ABOUT TAKE CHARGE
It all began in 2014, when a group of Catholics in Mumbai came together to create a Centre of Excellence within the Archdiocese of Bombay. They felt that many Catholic youth needed mentors to shine a light on their potential and guide them to achieve more than what they believed was possible to accomplish. They strongly believed that senior professionals could help bring about changes in the hearts and minds of these youngsters simply by providing them with windows of opportunity. Therefore, Take Charge was set up as a project by the St. Joseph Educational & Technical Training Trust and the Archdiocese of Bombay, with two broad goals:
• To instill a passion for excellence in Catholic youth through a formal mentoring process.
• To encourage Catholic youth to look at non-traditional careers, including the armed forces and the civil services.
We have come a long way since those early days in 2014. Take Charge has conducted five mentoring batches so far, covering close to 600 mentoring relationships. The sixth cohort began in July 2024.
OBJECTIVES
OF THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
Trusted Friend and Guide
A mentor is expected to be a role model, trusted friend & guide to the mentee. A mentor understands the mentee’s strengths, dreams, needs, issues & challenges; shares personal experiences & life learnings; and creates a desire to excel. Mentees face challenges which they may not be open to share with others and may not have adequate support & guidance from their friends and family. They need someone they can trust to guide them well. A strong relationship between a mentor and mentee plays an important role in such situations. In case the mentor feels that the issue being faced by the mentee needs professional help, the Take Charge team is available to find appropriate solutions to handle the issue.
All-round Personality Development
All-round personality development includes enhancing personal traits such as self-confidence, self-awareness, positive outlook and communication skills, social skills and etiquette. The mentor is expected to help the mentee to hone these important life skills through interaction and observation. The mentor could introduce the mentee to new experiences and people so that he/she gets exposed to diverse perspectives. The mentor could inculcate values of responsibility and diligence through experience sharing and help the mentee to develop an awareness of the world, including social issues, through discussions on current affairs.
Academics and Skill Development
We recognize that our mentees have different academic capabilities and not all of them are interested in pursuing academics. However, many of them, including those doing well academically, need support & encouragement to improve. Moreover, there is a need to continuously learn and develop one’s skills. We expect mentors will encourage their mentees to identify their areas of competence and help them to plan a pathway to excel in these areas. Mentors may advise their mentees on the need and benefits of a higher education and articulate how this will enable them to get better jobs and be more successful.
Career Choices (and not Counselling)
Our mentees may not have adequate guidance and support for their career-related decisions. The program aims at helping mentees to make well-informed choices on their future careers. Mentees are encouraged to discuss their career aspirations with their mentor. Mentors may reach out to other mentors and their networks so that they have access to proper advice on career options that mentors may not be fully familiar with.
“A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.”
This true-life quote is not only philosophical but also inspirational. At Take Charge mentoring, we believe in doing the difficult things while they are easy and the great things while they are small. Take Charge mentoring is focussed on providing opportunities to youth of the Catholic community. We seek to motivate our youth to aspire for a life that is beyond their current dreams, to spark in every young mind a desire to succeed.
We truly believe that every young person is a genius in his or her own unique way and that a mentor can be an excellent catalyst and role-model for our mentees.
EMPOWER
Catholic Youth
of Mumbai
to achieve possibilities
way beyond their
current aspirations
MISSION STATEMENT
