Mass Mentoring Partnership, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to providing mentors to youth, announced that it has awarded $250,000 to 19 mentoring programs to create 500 high-quality mentoring matches across Massachusetts.
The Mentoring Matching Grants are awarded through a competitive process and community review. The new funding is the highest amount awarded in two years, and is supported directly in the state’s fiscal 2012 budget.
“We are thrilled to be able to award such a substantial number of grants this year,” said David Shapiro , CEO of Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP). “This important funding allows programs to support their matches with quality-based, research-driven practices that ensure youth are given every opportunity to succeed.”
The grants will only create new mentoring relationships and support existing ones, which, according to MMP, will lead to increased academic achievement, lower dropout rates, and reduced juvenile delinquency and engagement in risky behaviors.
Additionally, the grants will reportedly leverage the efforts of adult mentors, who volunteer at least 26,000 hours annually. To encourage private-sector support, grantees are required to match, dollar-for-dollar, the total amount awarded with cash or in-kind resources.
The programs receiving funding for the 2011-12 grant period are:
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lowell
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay
• Big Sister Association
• Catholic Charities - Laboure Center
• Family Service Association - Big Friends Little Friends Fall River
• Family Service, Inc. - Big Friends Little Friends Lawrence
• LUK Crisis Center
• John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation
• Melrose Alliance Against Violence
• Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries
• Partners for Youth with Disabilities
• Railroad Street Youth Project
• SMILES
• Strong Women Strong Girls
• The Dream Program
Mentoring provides a positive adult role model for youth. A 1995 Private Ventures study showed that mentored youth have improved relationships with other family members, a better attitude towards school, are less likely to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, and report a decrease in violent behavior.
Mentoring through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has proved successful for countless children whose potential is improved simply because someone took the time to be a role model, a friend.
The fastest-growing mentoring model is school-based mentoring—where an adult from the community visits the child at school, most commonly one hour a week during or after school, in order to offer friendship and support.
A landmark study on the Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring model revealed that in providing mentors for over 1,000 fourth- through ninth-graders, programs achieved some great results, including:
• Improved overall academic performance, as well as better performance in science and language arts;
• Better quality of class work and assignment completion;
• Reduction in school infractions (including principal’s office visits, fighting and suspensions);
• Increased feelings of academic competence; and
• Fewer school absences.
• Mentoring provides a positive adult role model for youth.
"The Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates serving Massachusetts have hundreds of children waiting for an adult to mentor them" said Wendy Foster, President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay. "Big Brothers Big Sisters wants to help these kids realize their potential and have brighter futures through the power of positive mentoring relationships.”
How to become a mentor
"The process for becoming a mentor, or Big, as our mentors are called" Foster explained, "is relatively easy yet thorough. We work to match volunteers with children who share their interests. The process involves the parent, child, prospective mentor and one of the more than 180 organizations statewide supporting 23,000 youth in mentoring relationships.
There are background checks of prospective mentors and the commitment is for a year - but many relationships last much longer. Once a match is made, a team of professional support specialists helps the friendship deepen and strengthen.
Why you should become a mentor
Studies from Big Brothers Big Sisters show that in the short term, children involved in mentor partnerships experience the following:
• 52 percent are less likely to skip school
• 46 percent are less likely to start using drugs
• 27 percent are less likely to start drinking
A study of Littles who are now adults conducted in 2009 for Big Brothers Big Sisters by Harris Interactive illustrates the long-term impact of having a Big.
• 62% perceive themselves to have achieved a higher level of success than their peers who did not have a Big
• 81% say their Big changed their perspective on what they thought possible in life
• 77% set higher goals than they would have on their own
• A significant majority say they learned right from wrong, the importance of helping others and other things they would not have otherwise learned
• 77% say they did better in school because of their Big and 52% agree that their Big kept them from dropping out of high school
• A significant majority say their relationship with their Big helped a lot in making better choices through their childhood and throughout adult life
"Our Bigs are building lasting relationships with their Littles just by including them in their everyday lives" Foster said. "They visit parks, museums, restaurants and sporting events - and sometimes they just hang out and talk.
A volunteer doesn't have to change their life to change a child's. Maybe, doing everyday things together is all it takes for a Big to change a Little's outlook on life."
"Consider becoming a mentor" Foster said, "With your help we can make an impact - one child at a time."
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