Every child who needs a mentor
                           should have a mentor.
 




AmeriCorps VISTA Members Featured at Mayor's Day of Recognition

This month, 3,539 leaders across the country paid tribute to those involved in national service programs during the 4th annual Mayor, County, and Tribal Recognition Day for National Service. During this day, recognition ceremonies were held to spotlight the impact of national service and thank those who served in projects to strengthen local communities.

Members of VMP's AmeriCorps VISTA Program participated in the day's events in the Richmond area. Mercedes Buck, a VMP VISTA placed at Henrico HEROES, and Vanessa Reyes, VMP VISTA Supervisor, spoke about their experiences with service in the community. Following the recognition ceremony, volunteers participated in service projects around the city. We are grateful to those who dedicate their time to impact their communities through service! 



Upcoming Training Opportunity

Make sure your program's mentors feel well informed and prepared for any challenges. Join us for a new mentor training session to learn more about:
  • building the mentoring relationship
  • the mentor role
  • setting boundaries
  • mandated reporting
  • positive youth development
WHEN: Tuesday, May 17th, 5:30-8

Click here to register.


April is Child Abuse Prevention Month 

MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership needs help in honoring Child Abuse Prevention Month to ensure a critical screening tool is available to all interested youth-serving organizations. 

Comprehensive background screenings of potential adult volunteer mentors are critical for quality mentoring programs. Yet only about half of states provide access to national FBI checks to youth-serving organizations. The Child Protection Improvements Act (CPIA) would make FBI fingerprint checks universally available to youth-serving organizations. 

Join MENTOR in taking action by clicking here.



Link to Learning

During election season, politics are everywhere. If mentees bring up the topic, is it appropriate for mentors to engage in political discussion? What approach is best for this conversation? Check out this article for relevant advice on addressing politics with your mentee.
Complete State of Mentoring Survey for a Chance to Win $500 for Your Program

In collaboration with MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, VMP is launching the 2016 National Mentoring Program Survey. This is a chance for all youth mentoring programs, big and small, to help increase the awareness, viability, and future funding of programs just like yours. Why is this important? The data collected through these efforts will help MENTOR and VMP:
  • Design more effective trainings to meet your organization's needs
  • Target new investments that can fill gaps in services in high need communities or for specific groups of children
  • Provide more detail about community needs and gaps for recruitment campaigns, advocacy, and funding efforts for the field
In appreciation of your part in this data collection effort, we're sweetening the deal with an incentive: your program will be entered in a drawing to win a cash prize (winner is $500, second place is $250) that can use towards program supplies or activities for the youth you serve. Please allow approximately 30 minutes for completion - The survey also has a save feature that will allow you to return to the page later. 


 The regional, state-wide, and national reports resulting from these efforts will be sent to programs to help inform their programming, recruitment, communications, advocacy, and fundraising requests. Click here to complete the survey.



Celebrating Mentoring at the Virginia Mentoring Awards & Conference 

Thank you to our sponsors, program partners, supporters and friends for joining us at the 2016 Virginia Mentoring Awards & Conference on March 17th at the Jefferson Hotel. Over 200 volunteer mentors, mentoring program representatives, and business leaders attended to celebrate mentoring in Virginia. Congratulations to this year's award winners: Cassie Price, with  AMP! Metro Richmond, and William B. Alston, II with Henrico HEROES, as Outstanding Mentors of the Year, and Virginia Beach Reads as Outstanding Mentoring Program of the Year. 
 
Following the luncheon, the Virginia Mentoring Conference featured workshops around the theme of Cross-Cultural Mentoring. Dr. Betty Neal Crutcher, University of Richmond Presidential Spouse and expert on cross-cultural mentoring, kicked off the theme of the conference with a keynote address describing the positive impact and significance of cross-cultural mentoring. Workshops highlighting the application of cross-cultural mentoring were facilitated by the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. Thank you to all who joined us for thoughtful discussion and in recognition of outstanding contributions to mentoring. Click here to view more photos from the event.

We are grateful for our sponsors for their support of this event.
 



Make Sure Your Program is Listed in Mentoring Connector for An Opportunity to Recruit Volunteers

This April, MENTOR is conducting public awareness campaigns intended to drive traffic to the Mentoring Connector. Did you see the MTV Movie Awards recently featured a My Brother's Keeper (MBK) spot with President Obama? And did you catch last weekend's "The Mentorship" video with Golden State Warrior's Steph Curry and the President? We are seeing a lot of attention being given to the mentoring movement and we want you to receive it!

The Mentoring Connector, the newest version of the Volunteer Referral Service (VRS), is a national database that allows volunteers to search for mentoring opportunities by area. Programs may use this resource to receive volunteer or mentee referrals and be counted in the national database of mentoring programs. Click here to register for the Mentoring Connector.

Email connector@mentoring.org with any questions.

April's Program Spotlight:
Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy
Richmond Jewish Coalition for Literacy (RJCL), an affiliate of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, mobilizes tutors and reading partners for at-risk children in kindergarten through fifth grade at Swansboro Elementary School in Richmond Public Schools. RJCL's efforts to impact literacy stem from research indicating that ability to read by the end of the third grade is a significant indicator of future success, affecting future academic and economic outcomes. In addition to encouraging literacy through mentorship, the Coalition has provided the school with many additional programs and events including Reader's Cafes, garden events, teacher appreciation celebrations, theatre outings, and clothing donation drives. The RJCL program is celebrating its 18th anniversary, a significant milestone in the Jewish tradition, and looks forward to continuing "Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World - one child, one school at a time."

Questions about RJCL? Contact Diane Munsey, dmunsey@jewishrichmond.org.



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Virginia Mentoring Partnership
2500 W. Broad St, Third Floor
Richmond, VA 23220
804-828-1536
Virginia Mentoring Partnership is a 501 (c) 3 organization that is supported by grants, corporate donations, individual donations and in-kind services.  For more information or to support our organization please visit us at 
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