FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 28, 2018
Cambridge and Somerville, MA – Enroot announced it has been awarded a Mentoring Matching Grant of $10,000 from Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP), a statewide organization fueling the movement to expand empowering youth-adult relationships in Massachusetts. Enroot is one of 37 mentoring programs throughout the Commonwealth to receive a Mentoring Matching Grant.
Mass Mentoring Partnership’s support will enable Enroot to serve 150 students in Cambridge and Somerville, improve academic tutoring, and provide more college access support. As the only Out of School Time partner specifically focused on meeting the needs of English Language Learner (ELL) students, Enroot has the opportunity to engage the vast majority of the ELL students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and a growing portion of those at Somerville High School. Mass Mentoring Partnership’s support will enable Enroot to grow to serve 150 students in the 2018-2019 academic years. The funding will be used for the recruitment, training, and support of volunteer mentors and high school students. Mentoring is a key component of Enroot’s holistic program; all of our students are matched 1:1 with a caring adult mentor and meet their mentor once a week for at least one academic year. Many of our pairs continue to meet throughout the student’s years in high school. We prioritize recruiting volunteer mentors who share identities with our students, focusing specifically on mentors who speak another language, are immigrants themselves, and/or are in a professional field of interest to our students.
“Mass Mentoring Partnership’s support will allow Enroot to ensure high school students coming from around the world and just beginning to learn English are welcomed to their new community with the support of a caring adult mentor,” Enroot’s Executive Director Ben Clark said. “We are grateful for Mass Mentoring Partnership’s support of our students and the immigrant community.”
“We are proud to invest in Enroot with a Mentoring Matching Grant,” MMP President and CEO Lily Mendez said. “This critical funding will allow Enroot to create or support existing mentoring matches and help to increase positive attitudes toward school, ensuring youth are given every opportunity to develop into productive, successful adults.”
Funding for the grants stems from the Massachusetts FY19 budget, where it was funded at $750,000, through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This represents a 50% increase in state funding over the previous year. Since 2009, MMP has awarded more than $4 million in Mentoring Matching Grants to youth serving organizations throughout Massachusetts. This year’s grants will create and support more than 2,000 high-quality matches statewide. Awarded funding is intended to create or support existing mentoring matches and help to increase positive attitudes toward school. The Mentoring Matching Grants is unique in its use of private-sector support, as grantees are required to match, dollar-for-dollar, the total amount awarded with cash or in-kind resources.
About Enroot:
Enroot is a community-based nonprofit with a mission to empower immigrant youth to achieve academic, career, and personal success through inspiring out-of-school experiences. For the past 25 years, Enroot has directed programming for immigrant high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) with program alumni graduating college at twice the rate of their peers with demonstrated increases in self-confidence, advocacy, and leadership skills. In 2016 Enroot expanded the program to serve students at Somerville High School. Our team of adult mentors, tutors, instructors, and case managers empowers students through comprehensive out-of-school time programming that enables each student not only to succeed but to achieve their own American dream. Enroot tackles the challenges facing low-income, new immigrant youth by providing job readiness workshops, paid internships, career exploration, substantial academic support, leadership development, and community service opportunities, as well as matching all students one-to-one with an adult mentor.
About Mass Mentoring Partnership:
Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) is fueling the movement to expand empowering youth-adult relationships to meet the needs of communities across Massachusetts. With offices in Boston and in Holyoke, MMP serves hundreds of mentoring programs and youth development organizations statewide supporting thousands of youth in mentoring relationships. www.massmentors.org
To learn more about the Mentoring Matching Grants line item and the mentoring programs funded through this grant, download this catalog.