Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2007, $100,000)
The Virginia Mentoring Partnership (VMP) proposes to implement an initiative entitled, "Building Strong and Effective Mentoring Programs to Benefit Youth" (BEMBY). The purpose of this initiative is to assist in the development and maturity of school-based mentoring in Virginia schools that are underserved due to socioeconomic status, location, shortage of mentors, and other indicators of disadvantaged populations. The design of the overall initiative is based on proven (but limited) strategies used in the past at both VMP and at several of their other offices around the nation. VMP will increase the outreach to existing programs, will create three new regional training opportunities around the state, will provide training to 2100 new volunteer mentors (over the three years), and will provide technical assistance to 60 new or existing programs (in the first year). The project will host these regional training institutes each year and will develop a cohesive outreach campaign with the goal of infusing existing programs with beneficial resources, training and customized technical assistance in order to strengthen programs. Because VMP provides services statewide, the performance measures will vary by region. In some areas the focus will be on Achallenged@ school systems, where students in need tend to be concentrated. CA/NCF