IMPACT 2013

impact

5 Years of Innovation, Illumination & Inspiration

A R e p o r t o f T h e M E N TO R N e t w o r k C h a r i ta b le Fo u n d a t i o n F Y 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2

innovation Celebrating Five Years of Innovation, Illumination and Inspiration A Letter from Chairman Greg Torres Dear Friends, I recently heard about a game called Innovations. I’m thinking about buying it for my grandchildren. It requires players to build their own civilizations using card representations of technologies, cultural touchstones and ideas from the Stone Age up to the 21st century. You win by collecting the most points from the deck’s prized innovations.

Looking back over the first five years of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation, we’ve taken a similar approach. Innovation and program excellence have been our guideposts.

We’ve talked with people from around the country about cutting-edge approaches to serving people with disabilities, children and families facing tough challenges and individuals with brain injuries. Like the card game, we collected the best ideas, and we awarded grants for more than 150 of them. It has been an exciting, rewarding journey.

We took a special interest in boosting technologies that educate and enhance people’s lives. I hope you’ve had the chance to check out the University of Minnesota’s multimedia site (disabilityhistorywiki.org) detailing the history of leadership in the field of developmental disabilities. We were excited to fund this project

because it is a living archive. In addition to featuring important historic milestones, the site allows people to contribute their own personal experiences, stories and other archive-worthy materials.

We found another innovative use of technology in rural Virginia. For people recovering from brain injuries in the southwestern part of the state, the We collected the Foundation best ideas, and we funded a highly awarded grants for interactive more than 150 internet-based of them. networking program called CLiC. CLiC offers social and rehabilitative services through a group facilitator. Survivors connect with one another, share stories and even pick up valuable vocational skills.

Connection—fostering it across ability, age and other circumstances—is the electric current that runs through the services and programs the Foundation chose to partner with: kids with special needs getting physical therapy and developing self-esteem by connecting with horses through therapeutic riding; Best Buddies programs from coast

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to coast connecting individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities with mentors; and organizations like Strong Women, Strong Girls, connecting girls who are at risk with role models who nurture them through the adolescent years.

We also focused on initiatives that enhance the human services delivery system as a whole. Here again, connecting people to each other and to high impact resources was a priority.

It is no secret that the developmental disabilities field is facing a leadership crisis.

As large numbers of committed professionals retire, the ranks of the next generation are thin. In response, the Foundation created the MENTOR Leadership Fellows Program through the University of Delaware’s National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities.

In all, thirty-two rising stars from private, public and nonprofit organizations across the country received full tuition, travel costs and expenses for the week-long intensive institute at the University. MENTOR Fellows connected with their colleagues and national experts to develop leadership and management skills and expand their network of professional contacts.

Nancy Weiss, the Consortium’s Director, summed up our shared goal: “We can’t leave the future leadership of this field to chance. We’re building a cadre of professionals who have both the skills and the values to do a good job of running agencies that provide support for people with disabilities.”

That same craving for connection—to others and to best practices—is cited by those working with children and families in crisis.

Foster care professionals are always looking for new and better ways to run their programs and stretch scarce public dollars. We approached scholars at Boston University’s School of Social Work with an idea: create an online guide to foster care and therapeutic foster care programs in all fifty states (read the story on page 3). It reminded us of the landmark Braddock Report, a printed version that began in the 1970s for those serving people with developmental disabilities. We’re proud that when this site goes live in April—the first research project funded by the Foundation— administrators and providers in every child welfare sector will have access to a deep well of information about programs, best practices and innovations across state lines.

This is a snapshot of the amazing work the Foundation has supported these last five years—and will continue to support in the next five. I am grateful to The MENTOR Network— especially CEO Ned Murphy, the Foundation’s Board of Directors and members of the various selection committees for nurturing this fledgling organization to maturity. They have offered tremendous leadership. And I am proud that the Foundation has become a catalyst for real and lasting change around the country.

Innovation is a mindset. I could buy my grandchildren that card game to help cultivate it in them. Or I could just have them read this report. The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation is one of the best models I know.

Warmest regards,

Greg Torres Chairman

© 2013 The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation

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iLLUMINATION Mapping Foster Care:

The 50-State Guide to Community-Based Child Welfare Services

Foundation Research Poised for Impact

If knowledge is power, then child welfare policymakers, researchers, advocates and service providers will experience a surge on April 1st when The 50-State Guide to Community-Based Child Welfare Services goes live on the web. Thanks to a grant from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation, with support from Boston University, this invaluable resource has been eighteen months in the making, created by a team of faculty and researchers at Boston University’s School of Social Work.

