Santa Barbara’s Michael Katz was walking by the Santa Barbara Harbor with his mentee, a fifth-grade boy from Peabody Charter School, when he ran into a friend. 

When Katz introduced his friend to his mentee, explaining that they knew each other through the Santa Barbara Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (CADA) Mentorship Program, his friend asked:

“Who is the mentor and who is the mentee?”

For Katz, that question summarizes what he loves about the program.

“It’s hard to know who’s having more fun,” Katz told Noozhawk. “I always come back energized from my time with him and the families are just so grateful too.”

For the past 30 years, the no-cost CADA mentorship program has paired local adults with third through eighth graders enrolled in the Carpinteria, Santa Barbara or Goleta school districts. Students are referred to the program by school counselors who think the students could benefit from the program.

The program’s annual fundraiser, the 15th annual Gratitude Luncheon, is coming up on March 12 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, where the program’s mentors will be recognized.

The program currently has 60 students enrolled. Ninety-nine percent of mentees are Hispanic, and all of them are living under the poverty line, according to Lisa Gosdschan, who runs the program.

Gosdschan has mentored six children during her 20 years with the program.  

“I tell all the mentors, we plant the little mustard seed, I don’t know if we’re ever going to see it grow, but sometimes we see some of it,” Gosdschan said.

Mentors are asked to spend at least one hour a week with their mentees. Katz said he has taken his mentee to UC Santa Barbara soccer games and the Wolf Museum Of Exploration + Innovation (MOXI), but mostly they just enjoy talking and trying new things.

“He’s very open to listening and asking things, so that’s great,” Katz said. “I’m always trying to introduce him to new activities, to broaden his scope, and try different foods.”

Katz became a mentor with CADA two years ago, but he used to be a part of a Big Brothers, Big Sisters program in Oakland. He said he was inspired by his dad, who used to mentor a young child. 

“The benefits are just exponential. It’s really how to build a community,” Katz said. “Hopefully with age we’ve all gained some wisdom. You can be any age, but there’s just so many young people that are looking for guidance from adults.”

Gosdschan said the mentors don’t want to be teachers, parents or guardians.

“We want to be the fun people to take them to all of the things in Santa Barbara that are cost-prohibitive,” she said.

On top of having her own mentees, Gosdschan pairs prospective mentees and mentors, plans events, brings in funding and sponsorships, and sends weekly newsletters to the mentors with a list of no-cost events they can take their mentees to.

Thanks to community partnerships, Gosdschan said they have taken kids to The Santa Barbara Zoo, the MOXI, “The Nutcracker,” the opera, and even Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games, at no cost to students or their families. 

Prospective mentors have to go through background checks, get fingerprinted, and undergo an interview and orientation process before they are paired with a mentee. 

“I have to make sure that nobody comes in with an agenda who thinks ‘I’m going to take this kid and I’m going to fix them.’ They’re not broken,” Gosdschan said. “We meet our kids where they are.”

One of her favorite parts of being a mentor is seeing her mentees grow up, go off to college, and start the lives they were dreaming of. 

“My joy is to go to the graduation and cry like a parent and just see them go from this little kid to an adult,” she said.

One of her mentees, Beatriz Moran, 18, said Gosdschan helped her get groceries when she was struggling with food insecurity. They would go on walks, craft, and go to museums, plays and symphonies. 

“She looks out for her mentees, that’s for sure,” Moran said. “She’s an amazing woman, and who cares so much about children — children that aren’t related to her, which is really amazing. In my opinion, not many would willingly do this.”

Moran first got a mentor through the program when she was in seventh grade. Gosdschan became her mentor during Moran’s sophomore year of high school. 

Since then, Moran said Gosdschan has helped her with her anxiety, homework, and learn how to not spend too much time on her phone.

“I feel like every time that I went with Lisa was a memory of its own,” Moran said. “I look back on those days, those early, early days, especially, seeing how her approach was to not overwhelm me, it was just to help and to be there when I needed her.”

Now Moran is in her first year at Santa Barbara City College, where she studies psychology with hopes of transferring to California State University Channel Islands.

Even though Moran is now an adult, she and Gosdschan still meet up regularly, and she said she likes to help out with the mentorship program when she is available.