Saginaw's Future Leaders Mentorship Program celebrates its 500th graduate with an emotional ceremony, highlighting 14 years of transforming outcomes for youth in one of Michigan's most challenged cities.
The Saginaw Future Leaders Mentorship Program marked a milestone Friday when it celebrated the graduation of its 500th participant at a ceremony held at Saginaw Valley State University, drawing alumni who have gone on to careers in medicine, law, education, and business from across Michigan and a crowd of current program participants who cheered for the 22 newest graduates completing the intensive two-year program.
Founded in 2011 by retired Saginaw schoolteacher Margaret Thompson and a small group of community volunteers who were alarmed by the city’s persistently high youth unemployment and school dropout rates, the program pairs middle and high school students from Saginaw’s most economically distressed neighborhoods with working professional mentors for biweekly one-on-one sessions, summer internships, college preparation support, and career exploration activities.
The program targets students between the ages of 13 and 18 and has maintained an 89 percent high school graduation rate among participants — significantly above Saginaw’s citywide graduation rate of 71 percent — and a 76 percent rate of college enrollment or vocational training enrollment within one year of high school completion.
“Fourteen years ago, we started with 12 students and a lot of hope,” said Thompson, now 74, who still serves as the program’s executive director. “Today we have 500 reasons to believe that when you invest in young people and refuse to give up on them, they will rise to meet every expectation you put before them.”
Among Friday’s graduates was 18-year-old Destiny Ortiz, who joined the program as a shy seventh grader struggling with attendance and is now heading to Michigan State University on a full scholarship to study public health. “I didn’t believe in myself when I started,” Ortiz said at the ceremony. “My mentor believed in me long before I did. That’s what changed everything.”
The program currently serves 85 active participants and maintains a waiting list of 60 students. Funding comes from Saginaw County’s United Way, the Dow Chemical Company Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint, and an annual gala that raised $340,000 last fall.
Organizers announced plans to expand capacity to 120 students annually beginning in 2027, pending the completion of a fundraising campaign to hire two additional program coordinators and expand office space at SVSU.
