MENTOR Vermont

Increasing Sustainable Investment in Mentoring: Building awareness and establishing meaningful partnerships with a diverse array of changemakers to share in the advancement of mentoring and secure the necessary funding to build mentoring capacity and meet community needs. MENTOR Vermont provides grants to non-profit agencies, school districts, and supervisory unions to establish new youth mentoring opportunities in underserved areas of Vermont, and to support existing mentoring programs in increasing the number of mentor matches served and the quality of their programming.

Program Support and Resources: MENTOR Vermont provides technical assistance for mentoring programs to support them in meeting nationally-recognized best practices. MENTOR Vermont annually convenes the Vermont Mentoring Symposium, a statewide professional development conference for mentoring program staff. MENTOR Vermont also offers a range of resources including a directory of all Vermont mentoring programs, a program management database, a mentor discount card, a standardized survey system for mentors/mentees, and works with programs to develop an infrastructure that allows mentor matches to continue meeting through the mentee's high school graduation.

Enhancing Public Will:Motivating civic leaders, employers, and individual stakeholders to prioritize and participate in ensuring all young people have access to supportive mentoring relationships throughout Vermont. MENTOR Vermont spearheads local, regional, and statewide efforts to raise public awareness of the benefits of mentoring and the need for more volunteers. This includes conducting media outreach, assisting programs with their public relations efforts, implementing an annual mentoring celebration at the Vermont Statehouse during National Mentoring Month, leading local and national advocacy efforts, and collaborating with the MENTOR Affiliate Network.