Mentoring Match Grants FY2013
7061-9634
Summary Report
105 Chauncy Street, Suite 300
Boston, MA 02111
Western MA: c/o United Way of Pioneer Valley
1441 Main St., Ste. 147 Springfield, MA 01103
www.massmentors.org
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Mentoring Match Grants FY2013
7061-9634
Summary Report
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Regional Distribution .................................................................................................................................... 4
Impact ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Academic Outcomes reported by programs ......................................................................................... 6
Match Testimonials ............................................................................................................................... 9
Implementation .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Highlights of Quality Improvements .................................................................................................. 10
Summary of Program Challenges ........................................................................................................ 12
Program Support ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Public Awareness ........................................................................................................................................ 14
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Introduction
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education continued its
commitment to fund mentoring programs throughout the state by allocating resources to provide grants to qualifying
mentoring programs. Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) distributed Mentoring Matching Grants (7061-9634) for
FY2013 to 27 mentoring programs across the state. These grants make a public investment in mentoring programs as
well as leverage private dollars across the Commonwealth on behalf of youth. This funding has a significant impact on
the lives of young people. Research shows that mentoring is a proven, effective strategy that increases the protective
factors for a young person by: creating opportunities for involvement in their community, personal connectedness,
sense of self-worth, and hope for the future. These protective factors directly affect school attendance, engagement
and student performance.
Mass Mentoring Partnership awarded these grants and tracked grantees programmatically and financially to ensure the
funds were well spent. Through a competitive RFP process, the following programs were chosen based on: strength of
their program structure, ability to sustain growth, and suitability of their program goals and objectives.
LOCATION
NAME OF ORGANIZATION
Adoption and Foster Care Mentors
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Central MA/Metro West
BBBS Franklin County
BBBS of Hampden County
BBBS of Hampshire County
BBBS of Mass Bay
Big Friends Little Friends
Big Friends Little Friends
Big Sister Association of Boston
Boston Partners in Education Inc.
Brockton Christian Mentoring Initiative
Catholic Charities Laboure Center
Child Care of the Berkshires Inc.
The DREAM Program
Earthen Vessels, Inc. (EV)
Read to a Child: Formerly Everybody Win! Metro Boston
Girls Inc of Lynn
LUK Crisis Center
Melrose Alliance Against Violence
John Andrew Mazie Foundation Mentoring Program
Old Colony YMCA
Partners for Youth with Disabilities
Rail Road Street Youth Project
SMILES
Springfield School Volunteers
Strong Women, Strong Girls
Boston
Framingham
Greenfield
Amherst
Springfield
Boston
Lawrence
Fall River
Boston
Boston
Brockton
Boston
Pittsfield
Boston
Boston
Boston
Lynn
Fitchburg
Melrose
Framingham
Brockton
Boston
Great Barrington
Fall River
Springfield
Boston
Taunton Area School to Career
Taunton
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Regional Distribution
All five regions of the state of Massachusetts were given funds and assistance from the Mentoring Matching Grants
7061-96. Below is a snap shot of the programs across the five different regions. The chart below illustrates the number
of children served by the state mentoring grantees in each region and how many children remain on their waitlists.
New Matches Supported by Mentoring Match
Grants 7061-9634 by Region
Southeast Funding: $47,250
Proposed Matches: 102
Actual Matches: 85
Greater Boston Funding: $119,530
Proposed Matches: 487
Actual Matches: 649
Central Funding:
$30,000
Proposed Matches: 43
Actual Matches: 41
Northeast Funding: $48,000
Proposed Matches: 95
Actual Matches: 92
WMA Funding: $87,150
Proposed Matches: 70
Actual Matches: 58
*Total Program Investment: $331,9301
*Total Proposed Matches: 797
*Total Actual Matches: 925
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Approx. 5% of the Mentoring Matching Grants funding is allocated to administrative costs
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Impact
The state grants are programmatically monitored to ensure programs measure their success in meeting programmatic
goals and objectives. Each program must state an intended goal and report the outcome of that goal by the end of the
grant year. The average academic goal for each program was to improve student’s attitudes towards school by 74.6%.
On average, the final reported outcomes exceeded the intended goal by nearly 10% with a reported average of 89% of
Mentees demonstrating an improved attitude towards school. The table below shows each programs reported intended
goals and outcomes.
