MONTICELLO, NY — Shannon Daniel has been an educator for a long time, teaching Spanish and other subjects in Monticello and elsewhere. One thing is clear to her: there is a great need in the area for a youth mentoring program here.

She held a seminar titled “Hope for Youth” in December, with an eye toward raising awareness of the need in the community for such a program among political leaders, parents and other interested parties.

She put together a proposal for a mentoring program a couple of years ago, and this year she intends to launch it. She said she is looking for donations and volunteers, and hopes to find a building to operate from.

In a recent phone interview she said, “Unfortunately, we are losing too many of our youth to drugs, dropping out of school, gangs, and they are ending up in our prison system.” She has two children of her own, one in college and another in elementary school.

Daniel said, “In doing research over the years, it’s really mindboggling that the United States has the highest school dropout rate, and we also have the highest prison rate out of all developed countries.

“To me it’s important for us to come together as a community to close that gap. Some would say they don’t have time to re-teach morals and values to our youth. But unfortunately in this new century we have a lot of divorce, we have a lot of single parents. And in this area, Monticello, we live in such a low socio-economic area that a lot of the kids are being raised by their older siblings… some of the older siblings are teaching the younger ones morals and values. But if the parents aren’t there to instill that, then it’s our job as educators to do that.”

She said, “It takes a village to raise a child, and I refuse to give up on this area, and I feel like a lot of people have. Our kids need to be given hope; our kids need to have a safe haven, outside of a school setting, where they can come and feel a sense of belonging, be given a path of hope, engage community. They also have to have sustained relationships. Our teachers build relationships with youths, but they’re not easily sustained.”

To contact Daniel, send an email to jackson.shannon1@gmail.com or call 845/796-8846.