordan, president of the CBTU's Buffalo Chapter.
"Some children just don't fit that (college-bound) program," she said. "We thought, 'What can we do to help them?' "
Students are teamed with a two mentors; a CBTU member and a student from the University at Buffalo or Buffalo State College. They earn a stipend of $ 10 an hour for up to four hours of work a week. Employers include the United Way, Veterans Administration Hospital and Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Students also attend monthly talks on topics like labor law and workplace safety. The students write papers on the presentations and submit them to mentors for feedback on writing skills, Jordan said.
Usually employers pay the stipend, but some organizations that lack openings for youth workers have contributed cash to the program instead, supporting a student's work at another employer, Jordan said.
CBTU chapters in other upstate cities are looking to copy the program. In Buffalo, the organization hopes to triple the number of high school students enrolled by adding to the list of employer sponsors as well as mentors.
Pettigrew is one of two students in the program working at WNYCOSH, short for Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health. The other, Hutch-Tech senior Domonique Bulls, works in the group's "sweat free schools" anti-sweatshop initiative.
Pettigrew is learning use of publishing software and preparing to take on the task of putting out the group's member newsletter, said Brian Brown-Cashdollar, project director at WNYCOSH.
Through word-of-mouth the program has no shortage of interested students, having received over 200 applications for the current school year, Jordan said.
People interested in becoming sponsors or mentors can e-mail cbtubuffalo@yahoo.com, or write to CBTU, PO Box 707, Buffalo, N.Y. 14215.
-----