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Waiting for Superman Campaign

MENTOR/Partners Urge Discussion around Waiting for "Superman"

MENTOR and state Mentoring Partnerships, along with our national partners, are engaging in a national discussion about the documentary Waiting for "Superman", which highlights challenges in the American public education system and is being released by the same team that brought the world An Inconvenient Truth, including Davis Guggenheim as creator and director, Participant Media as producer and Paramount Pictures as distributor.

In this film, Guggenheim explores some of the issues surrounding the United States public education system and identifies a few of the innovators who are making changes that they believe can better prepare the next generation for opportunity and success.

MENTOR is working with a number of partners to conduct screenings of this movie in order to promote conversations and encourage action. MENTOR hopes the film and discussions will help people understand that mentoring is a powerful solution to keeping kids in school.

Pledge to see the film, as well as view the trailer.

"We realized that this film had the potential to spark a national conversation about our children's future," said MENTOR's President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Larry Wright. "We felt this was an excellent opportunity to work with as many of our partners as possible to mobilize Americans to end the dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and a 21^stcenturycareer."

In addition to participating in the conversation around Waiting for "Superman", MENTOR also partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Mentoring USA in the recently-launched Academic Achievement through Mentoring initiative. This initiative aims to link potential mentors with young people in the 2,000 lowest-performing schools in the country, which account for approximately 50 percent of students who drop out of high school and 75 percent of students of color who drop out. MENTOR is a partner with the America's Promise Alliance Grad Nation campaign centered on dropout prevention, found at www.americaspromise.org.  Additionally, MENTOR is a partner with United Way in their Campaign for the Common Good, found at www.liveunited.org.

How MENTOR is Involved

After seeing the movie, people will be directed to www.waitingforsuperman.com to take action.  On the site, they can enter their zip code to find local mentoring opportunities through MENTOR’s Volunteer Referral Service database of 5,000 mentoring programs, Mentoring Partnerships and Volunteer Centers throughout the U.S.

It is our hope that the film and ensuing dialogue will inform and help people understand that mentoring is one powerful solution to keeping kids in school. 

In addition, MENTOR and Mentoring Partnerships will be participating on discussion panels after screenings.  Panels around the country are being hosted by America’s Promise Alliance and United Way. 

Resources:

• MENTOR Waiting for "Superman" Mentoring Messaging
• National Campaign Information
• Local Campaign Information
• Opportunities For State Mentoring Partnerships and Local Partners
• America’s Promise Alliance Grad Nation Campaign
• United Way Messaging
• United Way's Education Strategies: Improving Success for Children and Youth
• United Way's Campaign for the Common Good
• Pledge to See the Film

The Buzz around the Movie:

• Friedman, Thomas (2010), “Steal This Movie, Too,” The New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/opinion/25friedman.html?_r=1&ref=thomaslfriedman
• Heilemann, John (2010) Schools: The Disaster Movie, New York magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/features/67966/

Disclaimer:  The messages portrayed in the film do not necessarily represent the views of MENTOR.  We are promoting every young person’s right to achieve their full potential.  Education is an important part of that process.  We do not have an opinion on the debate of charter schools versus public schools or other issues related to the U.S. public education system. We can, however, discuss the proven merits of mentoring as a whole and as an intervention that helps keep young people in school.