Mobius will host youth mentees, volunteer mentors, and mentoring supporters for its annual Youth Mentoring Celebration at the Statehouse on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event marks the culmination of National Mentoring Month festivities in Vermont, and is made possible by support, for the fourth straight year, from lead event sponsor Redstone Commercial Group and other business supporters.
This year’s event will feature the signing of a Mentoring Month proclamation by Governor Phil Scott and presentation of the 2018 Vermont Mentor of the Year Award by Comcast. Additionally, the Celebration will include the reading of a Mentoring Month resolution ratified by the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate, a civics lesson for youth mentees led by Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman, an interactive musical performance by Jon Gailmor, and guided statehouse tours for youth mentees and their mentors.
“We are excited to celebrate the service of the more than 140 mentoring programs and 2,300 volunteer mentors throughout the state,” said Chad Butt, executive director of Mobius.
“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 2018 winner of the Vermont Mentor of the Year Award will be announced on the day of the event. This year’s three finalists, based on a public voting process, are Jim Hyde (Connecting Youth Mentoring at Charlotte Central School/Champlain Valley Union), Ruth Murphy (Milton Mentors!/Milton Community Youth Coalition), and Terry Palatino (Grand Isle County Mentoring Program and Spectrum Mentoring/Spectrum Youth & Family Services).
The Mentoring Celebration at the Statehouse is the culmination of Mobius’ annual Vermont Mentoring Month campaign held 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. To learn more about the Mentoring Celebration, and other local mentoring events, visit www.mobiusmentors.org.
Mobius’ 2018 Vermont Mentoring Month campaign is made possible through the continued support of Lead Statehouse Event Sponsor Redstone Commercial Group and Mentor of the Year Award Sponsor Comcast; Vermont Mentoring Month Sponsors Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Rutland Regional Medical Center, and the University of Vermont Medical Center; as well as Mentoring Supporter Sponsors Burlington Furniture, Concept2, DEW Construction Corp., DR Power Equipment, Hanson and Doremus Investment Management, Heritage Automotive Group, Heritage Aviation, Local Muscle Movers, M. Kraus and Company, North Country Federal Credit Union, Union Mutual of Vermont, Vermont Federal Credit Union, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, and Vermont Gas.
The theme of the 2018 National Mentoring Month campaign is “Mentor In Real Life,” which encourages mentoring supporters and mentors to talk about the real-life benefits of mentoring. Nationally, the campaign is spearheaded by the Harvard School of Public Health, and MENTOR (The National Mentoring Partnership), with support from the Highland Street Foundation.
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 Redstone: Since 1992, Redstone has been nurturing community networks. We believe that community is what happens when you look beyond your property line. At Redstone, we’re locals: coaches, mentors and boosters who know the local ski conditions and where in town to get the best cup of coffee. We love the places where we work, and we’re humbled by the responsibility of developing projects that positively contribute to our surroundings. So with a deep respect for the value of neighborhoods, we develop buildings that integrate into their surroundings and foster relationships between people. For more information, visit www.redstonevt.com.
About Comcast: Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation’s largest video, high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the XFINITY brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the XFINITY brand. NBCUniversal operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
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, visit www.mobiusmentors.org.
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