By Andrea Torello, Executive Director
Mobius: The Mentoring Movement
The Burlington Free Press

Everyone understands that these are difficult economic times. But what does it mean for nonprofits and the people they serve? It means sources of support we previously counted on may no longer be there. It means basic human needs for food, heat and shelter are greater than the resources available to meet them. And most important, what do difficult economic times mean for kids?

For kids, difficult economic times mean their parents are stressed to their limits. I can assure you that kids in these circumstances are not getting the time and attention they need to thrive. Survival becomes the focus of the family. I say this without judgment. It’s not right or wrong, it’s just reality. I say this not only because I’ve read the research, but because this was my personal experience as a child. Had it not been for my mentors, I would not be where I am today.  

Yet even in the face of apparently more urgent needs like food and shelter, we at Mobius maintain that mentoring is vital. Surviving is not enough. Kids need caring adults to flourish and to grow to their full potential. Gandhi said, “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” Mentoring is essential and must continue to grow so today’s young people can be prepared to solve tomorrow’s problems.

As an umbrella organization, Mobius has the unique ability to see the need and the capacity to create solutions — solutions that include collaboration and cooperation. This summer Mobius formed a coalition with the Burlington School District, five mentoring programs and Mobius. Prior to the coalition, mentoring programs had just a handful of mentors in most Burlington schools. Mobius gathered the program coordinators and brainstormed solutions to the barriers that kept them from serving more kids. Mobius took those solutions to the superintendent to secure support for a partnership that would address the obstacles, and then secured a grant to put a liaison in the Lawrence Barnes and H.O. Wheeler schools to recruit mentors, refer children and bring the mentoring programs to their full capacity. Our goal is to increase the number of mentoring matches in those two schools from four to 40 over the course of this school year. Collaboration works.

In this and so many other examples, Mobius has been the catalyst for existing entities to come together to create coalitions and do more than any single entity could have done alone. Mobius continually looks for opportunities to serve more children using resources that are already there. Mobius is the convener. Rather than create new, or duplicate what is, Mobius enhances the capacity of what we already have, to do what needs to be done. In these difficult economic times, that kind of efficiency is greatly needed.

For every child in our community who is lucky enough to have a mentor today, there are three others who are still waiting. We are one-quarter of the way to our goal of matching 3,300 children with mentors. We are committed to sustaining the mentoring movement by engaging everyone in our community. I hope you will partner with us to create a culture of mentoring in our community. Become a mentor. Donate to Mobius. At least locally, we can all be a part of the solution in these difficult economic times.

Tags: Mobius, Public Awareness/Education