Comcast and Mobius announce nominees for 2018 Vermont Mentor of the Year Award

Vermont Business MagazineComcast and Mobius have opened the voting process for the 2018 Vermont Mentor of the Year Award. Voters can read the full nominations for each candidate, and submit their choice for one of the 10 finalists (see below) by visiting: www.mobiusmentors.org/comcastmentoroftheyear. Public voting is open through Thursday, January 4, 2018, and will narrow the field down to three finalists. The final award winner will be determined by a selection committee of local mentoring supporters, and Comcast will present the award to the winning mentor at Mobius’ annual Mentoring Celebration at the State House later in the month.

“Comcast believes strongly in the power of mentoring, and is dedicated to giving back to the communities where our customers and employees live and work,” said Daniel Glanville, Vice President of Government, Regulatory and Community Affairs for Comcast’s Western New England Region, which includes Vermont. “We’re excited to sponsor the Vermont Mentor of the Year Award for a third year, and to partner with Mobius to highlight a few of the many dedicated individuals in Vermont who are making a difference in their communities by serving as a youth mentor.”

The nominees for the 2018 Vermont Mentor of the Year Award are: Jim Hyde (Connecting Youth Mentoring at Charlotte Central School/Champlain Valley Union) Laura Isham (Watershed Mentoring/Franklin County Caring Communities) Mark Johnson/Lynne Tiballi (King Street Center’s Junior Senior Buddies) Ruth Murphy (Milton Mentors!/Milton Community Youth Coalition) Terry Palatino (Grand Isle County Mentoring Program/Spectrum Youth & Family Services) Arliene Pearson (Journey Mentoring) Meghan Rowe (The DREAM Program at the University of Vermont) Wanda Stetson (Crossroads: Where Cultures Meet/Baba Tree International) Patty Stickney (Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont – Windham County Program) Terri Weinstein (Twinfield Together Mentoring Program)

All of the Mentor of the Year candidates were nominated by the coordinator of their mentoring program, and are being recognized both for their service as a mentor and for other additional contributions to their program.

The Vermont Mentor of the Year Award, presented by Comcast, is a part of Mobius’ annual celebration of Vermont Mentoring Month each January. Throughout January 2018, Mobius and mentoring programs around the state are organizing a wide variety of activities to promote the positive benefits of mentoring, including volunteer recognition events, mentor pair activities, and benefit dinners at local restaurants. The festivities culminate later in the month at Mobius’ Mentoring Celebration at the Statehouse, a statewide event that convenes more than 100 mentors, mentees, legislators, and supporters in Montpelier. For the latest updates, and finalized schedule for the 2018 Mentoring Celebration, visitwww.mobiusmentors.orglater this month.

According to the “Mentoring Effect,” a study released in 2014 by MENTOR (The National Mentoring Partnership), one in three youth in Vermont will enter adulthood without having a formal or informal mentoring relationship with a caring adult. National studies by MENTOR and Big Brothers Big Sisters demonstrate that youth with mentors are less likely to engage in risky behavior with drugs and alcohol, and are more likely to develop positive relationships with peers and adults, and pursue college and other post-secondary opportunities. Based on the 2016 Vermont Mentoring Surveys, youth supported by mentoring programs in Vermont are 52 percent more likely to feel like they matter to people in their community, and nearly 75 percent of mentors play a direct role in their mentee’s education.

About Comcast in Vermont: Comcast is committed to providing an unparalleled entertainment and communications experience to residents and businesses in the more than 120 communities the company serves across Vermont. Comcast boasts a call center in South Burlington, Vermont, a team of 200 Vermont employees, service centers throughout the state and two state-of-the-art Xfinity Service Centers where customers can experience Comcast’s Xfinity products and services firsthand. The company helps to strengthen the communities where its customers and employees live and work by supporting local nonprofit organizations. In 2016, Comcast provided more than $826,000 to community partners in the state, in the form of Comcast Foundation grants, sponsorships, Public Service Announcements, scholarships and courtesy video and Internet services to schools, libraries, and Boys & Girls Clubs.

About Mobius: Now in its fifth year as Vermont’s Mentoring Partnership, Mobius supports approximately 140 adult-to-youth mentoring program sites that serve 2,300 mentor pairs throughout the state. Mobius awards more than $300,000 to youth mentoring agencies annually through the Vermont Mentoring Grants, which are made possible by support from the A.D. Henderson Foundation, the Vermont Department for Children and Families, and the Permanent Fund for Vermont's Children. Mobius also offers technical support to program staff, maintains an online program directory and referral system for volunteers, manages a quality-based program management database, raises public awareness of mentoring, works with programs to ensure they are meeting best practices, and leads statewide mentoring initiatives. For more information about Mobius, and mentoring programs and initiatives in Vermont, visitwww.mobiusmentors.org.

Source: Comcast