I’d like to provide a glimpse of just one of the many ways you made an
impact in the Berkshires. 287 youth were matched with a mentor last year -
mentoring provides teens with a caring adult who acts as a positive role model,
helping them to navigate those critical formative years and make healthy
decisions that will lead to high school graduation and a career or college
plan.
 |
| Mentoring in action at the Railroad Street Youth Project. |
One
young man, we’ll call him Jack, was struggling to remain in school; he was
combative with teachers, school administration and some peers, resulting in a
couple of school suspensions and being held back from class field trips.
In
an effort to intervene he was matched with a mentor, but right out of the gate
he let the mentor coordinator know, he was only interested in playing
basketball.
As
time progressed, he became an active member in various group activities and
games and even attended multiple field trips. With the help of his mentor, his
peer relationship skills developed, and he demonstrated positive growth in his
relationships with his peers and school and even earned a field trip to Boston.
This
is just one story, and mentoring only represents one strategy we are
implementing in our positive youth development work. Currently we are investing over $575,000 in
quality youth programming. We could not
do this without you. On behalf of our community partners, friends and neighbors
throughout the Berkshires, thank you.
Duffy
Judge
Development Manager
Development Manager
