The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation Announces Q2 FY 2015 Community Partner Grant Recipients
13 August 2015
The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce that 10 organizations have recently been awarded grants through the Foundation’s Community Partners program for the second quarter of 2015. Community Partners are change agents within human services that are either delivering innovative care or developing new ideas and models for doing so. They are results oriented, leveraging resources and knowledge to positively impact individuals and communities and transform society’s vision of and approach to its most vulnerable members.
Among the Q2 Community Partners are five organizations located in Massachussetts.
Hyde Square Task Force (Jamaica Plain, MA)
Paths to College and Career Young Men’s Initiative
Hyde Square Task Force delivers high-quality programming to develop the skills of youth and their families so they are empowered to enhance their own lives and build a strong and vibrant community. In the coming year, the Task Force’s Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) will engage 50 young men of color who are enrolled in the Paths to College and Careers Program (PCCP) in honest conversations, trusting relationships, and civic engagement projects. Through this program, participants will become inspired to pursue more ambitious personal and educational goals, and develop commitment to good citizenship and community involvement. Through weekly tutoring and mentoring sessions, youth in the 9th-12th grades are given the opportunity to improve their grade point average, so that they can successfully graduate high school and enroll in college. Throughout their high school career, they will learn about the college application process and receive assistance and encouragement with deciding on a field of study, learning about various programs, as well as help filling out applications, prepping for college admission interviews, and especially financial aid applications. A grant from TMNCF will support program expansion of the Young Men’s Initiative.
Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester (Dorchester, MA)
Project B.I.N.D
Project B.I.N.D. (Boston Inclusion Network for Disabilities) is an initiative at the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester, Massachusetts designed to encourage the educational and social enrichment and advancement of children with special needs. Together with a network of partners, the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester provides access to exceptional after-school programs and activities while nurturing the full inclusion of children of all abilities. The grant awarded by The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation will help support services to 110 youth during FY15.
Community Rowing (Brighton, MA)
Adaptive Rowing Program
Community Rowing is a public rowing club on the Charles River in Massachusetts. CRI offers coaching in safe, challenging and supportive rowing programs for individuals with special needs, including spinal cord injuries. Their Adaptive Rowing Program will serve approximately 300 individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities over the course of 2015; of these, 200 are youth ages 12 and older and 100 are adults and military veterans. On-water rowing will be offered 3 days per week during the spring, summer and fall. A grant from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation will enable CRI to increase their number of weekly adaptive rowing sessions, indoor training opportunities with physical therapists, and to continue their one-to-one “buddy rowing” system; pairing adaptive athletes with volunteers so they may row on their own schedule.
St. Mary’s Center for Women & Children (Dorchester, MA)
GRLZradio.org Youth Development Program
GRLZradio.org, a program of St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children, is an innovative after-school and summer youth development program that builds teen girls’ self-esteem, job skills and leadership capacity and provides them with a platform to address gender stereotypes and media influences through radio broadcasting and community workshops. A grant from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation will allow the program to update broadcasting equipment and enable program expansion.
Roca, Inc. (Chelsea, MA)
Roca is an outcomes-driven organization dedicated to transforming the lives of the most high-risk young people ages 17-24 (street, court, and gang-involved; drop-outs; young parents; refugees; and, immigrants). Roca’s Intervention Model is a cognitive-restructuring and skills development intervention that was developed and implemented to address this high-risk, underserved population. Using the Intervention Model, Roca helps young people move out of violence and poverty over two years, with two additional years of supportive follow-up. The project starts with intensive outreach to reengage young people and build relationships that support change, offers programming that meets young people where they are, operates basic and advanced transitional employment, and works with the city of Springfield, several criminal justice partners, and other organizations. A grant from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation will enable Roca to provide intervention services to 250 very high-risk young men from Springfield, Holyoke & Chicopee, MA in 2016.
About the Community Partners Program
For more information and to learn about the other Q2 Community Partners, visit the Community Partners section of our Charitable Foundation website.