With the start of the school year and increasing case counts, youth mentoring programs across the state are working on safely continuing in-person mentoring and are in need of new mentors to help meet the increased need. Learn more about considerations your program may want to make when deciding how to approach the current reality by reviewing our updated Considerations for Mentoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Vermont Department of Health Resource Page:

• https://www.healthvermont.gov/response/infectious-disease/2019-novel-coronavirus

University of Vermont Health Network Resource Page:

• https://www.uvmhealth.org/pages/coronavirus.aspx

Office of Governor Phil Scott: Press releases from the governor’s office, including details on the state’s efforts to address COVID-19.

• https://governor.vermont.gov/press

Statewide Media Feeds with COVID-19 News:

• Seven Days
• VT Digger
• Vermont Public Radio

• Watch Dr. David Anderson’s Keynote Address from the 2020 Vermont Mentoring Symposium, “Supporting Youth in the Time of COVID: Strategies to Build Relationships and Better Manage Stress and Uncertainty.”
• Print and share the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations’ “Wearing Masks” storybook
• Review this guide on trauma
• Read this Talking to Children About COVID-19 resource
• Share this Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus with youth
• Refer to Dr. Jean Rhodes’ guidelines for mentors and caregivers from the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring (includes age-specific recommendations)

Latest Information on the COVID-19 Vaccine (updated November 11, 2021):
As we continue to progress toward getting more of people in Vermont vaccinated, MENTOR Vermont would like to call attention to a few important updates and resources around the roll-out of the vaccine.

Anyone in Vermont (5 and older), regardless of residency, is now eligible to receive the vaccine.

• How to sign up for/receive the vaccine for youth 5+ years old
  • COVID-19 vaccination information specifically for youth 5-11 years old
• How to get vaccinated 
• BIPOC-Specific Clinics
  • According to the Vermont Department of Health, if you or anyone in your household identifies as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC), including anyone with Abenaki or other First Nations heritage, all household members who are 12 years or older have the option to get vaccinated at a BIPOC-focused community clinic.
  • To sign up in the Burlington area, please fill out the Burlington BIPOC COVID Vaccination form coordinated by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, The Black Perspective, the New Alpha Ministry Baptist Church, the UVM VT LEND Program, and the Vermont Professionals of Color Network. If you prefer to schedule your appointment by phone, you can contact the Burlington Resource and Recovery Center at 802-755-7239.
• New American-Specific Clinics
  • For more information about community-specific clinics for people who are English language learners or immigrant/refugee community members, call the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) at (802) 985-3106 or the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants of Vermont (USCRI VT) at (802) 655-1963 to register.

For the most up-to-date information about the vaccine, and how/where to sign up, visit: https://www.healthvermont.gov/covid-19/vaccine/getting-covid-19-vaccine.

Other Resources:

• Dial 2-1-1 or visit: https://vermont211.org for help connecting with resources
• COVID-19 Testing
  • For the latest information about testing from the VT Department of Health visit: https://www.healthvermont.gov/response/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-covid-19
• Food Access Questions
  • We encourage you to visit Hunger Free Vermont’s “COVID-19 and Food Access” page.
• Free High-Speed Internet during the Pandemic:
  • Comcast Internet Essentials
    Throughout Vermont (where Comcast service is available), families of youth who qualify for free or reduced lunch can receive two free months of high-speed internet access. This program also operates throughout the year at a cost of $9.95 a month for qualified families.
  • Burlington Telecom
    Offering free high-speed internet access to families of Burlington K-12 students during the school closures.
• Resources available in languages other than English:
  • Vermont Department Health COVID-19 Resources
    Access translated versions of resources by visiting www.healthvermont.gov/media/translation/covid-19-translations.
  • Informational COVID-19 PSA Videos (produced/shared by Alison Segar from Spectrum’s Multicultural Youth Program)
    Full Playlist Available Here on YouTube
    Translations are available in the following languages: Arabic, Bosnian, Dinka, French, Lingala, Nepali, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese.
  • New Americans in Vermont Website
    Updated as of February 2021 with new information about the vaccine in languages other than English. Contains all of the videos in other languages listed above as well as links to information in American Sign Language, and other important resources related to food and internet access for the Greater Burlington area.

