On August 7th, a group of New Circle mentors and mentees visited the annual Addison County Fair & Field Days for the second time. We had a fun day, petting …
How Does Toxic Stress Affect Low-Income and Black Children?
Toxic stress from frightening or threatening experiences can impede children’s learning and health. “…children with a family income of $20,000 or less—are more likely to encounter threatening experiences and the …
Mentoring Symposium – Empowering Young People through Strengths-Based Approach
Written by: Erika Linskey, Director of New Circle Mentoring On May 23, 2019, Mentor Vermont hosted the 4th annual Vermont Mentoring Symposium. The symposium is something that I look forward …
SSF04: A Conversation with Parental Incarceration Expert Katelen Fortunati
Katelen Fortunati, DSW, LCSW, is the author of Safer Society’s ChIPs Storybooks and an expert on the impact of parental incarceration on child development. She received her Doctorate of Social …
SSF03: A Conversation with a New Circle Mentor
The identity of this mentor, who we call Jane, has been kept confidential out of respect for the privacy of her mentee and her mentee’s family. Jane has been mentoring …
When a family member serves time, students also pay a price
Parental incarceration of is one of the 10 Adverse childhood experiences and it affects more than 5 million school-aged children in America today. “Schools are becoming more aware of the …
New Circle Mentoring Program Director Discusses ACEs
Parental incarceration is ranked among the ten most serious “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) which are statistically linked to health and social problems in adult life. (Resilience Beyond Incarceration Fact Sheet) …
Celebrating National Mentoring Month – A Note from our Program Director
To help spread awareness of mentoring, January has been recognized as “National Mentoring Month” by the United States Senate. On January 23rd, mentoring organizations from across Vermont gathered together at …
Safer Society Receives Grant from Vermont Community Foundation to Support New Circle Mentoring
Safer Society Foundation recently received a $3,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation’s Spark! Connecting Community grant program. This grant will go toward expanding Safer Society’s New Circle Mentoring Program …
SSF01: A Conversation with Director Erika Linskey about the New Circle Mentoring Program
Erika Linskey earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Colorado, taught elementary school in Colorado, and has maintained a life-long career in teaching and child advocacy. …