Vermont Business Magazine This fall, through the 2016-2017 Vermont Mentoring Grants, Mobius has awarded 32 grants, totaling more than $307,000, to support adult-to-youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This funding will support 101 new and existing program sites, and more than 1,800 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont. Additionally, there is $45,000 in remaining grant funding available that Mobius plans to award to agencies planning or launching new mentoring programs during the 2016-2017 grant year. 

“We are excited to partner with agencies across the state this year to support the invaluable services that mentoring programs provide for youth in their local communities,” said Chad Butt, executive director of Mobius. “Working with both established partners and new agencies in underserved areas, we are continuing to make progress toward Mobius’ goal of being able to provide a mentor to every young person in Vermont who wants one.” 

The Vermont Mentoring Grants are made possible through funding support from the A.D. Henderson Foundation, the Vermont Department for Children and Families, and the Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children. This year’s grants are designed to provide continuing support for established programs that demonstrate they meet best practices, assist the planning of new programs, and support programs in their first or second year of implementation. 

All 2016-2017 grantees are participating in Mobius’ K-12 Mentoring Initiative by collaborating with Mobius and other programs in their region to ensure that the youth they serve have the opportunity to continue meeting with their mentors through high school graduation. Additionally, grantees are demonstrating that they are meeting best practices through the Quality Mentoring System (a program assessment system developed by Mobius and MENTOR, The National Mentoring Partnership). Lastly, all funded programs will be using common questions to survey their mentors and mentees, and track youth outcome data in the following key areas: resiliency; pro-social skills; future aspirations; connectedness to community; and attitude toward school. 

Through the 2016-2017 Vermont Mentoring Grants, Mobius has awarded grants to more than 30 agencies, schools and districts/supervisory unions, and independent non-profits throughout the state, including: 

• Statewide/Multiple Counties: The DREAM Program; Everybody Wins! Vermont; VSA Vermont; and the Youth Development Program/Washington County Youth Service Bureau. 
• Addison County: Beeman Elementary Mentoring; Lincoln Mentors; Monkton Mentors; Mount Abraham Mentoring; and Starksboro Mentoring (all grants managed by the Addison Northeast Supervisory Union). 
• Bennington County: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bennington County/United Counseling Service. 
• Caledonia County: JUMP Mentoring/Northeast Kingdom Youth Services. 
• Chittenden County: Connecting Youth Mentoring/Chittenden South Supervisory Union; Essex FriendCHIPS/Essex CHIPS; King Street Center’s Junior Senior Buddies; Milton Mentors!/Milton Community Youth Coalition; Play in the Wild/Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program; SB Mentoring/South Burlington School District; and Spectrum Mentoring/Spectrum Youth and Family Services. 
• Franklin County: Franklin County Caring Communities 
• Grand Isle County: Grand Isle County Mentoring/Grand Isle Community Services. 
• Lamoille County: Laraway Youth and Family Services. 
• Orange County: The Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley; and Randolph Area Opiate Response. 
• Rutland County: The Mentor Connector. 
• Washington County: Cabot Connects Mentoring and Twinfield Together Mentoring Program /Washington Northeast Supervisory Union; Girls/Boyz First Mentoring/Washington Central Friends of Education . 
• Windham: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windham County/Youth Services of Windham County; 
• Windsor: Mentor and Buddy Program/Ottauquechee Community Partnership; and Windsor County Partners.  

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. The results of national studies by MENTOR and Big Brothers Big Sisters illustrate that a mentor can enhance a young person’s learning skills and help him or her build resiliency and pro-social skills. Youth with mentors are less likely to engage in risky behavior with drugs and alcohol, are more likely to develop positive relationships with peers and adults, and more likely to pursue college and other post-secondary opportunities. 

Grant Award Recipients

Key:

# = Portion of grant funding is contingent on meeting specified grant goals by December 31, 2016
^ = Will receieve additional funding (not reflected in total) for committing to using full Vermont Mentoring Surveys
(in total, $3,925 will be granted to programs if they use the full surveys)

Total Funding Awarded Or Pledged: $307,825
Funding Still Available for 2016-2017: $45,080 (this funding will be used to support additional planning or implementation grants)

These Grants Were Designed to Fund…

A planning process by a committed agency or group of diverse community members for the purpose of creating a quality mentoring program in an under-served area of Vermont.

A planning process by an established agency or program for the purpose of expanding its service area to include new program sites or youth populations.

The first-year implementation of new adult-to-youth mentoring programs.

The growth of new adult-to-youth mentoring programs in their second year of implementation.

Continuing support for established adult-to-youth mentoring programs that are:

Meeting nationally-recognized best practices and have successfully completed the Quality Mentoring System process.

Participating in Mobius’ K-12 Mentoring Initiative by collaborating with other programs to support mentoring matches having the opportunity to continue meeting through the mentee’s high school graduation.

Collecting youth outcome data using common questions from the Vermont Mentoring Surveys in the following key areas: resiliency; pro-social skills; future aspirations; connectedness to community; and attitude toward school.

Criteria for Determining Grant Awards

The grant committee considered the following criteria when making grant award decisions:

The quality of program practices: for established programs, having successfully completed the Quality Mentoring System process.

Geographic location of program, and availability of other funding resources in the region.

The sustainability of the mentoring program: the diversity of revenue sources, costs per match in alignment with Vermont costs for new and established programs (program type was taken into consideration), and overall financial stability of the program and/or agency.

The diversity and level of engagement by the program’s advisory committee.

Participation in collaborative statewide initiatives and conversations.

Use of a quality program management system that tracks priority outcomes (use of the Vermont Mentoring Database is not required).

Collaborative vision of creating mentor matches that last through high school graduation, through participation in Mobius’ K-12 Mentoring Initiative with other programs in their area.

Tracking and sharing of priority data on program and youth outcomes.

Efficient and effective use of resources.

Achievement of past grant outcomes.

For full grant guidelines, please visit the Vermont Mentoring Grants page.

Funding Amounts

New Program Planning: $1,000-$4,000

First-Year Implementation: $10,000 max per program site

Second-Year Implementation: Typically half of first-year grant award

Continuing Support Grants: No limits (but must fall within suggested funding per match range as outlined in the grant guidelines)

Additional Funding:

Professional Development
Outside of the program funding process, mentoring agencies were eligible to request a $1,250 scholarship to support a program staff member attending the National Mentoring Summit. Mobius was able to award four of these scholarships for FY 16-17.

Full Adoption of the Vermont Mentoring Surveys
Outside of the program funding process, agencies who committed to their programs administering all of the questions from the Vermont Mentoring Surveys to their mentors and mentees will receive additional funding of $5 per match, with a minimum award of $100 and a maximum award of $1,000.

Grant Committee Members

Nate Formalarie, Cabot Creamery Cooperative/Mobius Board
Eddie Gale, A.D. Henderson Foundation
Hillary Orsini, Marlboro College Center for New Leadership
C. Fagan Hart, Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation
Dana Lawrence, Vermont Department for Children and Families

About Mobius: Now in its fourth 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. In addition to managing the Vermont Mentoring Grants, 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, and works with programs to lead statewide mentoring initiatives. For more information about Mobius, and mentoring programs and initiatives in Vermont, visit www.mobiusmentors.org.

Soruce: Mobius. 11.4.2016. For more information about the Vermont Mentoring Grants and this year’s award recipients, please visit: www.mobiusmentors.org/vermont-mentoring-grants/2016-2017.