Bradenton Announces This Year's Mayor

The Bradenton Police Department is spearheading this year’s Mayor’s Mentoring Program, which partners City employees with community-based organizations in need of volunteers to mentor students during the school year.

The organizations the City has designated to assist this year are:

Take Stock in Children, which offers college scholarships and other opportunities to disadvantaged students of middle and high school ages.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast, which offers weekly mentoring programs in-school or bi-weekly in the community for elementary through high school students.

By participating in the mentoring program, full-time employees will be allowed one hour of paid work time per week to mentor a student. Since this usually occurs during lunch breaks, Chick-fil-A Cortez Plaza and McDonald’s have partnered with the City providing lunch vouchers for the children and the mentor during the hour they spend together.

The Manatee County State Attorney’s Office also has requested to participate.

Two Bradenton Police Officers are serving as the point of contacts for the programs: Officer K. B. Magown will be the point person for Big Brothers Big Sisters and Officer Phil Ajello will be the contact for Take Stock in Children.

The program was announced to City employees last week. Officers Magown and Ajello said Tuesday that several employees, mostly police officers, have asked to participate.