2015-2016 Vermont Mentoring Grants

To date, for the 2015-2016 Vermont Mentoring Grants funding cycle, Mobius has awarded 29 grants, totaling more than $330,000, to support adult-to-youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This funding will support 102 new and existing program sites, and nearly 1,900 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont.

These grants were made through funding support from The Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children, the A.D. Henderson Foundation, and the Vermont Department for Children and Families. The criteria for this year’s granting process was determined collectively by our funding partners, Mobius staff and board, and the Program Leadership Council.

Grant Award Recipients

New Program and Program Expansion Planning Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Howard Center	Community Friends Mentoring (supporting youth who age out of other programs)	Community-based	N/A	$4,000
Chittenden South Supervisory Union	Connecting Youth Mentoring (new site at CVU)	TBD	N/A	$4,000
Windsor County Partners	Let’s Do Lunch (new site in Chester)	School-based	N/A	$3,000
First-Year Implementation Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
VSA Vermont	High School Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	5	$10,600*^
Ottauquechee Community Partnership	Mentor and Buddy Program (Barnard Academy)	Community and School-based	7	$8,000
Second-Year Implementation Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Lincoln Mentors	School-based	12	$2,600^#
The DREAM Program	Salmon Run (Burlington)	Community-based	N/A	See Continuing Support Grants
Continuing Support Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Monkton Mentors	School-based	13	$3,100
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Mt. Abraham Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	11	$4,100^
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Starksboro Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	25	$7,125^
The Collaborative	The Collaborative Mentoring Program	School-based	9	$2,600^
Chittenden South Supervisory Union	Connecting Youth Mentoring	School-based	145	$24,000
Cornerstone Bridges to Life Community Center	Cornerstone Mentoring	School-based	7	$2,100^
The DREAM Program	The DREAM Program	Community-based	260	$26,000^ (includes second-year implementation funding listed above)
Essex CHIPS	Essex FriendCHIPS	School-based	20	$4,100^
Everybody Wins! Vermont	Everybody Wins! Vermont	School-based	550	$45,000
Franklin County Caring Communities	Friends for Lunch, Royal Lunch Bunch, and Watershed Mentoring	Community and School-based	30	$6,350*^#
Grand Isle Community Services	Grand Isle County Mentoring	School-based	42	$9,810^
Howard Center	Community Friends Mentoring	Community-based	75	$15,000
King Street Center	Junior Senior Buddies	Community-based	63	$12,000
The Mentor Connector	See What 2 Can Do	Community-based	95	$25,475^
The Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley	The Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley	Community-based	14	$6,100^
Milton Community Youth Coalition	Milton Mentors	Community-based	18	$5,800*^
Northeast Kingdom Youth Services	JUMP Mentoring	School-based	16	$4,500^
Ottauquechee Community Partnership	Mentor and Buddy Program	Community and School-based	25	$6,500
South Burlington School District	SB Mentoring	School-based	54	$4,000
Spectrum Youth and Family Services	Spectrum Mentoring	Community-based	80	$16,400^
Twinfield Together Mentoring Program	Twinfield Together Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	41	$14,705^
United Counseling Service	Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bennington County	Community and School-based	60	$18,300^
Washington Central Friends of Education	Girls Boyz First Mentoring	Community-based	40	$15,700*^
Windsor County Partners	Let’s Do Lunch, and Partners Always Lend Support	Community and School-based	42	$12,250*
Youth Services of Windham County	Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windham County	Community and School-based	110	$15,500*#

Key:

*  = Received additional funding for a staff member to attend regional or national conference
^ = Received additional funding for committing to using full Vermont Mentoring Surveys
# = Portion of grant funding is contingent on meeting specified grant goals by March 1, 2016

For information about previous Vermont Mentoring Grant funding cycles and grant awards, visit the Vermont Mentoring Grants page.

 

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; for first or second-year programs, working with Mobius to complete the 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.

Eligible 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)
• Additional Funding:
  • Professional Development
    Outside of the program funding process, mentoring agencies were eligible to receive up to $500 to support a program staff member attending the Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference or the National Mentoring Summit.
  • 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 were awarded 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
Hilda Green, Vermont Children’s Trust
Rebecca Majoya, Majoya Writing