BRISTOL/BRANDON — MENTOR Vermont recently awarded 25 grants, totaling $348,735, to support youth mentoring programs throughout the state, including grants to an Addison County school and a Brandon-based organization that serves Addison County. The 2019- 2020 Vermont Mentoring Grants will support more than 100 new and existing program sites, and more than 1,800 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont. 
MENTOR Vermont awarded two grants to agencies and school districts that affect Addison County residents. Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) got a $28,500 grant to support the Bristol Mentors, Lincoln Mentors, Monkton Mentors, Mount Abraham Mentoring, New Haven Mentors, and Starksboro Mentoring programs, A $3,600 grant was awarded to the Safer Society Foundation of Brandon to support the New Circle mentoring program. 
“MAUSD Mentoring has recently increased its commitment in the five towns of Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven, and Starksboro to expand the numbers of adult-to-child mentor matches,” said Amy Johnston, mentoring director for MAUSD. “The generous grant and guidance from MENTOR Vermont has been crucial in this effort.” In total, the grant will support 95 mentor matches involving youth throughout the school district. 
“New Circle Mentoring is pleased to be awarded a grant through MENTOR Vermont which will help continue to fund and grow the program wherein our mentees build trusting relationships, make community connections, achieve academic goals, and explore fun activities,” said Erika Linskey, program director of New Circle Mentoring. New Circle focuses on supporting youth with incarcerated family members in Addison and Rutland counties, and this grant will help them support 12 mentor matches. 
MENTOR Vermont also awarded grants to two statewide agencies that coordinate programs in the county: a $44,850 grant to Everybody Wins! Vermont, which runs literacy-based mentoring programs at Bridport Central School, Mary Hogan Elementary, and Salisbury Community School; and a $26,850 grant to The DREAM Program, which pairs students from Middlebury College as mentors for youth living in the Peter Coe and Pine Meadow affordable housing communities. 
The Vermont Mentoring Grants are made possible each year through funding support from the A.D. Henderson Foundation and the Vermont Department for Children and Families. The 2019-2020 grants will provide continuing support for established programs that demonstrate they meet best practices and help expand mentoring programming in underserved regions of the state. 
All 2019-2020 grantees have committed to being partners in the Vermont K-12 Mentoring Initiative, a multi-year project, spearheaded by MENTOR Vermont, to establish the statewide program infrastructure needed to allow youth the opportunity to be matched with a mentor from elementary school until they successfully enter adulthood. 
Additionally, grantees beyond their first two years of operation are required to demonstrate that they are meeting best practices. 
Through the 2019-2020 Vermont Mentoring Grants, MENTOR Vermont has awarded 25 grants to agencies, schools and districts/supervisory unions, and independent non-profits throughout the state.