Wisdom, guest column

Wisdom is an invitational column where an outstanding woman will share a message that we hope you'll find inspiring, motivational, and empowering.

Mentoring is important because it helps young people understand how you have gotten to where you are and the challenges that you faced along the way.

archives

• 2009: 01
• 2008: 01 | 02
• 2007: 01
• 2006: 01 | 02
• 2005: 01 | 02
• 2004: 01

The Importance of Mentoring

Sharmain Matlock-Turner
President and CEO
Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition

Serving as a mentor to young people especially young women has been a very rewarding experience for me. We are all so busy but whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or work in your community, I urge you to consider mentoring a young person.

Mentoring is important because it helps young people understand how you have gotten to where you are and the challenges that you faced along the way. It is about sharing who you are and the life lessons you have learned. You hope that you can create a space that your mentee will fill with their experiences and look to you to help them figure out how to navigate the choices they are facing.

Teenshop, which is part of the GPUAC family of programs, helps young women prepare for college and delay motherhood while pursing this goal. Peer and neighborhood pressure can make it difficult for young women to stay focused on college; Teenshop and our mentors help make this job easier.

When my mentee went off to college this year, I gave her my phone number, email address and my best wishes. She knows that I am here to listen, to laugh to learn.

Biography

Sharmain Matlock-Turner is the President of the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition (GPUAC). She began her tenure at GPUAC in March of 1999, with a special distinction: she is the first woman to lead GPUAC in the organization's 39-year history. GPUAC unites government, business, neighborhoods, and individual initiative to improve the quality of life in the region, build wealth in urban communities, and solve emerging issues.

In partnership with a diverse Board of Directors made up of business, non-profit and community leaders, Ms. Matlock-Turner and her team of managers forge coalitions and build consensus to help families reduce poverty and reach the middle class. Under her leadership, GPUAC has grown over the last 9 years from a $20 million organization to one with an annual budget of $40 million and over 500 employees.

Ms. Matlock-Turner chairs the boards of trustees of the West Oak Lane Charter School, the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Project (OARC) and the Peoples Emergency Center. She is currently a board member of La Salle University, The Reinvestment Fund, United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Facility Management Corporation with Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), and serves on the Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. She was selected by Mayor Michael Nutter to serve on the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity and chairs its Workplace Committee. She also served on the Executive Committee of Governor Rendell's Task Force for Working Families and co-chaired the Task Force's "Increasing Incomes" Committee. She is a Penn/Del representative to Wachovia's National Corporate Community Development Advisory Council and more recently, she was selected by LEADERSHIP Inc. as one of "Philadelphia's Connectors" and the Philadelphia Tribune's "Most Influential African Americans of 2009."

In 2008, Ms. Matlock-Turner received the Citizen Volunteer of the Year Award from the United Way of Southern Pennsylvania, the Imprint Award from the People's Emergency Center, the Civic Investment Award from Community College of Philadelphia, the Honorary Myrna Field Award from CASA Philadelphia, and the Women in the NAACP, 100 Influential Black Women In Philadelphia Award. She has been honored by the American Women's Heritage Society, Pennsylvania Senate, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, City of Philadelphia, OARC, Black United Fund, WOMENS WAY, Philadelphia Business Journal, Philadelphia Tribune, the March of Dimes, Consumer Credit Counseling Services and received City Councilwoman Reynolds-Brown's "Making a Difference" award. She received the first Helena T. Devereux Leadership Award, presented by The Devereux Foundation. Prior to being named President and Executive Director of GPUAC, Ms. Matlock-Turner was associate vice president, legislative and community affairs for Mercy Health System. Before that, Ms. Matlock-Turner was chief of staff to the late State Senator Roxanne H. Jones.

Ms. Matlock-Turner holds a BS degree in Education from Temple University. In 2005, she was one of three Philadelphia nonprofit leaders selected to receive a scholarship to the Harvard Business School's nonprofit leaders' summer program. She is a Philadelphia resident and is married to Tony Turner with two grown daughters, Ayanna Matlock and Naima Turner.