New mentor office

BOSTON In Western Massachusetts alone, it's estimated that thousands of children are on waiting lists for mentors despite the operation of many quality mentoring programs in the region.

In an effort to bring greater resources to the mentoring field, Mass Mentoring Partnership announces the opening of a Western Massachusetts office made possible by funding from a collaboration of corporations and foundations led by the Citizens Bank Foundation ($30,000), MassMutual Financial Group ($25,000), the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation ($15,000), the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts ($5,000), and the Frank Stanley Beveridge Foundation ($5,000).

The new Mass Mentoring Partnership office will also integrate the operations of the existing Greater Springfield Mentoring Partnership both of which are part of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.

"For six years, the Greater Springfield Mentoring Partnership worked to advance youth mentoring in the region, but as Mass Mentoring expanded, we realized that joining forces would help to make more efficient use of resources and create a unified and more sustainable approach to expanding quality youth mentoring in Western Massachusetts," said David Shapiro, CEO of Mass Mentoring Partnership, which serves as an umbrella agency for youth mentoring across the Commonwealth.

"This is a forward-thinking step on behalf of our youth and the mentoring field in Western Massachusetts," added Beth Russell, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamden County.

Leading the Western Massachusetts office of Mass Mentoring Partnership is newly hired director Rebel McKinley. McKinley has more than 10 years of experience in the nonprofit and civic arenas, including seven years in the mentoring field. She is a graduate of Yale with a Masters from Harvard School of Education. Most recently, McKinley directed Special Projects and managed the Western Massachusetts operations for Partners for Youth with Disabilities, an innovative statewide mentoring program focused on mentoring for youth with disabilities, which is in Mass Mentoring's network.

"Rebel's entrepreneurial spirit, experience in strategic planning, management, and evaluation, and past work in the region, will greatly advance our efforts," noted Shapiro.

"We are excited to help Mass Mentoring expand into the Western Mass area, a region that we are deeply committed to supporting," said Robert E. Smyth, Chairman, President and CEO of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts.

"Mass Mutual believes mentoring is essential for kids' development and to the extent we can help bring a caring adult to a child's life, we will," added Ronald A. Copes, Vice President of Community Relations at MassMutual Financial Group.