The Foundation announced its commitment to The 50-State Guide in the last issue of IMPACT. It is an initiative rooted in the Foundation’s mission to support evidenced-based research and innovation in the field of human services.

“We are thrilled to see the results of Boston University’s hard work, and we are even more excited to present this incredible resource to the human services community,” said Dwight Robson, President of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“For the first time ever, we have gathered information that exists in multiple data sets into a single resource that is easily accessible and usable,” explained Professor Judith Gonyea, the project’s Principal Investigator.

In just a few clicks, profiles of every state and the District of Columbia will appear in chart format, detailing administrative and

demographic information, Medicaid and child welfare funding, foster care and permanency outcomes, as well as innovative and noteworthy initiatives. A section on state efforts around therapeutic foster care is also included.

“This information will enable individual states to compare what they’re doing with what’s happening around the country. We hope this resource can create a dialogue and ultimately, help move the field forward.”

–Professor Judith Gonyea, Principal Investigator

The format of the site will allow people to pull up two state profiles side by side, sorting based on geography or administrative organization, for example. The section on innovation will focus on key national issues, such as family finding initiatives, cross-system data sharing and efforts to help those aging out of foster care.

Gonyea and her colleague Sally Bachman, the project’s Co-Principal Investigator, point to the Foundation’s support as central to their ability to conduct interviews with child welfare and Medicaid leaders from around the country.

These professionals provided information that doesn’t exist in data sets. The interviews were especially helpful in better understanding emerging best practices, as well as approaches

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expect states will be more eager to participate as the project gains legitimacy over time. We can point to a product, so they know what they’re buying into.” Both women were assisted

by Co-Investigators Serena Rajabiun, Julie Springwater and Carol Tobias. Faith Little was the Senior Research Associate, and Melissa Hirschi the Doctoral Research Associate. to therapeutic foster care, which often involves multiple government agencies and funding streams.

“The issues states are encountering are overwhelming and difficult,” explained Bachman. “The big response rate we received shows demand for this type of information.”

If you are looking for rankings, however, you won’t find them.

“We haven’t judged the states,” offered Gonyea.

“This is a descriptive analysis that states can use to benchmark against each other.”

The Foundation had the groundbreaking Braddock Report in mind when it began its collaboration with Boston University. The report offered a similar “state of the state” format for developmental disabilities services starting in the 1970s and continuing every two years up until present day.

“The Braddock Report became a highly valued national model for the information it provides.

We are hopeful that ‘The 50-State Guide’ will develop into a similar resource for child welfare professionals.”

–Dwight Robson, President, The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation

Looking ahead, both Bachman and Gonyea see updating the chart as a far easier exercise. “We

In the shorter term, Gonyea and Bachman are planning to devote themselves to dissemination. They are planning presentations at national conferences, outreach to professional organizations and email blasts.

“I’ve already started getting phone calls from people asking if the information is available,” offered Gonyea. “They say, ‘I’ve got a budget hearing coming up, and I’d love to have the data to make my case.’ ” Grant Guidelines and Application Process Grant applications are available online at www.thementornetwork.com/foundation Community Champion applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.

Stepping Stones applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.

Community Partner applications are accepted and reviewed quarterly. The deadlines for submitting grant requests for FY13 are as follows: Fiscal Year 2013 (October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013) Q1: December 15, 2012 Q2: March 15, 2013 Q3: June 15, 2013 Q4: September 15, 2013 Organizations are eligible to re-apply for funding every 12 months from the date of the initial grant.

Successful re-submissions will demonstrate measurable progress and outcomes from the previous funding cycle.

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INSPIRATION Tenacity in Action:

The Stepping Stones Fund helps those we serve through grants for job training and readiness activities, vocational and higher education.

Serenity Randall

Kids really do say the darndest things. Just ask Bill Cosby. But even he wasn’t prepared for the outspoken tenacity of five-year-old Serenity Randall.

Serenity was one of five kids selected to appear on one of Cosby’s television specials. During the taping, the legendary comedian asked Serenity for the name of her church. True Light Fellowship, she responded, but Cosby didn’t quite get it. He repeated back something different. Serenity corrected him. Again, he misstated the name. Again, she corrected him.

