The club, along with the Springfield-serving Project Coach, was presented with the fourth annual James G. Connolly Tribute Fund award at its recent ninth annual Champions of Mentoring Breakfast at Fenway Park
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke received the James G. Connolly Tribute Fund award by Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership at a breakfast at Fenway Park. BOSTON - The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke was recently honored by the Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership, a statewide organization fueling the movement to expand quality mentoring for youth to meet the needs of communities across Massachusetts.
The club, along with the Springfield-serving Project Coach, was presented with the fourth annual James G. Connolly Tribute Fund award at its recent ninth annual Champions of Mentoring Breakfast at Fenway Park.
The annual event celebrates long-time supporters of mentoring and programs accomplishing unique work.
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke piloted a workforce readiness program with the Holyoke Health Center and Dean Technical High School called the Career Pathways Mentoring Program. Their $10,000 grant will allow them to expand into additional vocational programs, secure new community partners willing to host mentees with stipended summer positions, and increase the number of mentors at the Holyoke Health Center.
"Holyoke has a tremendous need for mentors for at-risk youth," said Eileen Cavanaugh, executive director. "This funding will help us meet some of this need, and help our youth achieve eventual career success."
Project Coach provides teens in the North End neighborhood of Springfield with workforce readiness training. With the help of the $5,000 award, the program will expand to incorporate a boarder career-readiness program utilizing their partners, and incorporate more middle-school youth so they can learn these crucial skills at an earlier age.
"This funding will help us to strengthen the North End of Springfield," says Kayleigh Colombero, executive director. "Working with teens from middle school to college, Project Coach guides students from the North End towards higher educational attainment and advanced employment opportunities. We will be able to increase our focus on workforce readiness, job training and career exploration, as well as add seven more Chestnut Middle School students to the program."
The Connolly Tribute Fund was established in January 2010, in memory of the mentoring partnership board chair Jim Connolly. The fund provides support for an annual gift or project that is aligned with the partnership's mission, and Connolly's volunteer leadership, belief in mentoring, and service to the organization. The fund's focus this year was to enhance and expand mentoring programs that support students with career readiness and workforce development.
"Research has shown that youth in positive mentoring relationships are more likely to graduate from high school, proceed on to college and enter into the workforce," said partnership president and CEO Marty Martinez. "However, many of these students find themselves lacking resources needed to secure a job or a clear understanding of what careers to pursue. When we provide career-focused mentoring, we're allowing mentees to get a glimpse of the world of work that may not otherwise be available to them, and gain basic and essential skills needed to enter the workforce. This well-prepared group of youth, in turn, ensures strong, successful communities."
About 250 guests attended the event. The event was presented by State Street, and lead sponsors included Citi, Goodwin Procter, Hill Holliday, and Raytheon Corporation.
The breakfast followed the annual Mentoring Night at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox and Mass Mentoring hosted almost 800 mentors, mentees, and friends of mentoring from across Massachusetts - including 36 from Project Coach, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County and Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke - at the game against the Cleveland Indians.