Volunteers improve a child's social and emotional development in a one-on-one or group setting. United Way of Hays County is working with multiple mentoring programs, like Big Brothers Big Sisters, GENaustin and the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos SIS (Stay in School) program, throughout Hays County to recruit mentors for both traditional and non-traditional mentoring positions. Mentoring programs across Hays County have been shown to have positive long-term impacts on students, including improved grades, improved self-esteem, higher high school graduation rates and a higher likelihood of pursuing higher education.
United Way of Hays County also invites professionals to participate with the Lunch. Learn. LIVE UNITED program, which brings professional speakers and mentors to give education and career advice to local high school students.