Unable to contain her frustration any longer, she grabbed the Cosby’s collar, looked him in the eye and firmly pronounced, “True Light Fellowship, am I making myself clear?”

That particular show never aired. But Serenity’s story continued. Her indefatigable spirit propelled her through a successful secondary school career, world travel and the college admissions process. She racked up accomplishments in academics and athletics.

She stayed active in her church. And she became a role model for younger students in her inner city school.

That Serenity achieved all of this while navigating her state’s foster care system makes them all the more impressive.

“Anything is possible if you put your mind to it,” said Serenity, who was served by Pennsylvania MENTOR. “I don’t doubt myself.”

Her confident worldview paid off when her high school principal nominated her for a summer travel program in Europe. She knew she would have to raise the money for the trip’s cost.

Serenity enlisted the help of her aunt, with whom she has remained close, other family members, friends and her church. And she got in touch with The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation’s Stepping Stones program, which was established to help kids served by The Network get the most out of life.

“Serenity is a terrific example of the Stepping Stones mission in action,” said Sarah Magazine, who is the Executive Director of The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation. “Her desire to learn, grow and contribute in a positive way is inspiring.”

A Stepping Stones grant in hand, Serenity organized a concert in her church and charged admission to fund the trip’s balance. The audience was treated to gospel music, poetry and refreshments.

Soon, Serenity was packed and ready to go.

“It was a real eye opener,” explained Serenity, who spent nineteen days in Spain, France and Italy. She visited famous museums, sampled

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local food and enjoyed the company of a host family in Spain. She even took in a bullfight.

Most important, she brought home a deeper appreciation of other cultures and of her own.

“It made me grateful for what I have in America,” she said, recalling the immobility of crushing poverty in many places. “The trip made me a better and stronger person as well.”

Today, Serenity is a freshman know a young at Bucknell person served by University in the network who Lewisburg, deserves a stepping Pennsylvania. stones grant?

IMPACT caught Learn more and apply online at: up with her www.thementornetwork.com/foundation after her last final exam of her first semester. It was an exciting and illuminating jump from high school to college.

“It’s refreshing to experience new things,” she said. “It’s my first step to adulthood”—a step the Foundation was happy to help her make.

Serenity received a second grant to help her with college expenses.

Already, Serenity is in a hurry, developing a long mental list of things to accomplish at Bucknell.

She plans to major in business management and political science. She would like to minor in Spanish and do an executive internship in Spain.

She’s thinking about law school.

“I’ll blink, and I’ll be walking down the aisle at Bucknell,” she said.

Yet, for all her future planning, Serenity stops to reflect. “I’m the first of my mother’s children to graduate high school.” She pauses. “I’m so happy I can make my family proud.”

Our Community Partners are change agents within human services that are either delivering innovative care or developing new ideas and models for doing so. They are results oriented, leveraging resources and knowledge to positively impact individuals and communities and transform society’s vision of and approach to its most vulnerable members.

The Stepping Stones Fund helps those we serve through grants for job training and readiness activities, vocational and higher education, and other programs that lead to self-sufficiency and independence. Whether they are transitioning out of the foster care system, graduating from our therapeutic day school or receiving other services, many young people served by The Network lack the resources and support necessary to build productive, fulfilling lives.

Because community service is The Network’s way of life, the Foundation created the Community Champions program to recognize our employees who devote extraordinary amounts of time and energy to local charities. Champions receive recognition throughout The Network, and their chosen nonprofit receives a gift of $500.00.

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community partner SPOTLIGHT

Discovering Justice’s Stand Up for Your Rights Program Boston, Massachusetts

FY 2011-2012 Community Partner Grant Recipients • Ability Beyond Disabilitiy

• Hoops Sagrado

• Arc of Loudon County

• Horizons for Homeless Children

• Arts in Reach

Hear Ye…Hear Ye! Stand Up for Your Rights is now in session.

Discovering Justice’s Stand Up for Your Rights curriculum is an innovative after-school program that teams eight to twelve Boston-area middle school students with attorney volunteers. These young people, all of whom attend underserved, low-income schools and are considered young people who are at risk, spend eight weeks learning about the American justice system and preparing their own appellate arguments. The program culminates in the presentation of their arguments in front of a judge at Boston’s John Adams Courthouse.

