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Big Brothers Big Sisters Launches Mentor Program

Published Thursday Aug 18, 2022

Author Judi Currie


Big Sister Yetunde, right, helps Little Sister Kayla in a Mentor 2.0 program. (Courtesy photo)


Beginning this fall, a group of students at Manchester West High School will be matched with local business and trades people in a structured mentoring program to help them build career skills with the added bonus of helping the state hold onto younger workers.

The Executive Council approved a three-year contract to launch a pilot program called Mentor 2.0. Robert P. Leone Jr., recruitment and corporate partnerships manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of NH (BBBS NH), says they hope to enroll 40 to 50 students for the fall. The program is the first of its kind in NH and designed to run all four years of the students’ high school career and targets low-income, underrepresented freshmen.

“The school guidance counselor does their best but cannot serve hundreds of kids,” says Leone. “There are so many things we don’t learn in school—job applications and career choices.”

Joan Brodsky, co-vice president of the BBBS NH board, says Mentor 2.0 has been on the horizon for the board for a number of years as it broadens the organization’s role allowing it to work with older youth, but the program needed funding. She says Gov. Chris Sununu saw the value of the program for both workforce development and the ability to help retain young people in NH. “He was able to find us a wonderful grant, get us in conversation with the school system itself and really propelled this thing forward,” she says.

Students are assigned a mentor and work together online with a specific agenda. They connect through the IMentor app where they can follow the curriculum, communicate and problem solve. Then mentors will come to the school once a month during a study hall for in-person time.

Brodsky says BBBS NH does a good job of matching young people, but for Mentor 2.0, the match is specific to professional development. “If you can’t see yourself in a job, if you don’t have the role models or even the self-confidence to aspire, it’s much harder,” she says. “It’s critical in these times of horrific inequity that we help propel young people in a productive way, particularly high school kids who don’t have a lot of guidance at home. They’re trying to find their career and their world, and I think talking to an older person giving guidance is really crucial at that age.”

Joan’s husband, Howard Brodsky, chairman and CEO of CCA Global Partners in Manchester, says the program is an opportunity for businesses to be good corporate citizens, and if they can build a relationship with these young people just entering the workforce, it makes both sides stronger. CCA has been a longtime supporter of BBBS NH, offering staff paid time to volunteer and will support staff who want to serve as mentors in this new program.

Joan says they don’t have enough mentors yet but, because Mentor 2.0 has more structure, she feels it will be more appealing to volunteers. “They don’t have to go in without any kind of a plan. The technology helps them develop the relationship, and once that relationship is developed, it’s incredibly beneficial for both.”

Melissa Goerbig, vice president of programming at BBBS NH, agrees, adding, “This eliminates some barriers for adults who do have an interest in connecting with a student on a regular basis through this technology-based program and during the workday,” says Goerbig. “It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to be a superstar, you don’t have to save a kid’s life, you just have to show up, take an interest and be consistent with them and that’s really where the relationship builds.”

For more information, visit bbbsnh.org.


Pictured: Big Brother Matt Doubleday, right, stands next to his Little Brother Andrew at his graduation.

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