At Uplift Mentoring NYC, a unique and innovative mentoring program is offered specifically for children with disabilities. The program is run by a team of dedicated, compassionate teen mentors who have a passion for helping others. The startup program was created by someone with disabilities, fully understanding the challenges that children with disabilities face every day. The team is committed to helping mentees acquire important social and emotional skills, build confidence, and advocate for themselves. The program aims to create a safe and supportive community where children with disabilities can thrive.

Mentees meet with their high school mentor once or twice a week to complete a social emotional learning activity, with the curriculum assisted by Social workers and Child Life Specialists. Afterward, they can engage in discussions, seek advice, play games, and have fun. Meeting times and days of the week are flexible, disregarding times stated elsewhere.

The program aims to build strong social bonds between mentees and their mentors, providing a supportive presence as they navigate a school experience different from their abled peers, one that is more unstructured.

Currently seeking more mentees, the program aims to start meetings by April, but is flexible. Interested individuals can register for on the website.

Mentees gain:

• Inclusion in a cohort with other children facing similar challenges, combatting feelings of isolation and fostering a more positive outlook through shared support systems.
• Social Emotional Skills: Completing a curriculum focused on building a growth and positivity mindset, mindfulness, coping skills, self-care, self-esteem, and focusing on controllable factors rather than worrying about the uncontrollable.
• Advocacy Skills: Mentees will learn to articulate their feelings and needs through interactions with their mentors, a crucial life skill that will benefit them in school and beyond.
• A Greater Sense of Self: Mentors will assist mentees in creating a biography about their condition for an end-of-year project, fostering self-understanding and acceptance.