Know a kid who could benefit from one-on-one mentoring this fall? Lucky for you, Middlebury College is offering its Community Friends program, which matches Addison County 6- to 12-year-olds with trained college students.
The program was started in 1960 and is currently in its 61st year of operation. After getting matched with a student, mentees begin to meet regularly one-on-one with their mentor for about two hours each week. The mentor and mentee coordinate the timing of that meeting, based on mutual availability.
In non-pandemic times, mentors and mentees often play games, construct crafts, and attend group events. This fall, mentoring will happen virtually at first, but may move to in-person meetings later this academic year based on Vermont guidelines and policies.
Parents, teachers, guidance counselors and other service providers can fill out the mentee referral form here to start the application process. For questions or inquiries about Community Friends, please contact Lead Student Coordinator Maddie at [email protected], or Mentoring and Outreach AmeriCorps VISTA member Tenzin Dorjee, [email protected], 802.443.5082.