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Youth MentorshipRescue Student in Fire Suit

RESCUE Youth Mentoring Program

Developed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and Fire Department, the RESCUE Youth Program provides a firefighter mentor for young people ages 12 to 14 who are not yet involved in criminal activities, but are exhibiting at-risk behavior. It’s goal is to provide young people with the skills and relationships that will help them avoid gang involvement and other criminal activities.

The RESCUE Youth Program promotes the concept of one-on-one mentoring as a success strategy to do just that. District Attorney staff interview students who are referred to the office by local school districts because of truancy, disciplinary problems, poor academic performance, or other at-risk indicators. District Attorney staff then match each student with a firefighter who volunteers to serve as a mentor at a designated fire station near the student’s home.

Once placed at a fire station, RESCUE students participate in a variety of activities designed to help them develop a positive "big brother"-type relationship with their firefighter mentor and to promote the importance of regular school attendance. Through one-on-one communication, interaction around the station, and the learning of practical skills, firefighter mentors help students develop values that are often in short supply in their lives: self-esteem, problem-solving skills, teamwork, and goal development. Incentives – such as field trips, emergency kits, and emergency call ride-along opportunities – enhance the students’ experience in the program.

Since the program’s inception, nearly 600 students have benefited from their relationship with their firefighter mentor. Many have received Most Improved Student of the Year awards after their year-long participation in the program; some have continued on to the Fire Department’s Explorer Program and now aspire toward careers in fire service. Most important, however, RESCUE participants have consistently exhibited dramatic improvements in school attendance and personal development, including bolstered self-esteem and sense of discipline. Because of that success, RESCUE has now expanded to Long Beach and Montebello city fire departments. It’s an important endeavor, because it’s an effort to save our County’s most important resource – our youth.

Rescue Student with MentorRESCUE Activities
  • Fire safety
  • Knot-tying
  • First aid/CPR
  • Earthquake preparedness
  • Fire prevention
  • Emergency ride-alongs
  • Exit drills from the home
  • Rappelling
  • Proper handling of toxic chemicals in the home
  • Working with ladders
  • Power tool demonstrations

Field trips and other activities which promote individual and group responsibility and teamwork are scheduled throughout the year. Activities range from recreational outings to viewing local professional sports teams to projects which benefit the community.

Rescue Mentor Profiles

For more information on the RESCUE Youth Program, call (213) 974-7401

Whittier Peer Mentoring Program

As part of the community prosecution effort in Whittier, the District Attorney’s Office has worked with the city and local school district to create the Peer Mentoring Program. In the Peer Mentoring Program, college-bound high school seniors serve as mentors to fifth-graders in need of a role model.

Prospective mentors undergo an extensive selection process, including a panel interview. Those selected as mentors are then given a comprehensive training on mentoring techniques and strategies. Mentees, fifth-graders who most need a role model in their lives, are selected by school district personnel.

The Peer Mentoring Program aims to develop the mentees’ social and academic skills through a variety of activities – including tutoring – during the year-long mentoring relationship. The Program sponsors field trips to museums, hiking trips, sporting events, local colleges, local courthouses, and the Whittier Police Department.

For more information on the
Whittier Mentoring Program, call (562) 945-8285

Bureau of Crime Prevention & Youth Services
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
320 West Temple St., Suite 1162
Los Angeles, CA. 90012
Phone: (213) 974-7401

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Site updated: 04 Sep 2007
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