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Academic Intended Goals & Outcomes reported by programs:
NAME OF ORGANIZATION
LOCATION
INTENDED
ACADEMIC GOAL
Adoption and Foster Care Mentors Boston
75%
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS)
Central MA/Metro West
BBBS Franklin County
Framingham
65%
Greenfield
75%
BBBS of Hampden County
Amherst
80%
BBBS of Hampshire County
BBBS of Mass Bay
Springfield
Boston
65%
85%
Big Friends Little Friends
Lawrence
65%
Big Friends Little Friends
Fall River
90%
Big Sister Association of Boston
Boston
Boston Partners in Education Inc.
Boston
75%
REPORTED OUTCOMES
59% of Mentors reported that their mentee had improved his/her
attitude towards school. Taking into account the significant challenges
that youth in foster care face with regard to their education, we
consider this to be important progress towards our goal.
Through standardized evaluation, 70% of Mentees improved in their
attitude towards school.
Teachers’ report 100% of children had improved attitude towards
school. Parents reported that 68.4% had improved attitude towards
school. Mentors reported 66.7% had improved attitude towards
school. Average improvement is 78.3%
87% of SMG youth indicated they are "very sure" they will finish high
school; 100% indicated they are "mostly sure" or "very sure" they will
finish high school; 15% increased their expectations that they would
finish high school; 78% remained the same in their expectations that
they would finish high school.
69% of mentees showed improvement in attitude toward school
Using the Youth Outcome Survey, 100% of mentees surveyed either
maintained or improved their attitude toward school.
81% of mentors reported their mentee has a better attitude toward
school; 72% of parents reported improved academic performance.
Through our annual satisfaction survey, 94% of mentees said they
agree or strongly agree that they have a more positive attitude
towards school. 88% said their grades have improved, and reported a
49% increase in mentees receiving A's or B's for final grades compared
to last year.
For all girls served in Community-Based Mentoring in 2012, 68.2%
reported improved scholastic competency, 89.5% improved their
expectation to finish high school, and 90.2% improved their
expectation to attend college.
56% did give a higher rating in the year-end survey. On the teacher
survey, 53% of respondents said their Power Lunch students had
improved their academic performance; 42% said students had
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Brockton Christian Mentoring
Initiative
Brockton
75%
Catholic Charities Laboure Center
TEAM
Child Care of the Berkshires Inc.
Boston
70%
Pittsfield
85%
The DREAM Program
Boston
Earthen Vessels, Inc. (EV)
Boston
85%
Read to a Child –
Formerly: Everybody Wins! Metro
Boston
Boston
90%
Girls Inc of Lynn
Lynn
70%
LUK Crisis Center
Fitchburg
85%
Melrose Alliance Against Violence
Melrose
80%
John Andrew Mazie Foundation
Framingham
85%
improved their behavior in class; 47% said students had increased
their attention spans; 74% said students had improved their
communication with adults; and 63% said students had improved their
interactions with peers. These figures represent increases of 14% and
13%, respectively, compared to the mid-year volunteer survey.
Parents and mentors reported all matched youth either had improved
attitudes towards school, or maintained a positive attitude towards
school
83% of mentees indicated that their attitude towards school had
improved as a result of their relationship with their mentor
We were not able to gather meaningful data within our school-based
start-up year. There was an average of 6 visits per match, with a
majority of the matches beginning in March/April, and pausing in
May/June. Matches will resume in September/October 2013.
Preliminary data from our survey indicates that the majority of parents
and youth express that DREAM has a positive impact on DREAM's
youth's schoolwork.
The attitudes self-assessment was administered with the bi-annual
WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Test) to evaluate vocabulary,
reading, and math abilities at the start and finish of every school year.
SY12-13, every EVkid tested made a positive net gain in at least one
WRAT area (vocabulary, reading, math level), 94% of students made a
positive net gain in at least two areas, and 44% made positive net
gains in all three areas (word recognition, sentence completion, and
math).
Pre- and post-program evaluations of 1st – 4th grade students are
performed directly by each student’s teacher. Analyses of the data
evidence that, for the 2012-2013 school year lunchtime reading
program, 52% of students showed a positive gain in their enthusiasm
for books and reading.
54% (13 out of 24 mentees) reported that their attitude toward school
is better. 25% (6 out of 24 mentees) reported already good attitudes.
