Vermont Business Magazine MENTOR Vermont, in partnership with Comcast, is excited to announce the mentor and youth mentee honorees of the 2020 Vermont Ambassadors of Mentoring Awards.
Each of this year’s 10 Ambassador mentor matches will be honored together at MENTOR Vermont’s annual Youth Mentoring Celebration at the Vermont Statehouse on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. Members of the public can read the full nominations for each of the 10 mentor and mentee matches who were chosen as Ambassadors this year, and enter a free raffle for prizes by visiting www.mentorvt.org/Ambassadors-Of-Mentoring.
“Comcast is committed to supporting youth development programs and organizations, like MENTOR Vermont, who are improving the lives of our future leaders,” said Dennis Mathew, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Western New England Region, which includes Vermont. “What MENTOR Vermont does to match kids with positive role models is commendable and can be life-changing for all involved. We’re extremely proud to join them in recognizing these incredible mentor and mentee teams from across the Green Mountain State.”
The Ambassadors of Mentoring Awards are designed to recognize volunteer mentors and their youth mentees both for the power of their personal mentoring stories, as well as for other additional contributions they’ve made to support their local mentoring program. These awards are replacing the previous Vermont Mentor of the Year Award, with the goal of highlighting a wider range of mentoring stories with the public and celebrating youth mentees for the leadership role they play in expanding the reach of mentoring programs in Vermont.
The 2020 Vermont Ambassadors of Mentoring are:
Angelique Parks and Darcie (Mentoring at United Counseling Service)
Bonnie Ferro and Kada (King Street Center’s Junior Senior Buddies)
Carolyn Grodinsky & Lillian (Girls/Boyz First Mentoring)
Dorothy Sacca and Charlie (Grand Isle County Mentoring)
Evan Leontis and Dylan (The Collaborative)
Laura Page and Kadence (Windsor County Mentors)
Lisa Rees and Ohana (Milton Mentors, Milton Community Youth Coalition)
Nathaniel Klein and Tanner (Middlebury College Community Friends)
Terri Weinstein and Tori (Twinfield Together Mentoring)
Zandra Cousino and Valkyrja (Monkton Mentors, Mt. Abraham Unified School District)
All of this year’s Ambassador candidates were nominated by a program coordinator or director of their local mentoring program.
The Vermont Ambassadors of Mentoring Awards, presented by Comcast, is a part of MENTOR Vermont’s annual celebration of Vermont Mentoring Month each January. Throughout January 2020, MENTOR Vermont 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 at the January 22nd statewide event that convenes more than 150 mentors, mentees, legislators, and supporters in Montpelier. For the latest updates, and finalized schedule for the 2020 Mentoring Celebration, visit www.mentorvt.org/NMM later this month.
About Mentoring: According to the “Mentoring Effect,” a study released in 2014 by MENTOR, 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 they are more likely to develop positive relationships with peers and adults and pursue college and other post-secondary opportunities. Based on the 2019 Vermont Mentoring Surveys, more than 66 percent of middle and high school youth supported by mentoring programs in Vermont feel like they matter to people in their community, and more than 86 percent of mentors play a direct role in their mentee’s education.
About Comcast Corporation: Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’ 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 is global and 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. Sky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content through its pay television services. It also provides communications services, including residential high-speed internet, phone, and wireless services. Sky operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks, produces original content, and has exclusive content rights. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
About MENTOR Vermont: MENTOR Vermont (formerly known as Mobius) supports 140 adult-to-youth mentoring program sites that serve 2,300 mentor pairs throughout the state. In addition to awarding grant funding to youth mentoring programs, the organization provides technical support to mentoring 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 mentoring programs and initiatives in Vermont, visit www.mentorvt.org.
Source: Burlington, VT—MENTOR Vermont 1.10.2020