March 2021 Update:
MENTOR Vermont condemns the murders of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in Georgia in March 2021, and the thousands of other hate crimes targeting the AAPI community that have taken place across the country since the start of the pandemic. We join MENTOR National and our youth mentoring colleagues across the country in standing in solidarity with those standing up against AAPI Hate and reiterating the impact of mentoring relationships in helping to create a more just and equitable world.

We encourage you to read and share Stop AAPI Hate’s full report on the rise of AAPI hate crimes since last March by visiting www.StopAAPIHate.org.

For other resources and trainings around the history of Anti-Asian racism in America, we encourage you to visit Launch Learning’s resource page.

Embracing an Antiracist Approach to Inaccurate Information About COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
As our Vermont mentoring community works together to disrupt racist, inaccurate information about the coronavirus (information that is harmful to our mentees and mentors), below are three articles that offer helpful strategies and information.

• Search Institute: Resisting the Pandemic of Prejudice, Reclaiming the Power of Relationships
• Teaching Tolerance: Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus
• From Facing History: Protect Yourself and Stand Against Racism

Past Funding:

• 2021-2022 Vermont Mentoring Grants: While the 2021-2022 application process is now closed, if you are interested in applying for a future grant, please set up a profile for your agency (if you don’t already have one) in our new grantmaking system and fill out the grant eligibility form to confirm your agency is eligible to apply. You can view the full 2021-2022 Vermont Mentoring Grants RFP for more information about this year’s grants.
• 2021 VT Community Foundation COVID-19 Response Grant: Thanks to an additional $50,000 grant through the VT COVID-19 Response Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, MENTOR Vermont was able to offer a new quick response funding opportunity for current 2020-2021 Vermont Mentoring Grants awardees. All funding has been awarded and you can view the list of grantees here.
• 2020 OJJDP COVID-19 Response Grants: MENTOR Vermont and the Vermont Department For Children and Families (DCF) reallocated $174,000 in federal funding from their larger Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant to provide three-month (September-June 2020) COVID-19 Response grants to programs.
• 2020 VT Community Foundation COVID-19 Response Grant: MENTOR Vermont received $50,000 in funding through the Response Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation to provide grants to help mentoring programs maintain current mentor matches and adjust their program models to the current reality of the pandemic. This funding was incorporated into the 2020-2021 Vermont Mentoring Grants.
• 2020 and 2021 Federal Payroll Protection Program (PPP): Supported mentoring agencies in applying for PPP loans through the Federal CARES Act, and 100% of applicants reported receiving funding for 2020 PPP loans.

The 2021 Vermont COVID-19 Response Mentoring Surveys

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

For 2021, the revised COVID-19 Response Surveys replaced the Vermont Mentoring Surveys of years past.

During the summer of 2020, through MENTOR Vermont’s federal grant from OJJDP, MENTOR Vermont was able to work with Amy Syvertsen, director of applied qualitative research at the Search Institute and member of the National Mentoring Resource Center Research Board, to develop and implement COVID-19 Response Mentoring Surveys for mentors and mentees. The four OJJDP COVID-19 Response subgrantees administered this survey to mentors and mentees before the start of the 2020-2021 school-year. Based on the data that was gathered and the continuation of the pandemic through the 2020-2021 school-year, MENTOR Vermont decided to once again work with Amy Syvertsen to shorten and revise the original COVID-19 Response Surveys and provide them to the larger Vermont mentoring program community during the 2020-2021 grant year in lieu of the previous years’ Vermont Mentoring Surveys.

All 2020-2021 Vermont Mentoring Grantees were required to conduct the survey in full. Unlike in past years when MENTOR Vermont required programs to conduct the full Vermont Mentoring Surveys, or the Core Survey questions in addition to a program’s own survey, programs that received a 2020-2021 Vermont Mentoring Grant were required to run the full 2021 COVID-19 Response Surveys.  

Below you will find a toolkit, sample surveys, and some common questions answered. 

THE COVID-19 RESPONSE MENTORING SURVEY TOOLKIT

The toolkit is designed to help mentoring programs implement the surveys in a uniform and valid manner.

Click Here to Access the 2021 COVID-19 Response Survey Toolkit!
Click Here to Access the Detailed Survey Recommendations Guide!

SAMPLE SURVEYS

• Mentees
• Mentors