The DAP shows that 88% of the youth showed improvement on the
Commitment to Learning subscale.
67% of the students enrolled in the program showed an increase in
GPA (grade point average) between the beginning and end of the
2012-2013 academic school year.
In our 3 annual anonymous evaluation surveys, over 90% of mentees
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Mentoring Program
Old Colony YMCA
Brockton
90%
Partners for Youth with Disabilities
Boston
80%
Rail Road Street Youth Project
65%
SMILES
Great
Barrington
Fall River
Springfield School Volunteers
Springfield
60%
Strong Women, Strong Girls
Boston
75%
Taunton Area School to Career
Taunton
85%
85%
reported increased confidence in their academic performance, in their
overall attitude towards school, and in their interest in post-secondary
education.
We currently expect to meet the objective as proposed although much
of the data will not be available for another six months or so. Data
from our 3 month mentor/mentee SORs indicates that 88% of
established matches are reporting a positive, successful match.
Our academic objective was as follows: At least 80% of mentees will
show improved attitudes towards school because of their mentor.
Throughout the funding period we reached our goal; of the 20
mentees surveyed who have been involved in the program for 6
months or more, 81% reported that they have a more positive attitude
towards school because of their mentor.
We met our goal with 65% of mentees showing at least one indicator
of improved attitude towards school
In October 2012 pre-surveys were completed by SMILES mentees.
77.6% of mentees surveyed indicated “Yes” when asked if they like
going to school every day. In June, this number increased to 97%.
77.5 % of mentors responding to a phone survey noticed positive
changes in their mentees
79% of parents reported that their daughter’s participation in SWSG
improved her behavior in school and her aspirations to attend college.
Guidance counselors rated students interest in academic studies went
from 58.3% to 75%
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Match Testimonials:
Programs not only articulated academic objectives for the past year but also pursued other worthy objectives related to
youth growth and development. Many reported an increase in self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-expression after
participating in the mentoring program. As illustrated by the examples below, not only are mentors important in
bolstering young people’s academic progress, they also can play a crucial role in increasing positive relationships, selfconfidence, and self-worth.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mass Bay
Scott, a petty officer in the Coast Guard who has been involved with us for just under two years, said being a Big Brother
has been one of the most meaningful experiences of his life. “Talking with other Big Brothers, it seems that our
motivation was the same — to help others,” said Scott. “I’ve always thought that being able to put a smile on someone’s
face is a beautiful thing. It’s very special.” Because of his work schedule, Scott, 29, sees his 11-year-old Little Brother,
mostly every other weekend. “He lives on Cape Cod and is being raised by his grandmother,” said Scott. C.J.’s parents
are no longer involved in his life – both struggle with substance abuse, his biological mother was incarcerated at one
point, and C.J. witnessed incidents of domestic violence when he was very young. C.J.’s friendship with Scott provides
him with a consistent, stable, positive role model who he can depend on. C.J.’s grandmother reports that he is doing
well in school, has made some close friendships with his classmates, and really looks up to Scott. She says “he has really
made such a huge impact in his life already.”
Taunton Area School to Career
One of our Mentees spoke at a closing breakfast and said. "When I was first told about the mentor program I thought
“why do I need this?” That was because I didn’t realize how unmotivated I was in my shop. Now after going through the
mentor program I realized that it’s important to like what you do and you have to really see yourself in the trade if you
want to have a future in it. With the help of my mentor, I can now see myself in CAD/CAM and more opportunities like
college in my future. I’m very grateful for the mentor program." This student also said that she had not thought that she
wanted to go to college before the Program. But afterwards she was sure she did. She also said that she was lazy in class
and didn’t try much in shop and that changed after her time with (her mentor). She now makes an effort and does her
best.
Old Colony Y – Big Sister Big Brother
This match was established in October of 2012 with goals targeting improving attitude towards and investment in
school, building self-esteem, and establishing a comfort with adults in his community. When this youth was first
matched, his guardian – his grandmother – was incredibly anxious about her grandson going off with a stranger. The
grandmother now reports feeling as though her grandchild is safe and supported in his relationship with his mentor. She
reported that the mentor has taken an interest in her grandson’s academic success, taking an active role in his school
work. She reported that the mentor helps his mentee get excited about and complete school projects during match
visits, and that his help encouraging her grandson is much appreciated.
