Gov. Gavin Newsom and state service leaders announced the California Men's Service Challenge at Florin High School in Elk Grove, calling on 10,000 young men to serve as mentors, tutors, coaches and community volunteers and announcing paid and volunteer opportunities through the California Service Corps and partner organizations.

The initiative, introduced at an event hosted by Elk Grove Unified Superintendent Chris Hoffman, aims to expand male mentorship to address what officials described as rising mental-health and educational gaps for boys and young men across California. Josh Friday, chief service officer and director of the Governor's Office of Service and Community Engagement, said the challenge provides both volunteer and paid service options and directed listeners to menservicechallenge.com for signups and partner information. "We need you," Friday said.

Organizers and participants said mentorship benefits both mentees and mentors. Michael Lynch, co-founder and CEO of Improve Your Tomorrow, described mentoring as a pathway that helped former participants graduate from college and return to serve. Adam Allen, a former Improve Your Tomorrow participant who graduated UC Merced and now works as a program director with the group, described his transition from struggling student to mentor and said, "please, young men out there, if you are able to just please join this initiative."

Officials and partners framed the challenge as part of a broader strategy created under a governor's executive order directing a statewide response to issues affecting boys and young men. Friday and Gov. Newsom said the effort includes partnerships with Mentor California, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the YMCA, the Giants Community Fund, Junior Giants, AmeriCorps, College Corps and other local mentoring programs. Newsom said the state will offer paid service pathways through the California Service Corps; he also cited a College Corps-style arrangement, telling attendees that the program can provide 450 hours of work and about $10,000 "in return, for their college education." (He spoke generally about those incentives during the event.)

Speakers cited concerns about mental health, educational outcomes and civic engagement among boys and young men. Josh Friday said young men are "three times as likely to die by suicide than young women" while Gov. Newsom, citing other figures, said young men are now "four times more likely" to take their lives than girls; both officials used these statistics to underscore the organizers' stated urgency. Friday also said roughly one in three young people lack a caring adult they can call a mentor; Mentor California leadership said its network supports more than 300 youth development and mentoring organizations statewide.

Organizers described a range of service opportunities: short-term volunteer roles, after-school and summer programs, sports coaching, disaster relief and longer-term paid placements through the California Service Corps. Josh Friday said the initiative includes both volunteer and paid pathways to accommodate people with varying availability. Lynch and other mentors emphasized that mentoring can produce measurable education and life-course improvements for participating young people and repeated calls for more partner organizations to help place recruits.

Event speakers said implementation work will continue under state staff. Gov. Newsom recognized Brooks Allen as leading the state's implementation of the executive order and emphasized partnerships with researchers and organizations working on men and boys' issues. The governor and other speakers urged attendees and organizations to recruit and register mentors and partners through the website provided at the event.

The announcement was a public launch and recruitment effort; no formal board or legislative action was taken during the event. Organizers said additional operational details and partner commitments will be developed as the program is rolled out.