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 1 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 2 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 3 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 1 Approx. 5% of the Mentoring Matching Grants funding is allocated to administrative costs 4 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. 5 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 6 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 7 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% 8 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.” 9 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, 10 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. 11 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 12 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 13 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 14