Partners for Youth with Disabilities
Taylor, a young male from Boston who has Autism and a huge passion for science, fixing, taking apart and building
things, came to the Mentor Match program seeking friendship. At times, Taylor expressed feeling like he “didn’t fit in”
and was looking for a mentor who with interests around building, engineering, and technology. He also hoped to gain
support around math and money skills. Immediately, the Mentor Match team thought of mentor Stephanie, who shared
Taylor’s strong affinity for science. Stephanie has Autism and came to PYD with a great desire to help in the community,
particularly through working with youth with disabilities. In the summer of 2012, PYD matched Stephanie and Taylor,
and it was not long before staff observed Taylor increasingly coming out of his shell. When reflecting on their match,
Stephanie explains that they have both “managed to learn and grow regarding interactions with others in crowds and
with payment activities such as shopping at stores and buying food.”
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Implementation
Highlights of Quality Improvements
Over the grant year, programs reported implementing improvements and innovations to their program operations. Below are some examples of
improvements made:
Area of
Improvement
Recruitment
Programs
Examples
Read to a Child: Formerly Every Body Wins
Metro Boston
Screening/
Safety
Big Brothers Big Sisters Hampshire County
Match
Support
Partners for Youth with Disabilities
The program made the most matches ever – 780 – and attracted the most mentors as well –
1,011. We changed the timing of our Teacher / Mentor Day, an opportunity for volunteer
mentors to meet one-on-one with their student’s teacher, from October to January. This
program innovation proved to be invaluable. Based on their direct and daily experience with
the child in school for 4-5 months, the knowledgeable teachers were able to suggest to
mentors new ways to interact with their specific student to engage them in reading and book
discussions, and to converse with the children on their level. Mentors appreciated the
guidance.
An integral aspect of our program has always been the high standards to which we hold our
mentors; including the screening process in order to mentor a child in our community. It has
always been our belief that any mentoring match, whether community or site-based, should
be held to the same measures, including a CORI background check, driving record, reference
interview calls, in-depth volunteer interview, and home visit. These requirements enable our
matches an additional fluidity to best meet their needs.
Throughout the reporting period, the Mentor Match team made it a top priority to expand
the ways we reach out to our program participants. We began using Constant Contact in the
summer of 2012 to enhance participant outreach. As of March 2013, PYD was recognized for
achieving exemplary marketing results and has been named one of Constant Contact’s 2012
All Stars. The Mentor Match team also bolstered our efforts to connect with participants
through social media (Facebook, Twitter). The Mentor Match team was the driving force
behind Partners for Youth with Disabilities launching a new website recently (www.pyd.org).
We believe this website will improve our participant recruitment efforts, and the addition of
a blog will help us with our efforts to reach participants, share resources, and tell our story.
Through all of these channels, we have been better able to reach our program participants,
and better able to pass along news, events, and resources to them. We believe that this new
outreach effort will not only provide our youth and mentors with additional information, but
it will improve match outcomes as well.
Match
John Andrew Mazie Foundation
This past spring, we collaborated with Dassault Industries, a worldwide IT company, to
arrange a job shadowing opportunity for our mentees. In advance of job shadowing day,
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Area of
Improvement
Activities
Programs
Curriculum
Development
SMILES (People, Incorporated)
Program
Expansion
Strong Women Strong Girls
Mentor
Retention
Big Sister Association
Examples
mentees were given detailed job descriptions from each company department, from which
they chose the job they wished to shadow. Mentees, job shadowed a Dassault employee
from 9AM to 1 PM, and had lunch at Dassault. It was a wonderfully eye-opening experience
for our mentees, and will be repeated annually.
Our newly enhanced curriculum reinforces knowledge the students already have while also
introducing new concepts and ideas. We further developed our Traditional Curriculum which
is based on the 40 Developmental Assets. The lesson plans are now directly in line with the
assets. The enhanced literacy curriculum also provides a necessary and convenient means of
communication between each student’s teacher and the mentor. This school year, SMILES
hosted 3 Mentor/Teacher Socials. Each social was a mutually beneficial opportunity in which
mentors were given the chance to meet their mentees’ classroom teachers and teachers
were able to converse with their students’ mentors. Mentors sat one-on-one with their
mentee’s teacher and engaged in conversation which helped mentors discover ways to help
their mentees academically and socially.
