National Mentoring Month: “I Can Do It Too — Because They Can”

There is a long tradition of people organizing from within when the systems around them fail. During the civil rights era, communities built networks of care, safety, and accountability because survival required it. People showed up for one another. They created spaces of belonging when institutions did not. Relationships became lifelines. Those relationships changed history.

Mentorship is a part of that tradition. Not as an idea, but as a practice: one person taking another seriously. One person staying.

That kind of relationship matters deeply for student parents.

Research shows that 85% of young people with a mentor say that relationship helped them with issues related to school and education. But for student parents, mentorship reaches further than academics. It shows up in the everyday moments—when life is crowded with responsibility and uncertainty, and someone is still willing to listen.

Lovee Weathersby is a Generation Hope Scholar in her second year of school, finishing her prerequisites. She names her goal clearly: “I want to be a surgical technician.”

Her story starts in more than one place. She was born in Texas, but her family moved back to New Orleans when she was six months old—just as Hurricane Katrina hit. “We moved to Atlanta until I was about six. And then we moved back here.”

She grew up across different parts of the city, carrying the impact of displacement even if she was too young to remember the storm itself. What she remembers is how it shaped her family—who stayed, who left, and what it meant to start anew.

When Lovee became a mother, that sense of uncertainty returned in a different form.

She was placed with her dedicated Generation Hope mentor, Vicky Nguyen recently. From the start, Lovee knew what she wanted: “I requested to have somebody that was on the same career path with me just because I knew they would be able to help more.” About Vicky, she says, “She’s very sweet, encouraging, supportive.”

Vicky, who is from the same area of New Orleans, remembers that first meeting vividly. “When I first met her and met London—her baby, who just turned one—it was like all the nerves just went away. It was more of like, we’re just cool.”

That ease matters.

Right now, student parents are navigating a fragile landscape. In our 2025 Basic Needs Survey, 28% of Scholars surveyed reported losing or experiencing cuts to SNAP or food assistance, and 25% reported healthcare disruptions tied to Medicaid. These aren’t abstract concerns. They show up in grocery aisles, in delayed appointments, in late-night calculations about what can wait.

Lovee knows this firsthand. When her car was totaled and she only had liability insurance, transportation disappeared overnight. “I was very upset,” she says. “Saving is hard for me.”

Through Generation Hope’s emergency fund, she was able to apply, get approved quickly, and secure support toward a safe vehicle. “They approve it within a day or two.” That support meant getting to class. It meant safe travels for her baby.

Mentorship didn’t fix everything—but it gave Lovee space to talk through what was happening. Vicky describes how that relationship grew. “I think in the beginning she was shy… not knowing what she could share.” Over time, that changed. Not because life got easier, but because trust deepened.

Vicky also speaks honestly about what mentoring Lovee has given her. “Mentoring a young mother is very different,” she says.

“It taught me how to be patient… how to understand… how to listen. Just being an outlet—for someone to even say what they’re feeling—has been very important for her and for me as well.”

Still on her own academic journey in pursuit of her medical degree, Vicky says, “It’s super encouraging to see young mothers who literally go to school, then go to work, then go home and feed their kids.” And then the line that stays with you:

“It opened my eyes and made me say, okay, I can do it too—because they can.”

Lovee describes Generation Hope this way: “It’s very understanding. I opened up to them about what I was struggling with—financial stuff, school, everything. And they helped. There’s not a lot of people like that.”

That understanding is intentional. Generation Hope provides tuition assistance, career coaching, mental health support, emergency funds, and gatherings tailored to families. Childcare is available at every event with the help of our Hope Corps volunteers. The details matter—because details signal care.

Mentorship is not about heroics. It is about accumulation. The relationships help reverse the isolation and weathering effects of systems that were never designed with families in mind. For our Scholars, it’s about making it possible for someone to say, we’re just cool—and mean it.

Right now, Generation Hope is recruiting both Scholars and mentors—welcoming student parents who want support through college and adults who are ready to show up alongside them.

Mentoring a Generation Hope Scholar creates an immediate two-generation impact. You are supporting a student, a child, and a family. You are participating in a tradition older than any one system: people helping people stay in motion.