Round up your totals at the registers February 6 – 12. The Co-op will match your donation and pass it along to New Circle Mentoring!
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From the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op Newsletter:
“Every child who winds up doing well has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult.”
This quote summarizes, in a nutshell, the conclusions of a 2015 study of at-risk children by the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child. Unfortunately, for so many at-risk children, family relationships can be summarized by a single word: “instability”!
In partnership with the Counseling Service of Addison County and Addison County schools, the Safer Society Foundation’s New Circle Mentoring program was formed to offer to every at-risk child in the program a stable and committed relationship with a caring, supportive adult. Children who qualify for the program have at least one parent in prison and/or have been removed from their homes by social services and are in the foster care system. For these children, whose lives are characterized by instability and the trauma of parental separation, the New Circle Mentoring program provides the constancy of three- to five-year-long mentoring relationships.
“The goal of the New Circle Mentoring program is to strengthen our mentees’ resilience and help them build the community connections they need to overcome the obstacles they face on the road to healthy adulthood.”
-Erika Linskey – Program Director
Launched in 2017, New Circle Mentoring is categorized as a longitudinal program. That is, children enter the program as young as six years old and are supported by mentoring relationships all the way through high school. The program’s director and clinical supervisor work together to recruit mentors who have had experience working with children, have strong ties to the community, and have pledged to make a three- to five-year commitment to their mentee. The director and clinical supervisor provide the high level of mentor training and support needed to ensure long-term successful mentor/mentee relationships.
The mission of the Safer Society Foundation is to provide services and resources for preventative and restorative responses to sexual and social violence. To learn more about Safer Society, please visit our website at www.safersociety.org or contact us by calling 802-247-3132. You can also find us on Facebook!