SWSG not only matches elementary-school girls with mentors but also matches college
mentors in a one-to-one mentoring relationship with professional women aka leadership
Coaches. This year, SWSG has engaged 55 new professional women as coaches. In addition to
supporting the college women in their career goals, the Leadership Coaches have extended
SWSG’s organizational capacity by supporting each student leader in setting and
accomplishing a goal related to their role within SWSG. SWSG’s mentors who organized fall
field trips utilized their relationships with their Leadership Coaches from large corporations
to help secure donated snacks and give-aways for the girls. Leadership Coaches in marketing
have helped the college mentors create videos to raise awareness about SWSG on their
campus and redesign their chapter’s marketing materials to look more professional and eyecatching. Throughout the year, the college mentors have recruited coaches to serve on
panels at their respective colleges and universities and shadowed their coaches at their place
of work for the day. SWSG has been so impressed by these collaborative efforts and the
strong relationships that have been formed between these professional women and the
college mentors.
We noticed a rise in the number of Big Sister/Little Sister matches not completing the
minimum 12 months together. In response we analyzed the matches that had closed
prematurely to identify common factors amongst mentors who were unable to keep their 12month commitments. Based on our findings, our recruitment team now screens potential Big
Sisters with more intensity, looking for factors that have been shown to cause premature
match closures. Our enrollment and matching staff now incorporate information on the
harmfulness of premature closures into their training materials for potential and new Big
Sisters. This emphasizes the importance of meeting the 12-month goal. We have noticed
positive changes since implementing these changes; in our signature Community-Based
Mentoring, Big and Little Sisters now stay together an average of 25.7 months, more than
twice as long as the minimum commitment we ask of mentors.
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Summary of Program Challenges
Programmatic challenges fell into a couple of common area consistent with the challenges Mass Mentoring Partnerships
identified in Mass Mentoring Counts biennial report on the state of mentoring in Massachusetts.
Programmatic Challenges:
 Capacity in the area of staffing- Fewer number of staff asked to perform more duties than are preferred by
program directors.

Staff turnover

Providing quality match support (e.g. screening, pre and post match training, recruitment, etc) without the
resources needed, match support, which is crucial to achieving programmatic outcomes, can become quite
difficult to implement considering the ongoing capacity and resources required.
Other programmatic challenges identified:
o Parent engagement and follow through with program requirements
o Recruitment of corporate mentors for lunch time mentoring
o Recruitment of mentors in rural areas
o Funding
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Program Support
For FY 2013 Mentoring Matching Grants (7061-9634), Mass Mentoring Partnership worked with programs providing
training, technical assistance, and other opportunities for programs to strengthen, grow, and meet programmatic goals.
Below are all of the activities that programs reported participating in during the grant year:
TRAINING
 Building a Quality Mentoring Program
 Train the Trainer on Mentors
 Introduction to Cultural Competency
 Screening Prospective Mentors
 Train the Trainer Mentee
 Program Evaluation Planning
 Best Practices in Program Evaluation
 Match Support
 Family Involvement in Youth Mentoring Process
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
 Quality-based Membership consulting/support
 RFP Assistance
 Mentor/Mentee training development
 Guidance on Legislative Advocacy
 Recruitment Strategy and PR
 Recruitment using social media tools
 Creating New Topics for Mentor Training
 Transition for Youth in Foster Care
 Video Production for Mentor Recruitment
 Financial Reporting and Accountability for Grants
 Match Support and Long-Term Sustainability
 Conducting Webinars: Tips and Options
OTHER MMP SPONSORED ACTIVITIES
 Regional Networking Lunches/Mass Mentoring Counts 2012 Presentations
 Round Table on Diversifying Mentor Recruitment
 Mentoring Advocacy Webinar
 Red Sox Mentoring Challenge Breakfast
 Youth Mentoring Forum
 Partner Members Fall Summit
 Lynn Mentoring Network
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Public Awareness
Each of the programs in this year’s grantee cohort actively engaged in raising the public awareness of mentoring and
publicized in some way the support they received from the state. They raised awareness in their communities and
showed the support given to young people through this funding resource.
Programs used a combination of social and print media to inform community members and key stakeholders about the
funding they received. The various methods used to create public awareness of the public investment in mentoring in
local communities are summarized below:
Public Awareness Activities
2012-2013
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