“The trip downtown to argue a case in front of a real judge was one of the high points of my summer last year,” offered one participant.

Students value the public speaking, writing and critical thinking skills they hone in the program.

Staff report a jump in participant self-esteem, as well as increased content knowledge about the Bill of Rights.

Thanks, in part, to a grant from The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation, Stand Up for Your Rights was able to increase the number of students it serves and expand its curriculum to include the First Amendment.

One highlight from the program was a visit by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to the culminating event for the South Boston Boys & Girls Club “attorneys.” He shook their hands and watched the proceedings. “These kids are good!” he exclaimed.

• Barrington Stage Company • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central CA • Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region (NY) • Boys and Girls Club of Camden County (NJ) • Brain Injury Association of Minnesota • Camp Howe

• King Solomon Humanitarian Foundation • Lied Discovery Children’s Museum • Lovelane Therapeutic Horseback Riding • McAuley School for Exceptional Children • More Than Words • Partners for Youth with Disabilities

• Camp Shriver/ UMASS Boston

• Pattison’s DREAM Academy

• CASA Project of Worcester, MA

• Placer Arc of Roseville

• Center for Indepenence through Conductive Education

• Port City Development Center

• Churches United in Ministry • Connecticut Youth Services

• ShowMe Aquatics and Fitness

• Cradles to Crayons

• Sibling Connections

• Discovering Justice

• Special Olympics Minnesota

• Encore Studio for Performing Arts

• Strong Women, Strong Girls of Florida

• Family Services, Inc.

• The Arc of MultnomahClackamas County

• Farmsteads of New England • Federation for Children with Special Needs

• Roca, Inc. • Scituate CORSE Foundation

• The Little Bit Foundation

• Friendship Ventures

• Therapeutic Riding of Tucson

• Friends of the Disabled Latin America Inc.

• Indiana University at Bloomington

• Friends of the Children, Boston

• Villa Esperanza Services

• Gigi’s Playhouse

• WarmLine Family Resource Center

• Haven Horse Ranch

• X-Cel, Inc. Adult Education

• Head Injury Foundation

• YMCA of Orange County, CA

• Health Care for the Homeless

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community partner SPOTLIGHT

WarmLine’s Transition Advocacy Project Sacramento, California

The transition from high school to adulthood is challenging for any family, but fears and anxieties are magnified when a young person has special needs.

“Parents hit an emotional wall,” said Cid Van Koersel, Family Support and Resource Specialist at WarmLine, an education and support program in Sacramento, California. “The teen and young adult years are far more difficult for parents, especially when they realize that their grown children are unable to be left alone.”

Seeing an information gap among families, WarmLine published Moving On, a booklet outlining the educational, health care, living and employment options for young people entering the world of adult services. To get Moving On into the hands of families, WarmLine also created the Transition Advocacy Project, funded by The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation, to distribute the booklet and talk directly to families through transition fairs and special events.

“I was unaware of the opportunities for independence,” remarked one mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy. “Before I read the booklet, I actually had no hope for his options.”

The first transition event of its kind in the Sacramento area will take place in March.

Parents and young adults will have access to medical and human services professionals.

Panel discussions will highlight the choices and tools available to help young people gain

independence—from living options to paid work to college and day programs.

“Families are desperate for this information,” said Van Koersel. “We are so grateful to the Foundation for helping us provide it.”

know an employee who shines in the community?

Our Community Champions program recognizes those who devote an extraordinary amount of time and energy to local charities.

Learn more at www.thementornetwork.com/foundation

313 Congress Street, Fifth Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02210 617.790.4800 foundation@thementornetwork.com www.thementornetwork.com/foundation Board of Directors Linda DeRenzo Kathleen Federico Denis Holler Sarah Magazine Ned Murphy Bruce Nardella Dwight Robson Greg Torres Community Champions Committee Shelley Hansen-Blake Kathy Ludban Maria McGee Carla Parker Claire Williamson

© 2013 The MENTOR Network Charitable Foundation

Community Partners Committee Neil Brendmoen Jane Ketcham Juliana Knox Brian Payne Michelle Mainez Kristine Wainright- Tadych Karen Weinberg Chris Williamson Stepping Stones Committee William Allen Dana Delman Shelley Hansen-Blake Gary Jeter Patricia Maguire Connie Menne Kate Novak Glenda Peters

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