Mentorship Program Looks To Build A Better Lives And Community
Katie Orlando, from BBBS of Northeast Iowa (left). Pictured with Katie are members of the advisory board in attendance. Left to right, Katie Orlando, Molly Coster, Steve Burnett, Amy Meyer, Katie Trainer, Debbie Guild, Matt Tippett. (submitted photo)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Mahaska County are going full steam ahead.
Paying for the cost of having a mentorship program like Big Brothers and Big Sisters has been ongoing since the plans for the program were put in place in May of 2017.
A recent fundraiser event, “Beers and Bigs”, was held to serve two purposes. One was to raise funds for the program, and secondly to help create more awareness of the program and the need it will be helping to fill in the community.
The plan is to have funding in place for the program for the first three years, roughly $180,000, and they have raised approximately $85,000 of that amount. The amount raised so far includes gifts for the first year, and pledges for years two and three.
“We really are making progress,” said Amy Meyer. Meyer is one of the key individuals who helped to spearhead the program for Mahaska County.
Those dollars raised have allowed the program to hire Robbyn Duchow to administer the program locally.
From the first conversations about the program in the Fall of 2016 to the first public meeting held at George Daily Auditorium in February of 2017, to the final community input meeting in May of 2017, the program has quickly found its support within the community.
Meyer gives much of the credit for the rapid development and current success of the fledgling program to Steve Burnett. “He’s very eager and always pushing us to go faster. That’s been really instrumental in getting this job done.”
Now that the new program administrator has been hired, several months of training will take place, and then mentors and kids may be signing up for the program in February of 2018. “It will be a several month process to start those matches,” said Meyer.
“The schools are going to be a huge partner for this program,” added Meyer. Those recommendations will help to fill out what could ultimately be 20 matches with Bigs and Littles in 2018. Eventually, Meyer would like to see the program supporting 50 matches.
Anyone who lives in the county will be able to fill out an application for the program.
The focus of matching Bigs and Littles is making a quality match. “You measure that in a lot of different ways,” said Meyer. “You can measure it through the length of the match. Because you really want that to be a long-term relationship. This is not something you sign up for because you want to have a couple of months of something to do. This is really looking for a long-term relationship.”
Benchmarks will be in place for the child. Those would be, among others, showing improvement in school and behavior. “There’s a lot of tangible and intangible ways to track it, but I would say the quality of the match is how we really will measure success,” added Meyer.
Those months of training by administrator Robbyn Duchow will help them understand what the standards are for the program. “Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Johnson County as well as Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America have very high standards for what a good match is,” added Meyer. “Which is one of the reasons why we went with them as a partner.”
Mahaska County’s program will be run under the umbrella of Johnson County’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters program.
When it comes to the ultimate goal of the program, Meyer says that, “We’re really putting everything we can into building these relationships, for some pretty long-term goals,” said Meyer. “It’s not something we’ll be able to see in a short time. It’s going to be, is that kid going to graduate from high school when there was no chance he was going to graduate from high school before? That’s something we could wait ten years to get the outcome from.”
“I think this program can have huge benefits for the community as a whole,” said Meyer.
Those benefits reach beyond just the child in the program. Improved behavior may benefit the child’s entire classroom, by having fewer disruptions, in turn helping to create a better environment for the whole class to learn. “Kind of the ripple effect,” added Meyer.
“I think a big part of what the program manager will need to do is really empower people to know that they do have a lot to give,” said Meyer.
Mentors coming from various walks of life could be matched with a child. Business leaders or people of position don’t automatically make the best mentors. “Those who have struggled in their life, who maybe had some trouble in their past but came out the other side a better person. Those can be the really great mentors,” said Meyer.
Meyer said that the process of developing the matches is very in-depth. “It’s asking a lot of personality questions to determine who’s going to be a good match,” said Meyer. “It’s about making connections on a deeper level. Is this adult going to be really stable? Is the kid really lacking stability and is this adult going to show up when he says he’s going to be there, no matter what. Those are things that are more important than just you having similar interests.”
Meyer said that Robbyn Duchow has been hired for the administrative position, and will start October 30th. She will be joined by an AmeriCorps Vista person for a year, and both will work with the Johnson County program to get the training needed to get Mahaska County’s program off the ground.
Duchow’s office will be located in the Mahaska County YMCA building, and lead by an advisory board that will make local decisions and provide local support for the program.
The program is continuing its fundraising efforts. You can send checks to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mahaska County at 500 High Ave West, Oskaloosa, IA 52577.
