California chief service officer: new "Men Who Show Up" campaign seeks male mentors

California is promoting a new mentorship campaign called "Men Who Show Up" aimed at recruiting men to serve as mentors, Josh Friday, the state’s chief service officer, said in a short interview.

Friday said the campaign is part of a broader effort to respond to what he described as "a crisis" among young men. "We're looking for more bigs because we have a crisis on our hands," he said, adding that the governor has signed an executive order to focus on the issue. Friday said men are "4 times more likely to commit suicide" and are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to go to college.

The campaign was introduced by Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County, which the moderator identified at the start of the segment. Friday framed mentoring and community service as a way to give young men "a real sense of purpose and meaning" and to build intergenerational connection. "What we found is that service... creates a real sense of purpose and meaning and also creates a connection with the next generation," he said.

Friday urged listeners to consider volunteering as a mentor, saying, "we're looking for mentors to... help us really address head on this crisis that we're seeing in our..." The interview did not include data sources for the statistics Friday cited, and he did not specify how the executive order will be implemented or which offices will lead follow-up work.

The interview focused on recruitment and the rationale for mentoring; no formal actions, budgets, or timelines were announced during the segment. The campaign name and the call for mentors were the primary takeaways from the discussion.