Seedling’s mission is to mitigate the impact of parental incarceration on children in Central Texas through school-based mentoring. When a child loses a parent to incarceration, they lose possibly the most significant person in their life. As a result they can face significant risk factors that can make it difficult to succeed in school.
As a volunteer mentor, I (Chanelle Shackelford) visited the school and had lunch on a regular basis with the student I was matched with. Through my rewarding experience, I can say this organization supports our values of community, compassion, and transformation. Seedling believes in the promise of every child: the promise of an education, the promise of a future, and the promise of all they can contribute to society.
Seedling recruits volunteers from the community, matches them with eligible children and offers ongoing support to both children and mentors. The mentors provide stable, long-term relationships for the students that can help them develop and maintain positive attitudes towards school.
Since 2006, Seedling’s Mentor Program has served over 2500 students, with a presence at one time or another on 150+ campuses in 11 districts and 16 charter schools in Austin and Central Texas.
