Mentoring program comes to DuPage

DuPage County now has two ways to mentor teenagers.

In addition to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a new group, MetroMentors, is entering the picture.

For nearly 30 years, Metropolitan Family Services of DuPage worked with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. In the past year, however, the national mentoring organization took a look at the Chicago branch of its group and determined it could better serve DuPage County by expanding its own services, explained Janet Alikpala, manager of marketing and communication for the Chicago group.

As of July, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago took over the DuPage County area.

Metropolitan Family Services DuPage then launched MetroMentors -- a program that's similar in nature but has plenty of options for differences, as well, explained Greg O'Donnell, program director for MetroMentors.

O'Donnell said they specifically try to pair teens and adults based on interests and personality types, working all across DuPage County. They now offer site-based programs where the mentoring pairs can meet to play sports or work on homework.

They're trying to expand into a school-based mentoring program, as well, O'Donnell explained.

With a lot of companies supporting the concept of mentoring programs, they're hoping they'll allow employees to stop by schools to mentor students during lunch hours, he said.

Having the two groups working in the same area shouldn't pose any difficulty, O'Donnell said.

"There's so many youth," he said. "I don't think we could ever exhaust the need."