Mayor's Mentoring Movement exceeds 2,300 mentors

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joined Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) and leaders from mentoring programs across the city to announce the Mayor's Mentoring Movement has exceeded 2,300 mentors. The Mayor's Mentoring Movement was launched in 2014 with the initial goal to recruit 1,000 new mentors to serve Boston youth.  

"Through our work with Mass Mentoring Partnership, we have been able to provide our youth with even more opportunities to succeed," said Mayor Walsh. "We know that mentoring relationships lead to brighter futures for our young people and stronger neighborhoods. We will continue to recruit more mentors to ensure that every young person has access to these empowering relationships."

The mentors recruited through the Mayor's Mentoring Movement are matched with young people across the City of Boston through mentoring programs serving youth in a variety of settings. The volunteers include adults who live and work in the city as well as many City of Boston employees. Mentors encourage positive choices, promote high self-esteem, and academic achievement.

"We want to thank our mentoring program partners for all of their work to make these relationships happen for Boston youth," said Beth Fraster, Vice President & Chief Program Officer at Mass Mentoring Partnership. "And we thank Mayor Walsh for his continued commitment to this initiative and his dedication to supporting young people across the city."

"Her words of affirmation and encouragement definitely help me move beyond what I can see for myself," said Denaisha Lesley-Coburn on her mentor, Sandra Torres. "I think that's very important because sometimes we know what we are capable of doing, but when we have other people to shine a light on those facts or things that you are able to do, it pushes you even more."

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. For more information, please visit massmentors.org