Conversations on Mentoring 2008
Safeco Field - Seattle
November 7, 2008
(Remarks as Written)

It is hard to believe this is our fourth annual Conversations on Mentoring and it is great to see so many familiar faces. 

Not only fellow members of the board of directors of WSM but people who have been supportive of this event as far back as 2005 when they didn’t know what or who Washington State Mentors was.

If someone had come to that first event in 2005, and then not again until today, they might not recognize the organization were it not for all these familiar faces. 

In 2004 the annual budget of Washington State Mentors was $250,000.  We had zero members and we were trying to figure out what the organization’s unique contribution to the mentoring community in Washington would be. Today the annual budget is $2.5 million, and we have nearly 200 members. And we have directed nearly $4 million in funding to the mentoring community.

The numbers may be extraordinary, but the people who both mentor and the kids who are mentored are even more incredible. Let me tell you about just one, a young lady named Amber who was helped by one of our partner organizations, the Catholic Family and Child Services’ Foster Care to College Mentoring Program. Foster Care to College serves a six-county area in eastern Washington.

Amber was at a critical time in her life, about to enter her final year of high school in a rural farming community outside of Yakima. She was a solid B student enrolled in challenging courses, but, as with many kids her age, was unclear about what she wanted to do after high school. And being a foster child, she did not really have the resources to attend college.

Fortunately for Amber, she had a meeting with Laura Riel, an area coordinator from the Foster Care to College program.  With the help of Laura, who is here with us today, and her high school counselor, Amber was able to look at different college options available to her and was then matched with a trained mentor through the program.

Amber’s mentor helped her with researching colleges and was able to meet with her at least once a month to provide encouragement and support. They also kept in touch by email. Through the Foster Care to College program Amber was able to tour not only area community colleges but also Seattle University, the University of Washington and Central Washington University. The program, which, by the way, serves communities across the state, was also able to help Amber with her SAT test and make applications to her top two choices, Seattle University and Central Washington University. 

They also did something else very special by helping her apply for the very competitive Governor’s Scholarship, which is available only to youth in foster care. Amber was, in fact, awarded that scholarship and was able to accept it in a ceremony in Seattle.

Thanks to the program, Amber is now a freshman at Central and is happily adjusting to college and dorm life. She still continues to work with the program on study skills, time management, budgeting and student clubs.  Her goal is to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social services, then to pursue her master’s in social work so she can, herself, work with kids in foster care. Amber beat the odds and is now well on her way to some great successes in her life and will no doubt someday be a great inspiration for other youth in foster care.

Amber is just one of the many children who have been helped by mentors and mentorship programs in our state. The number of children who have a mentor has increased by thousands. 

Washington State Mentors has always been fortunate to have strong leadership. That was perhaps most important in 2004 when the organization was just finding its way.

The mentoring providers who have served on our Provider Council have been our eyes and ears in the mentoring community.  They have generously shared their expertise and insight with us by letting us know how Washington State Mentors can help their programs to serve more young people and to constantly be improving the ways we approach mentoring.

The board of directors, many of whom have been involved for four years and have brought their professional experience to the organization have helped shape us into the mentoring leader we are today.

Jim Marsh and his staff have done a great job at creating relationships and building bridges between mentoring programs and benefactors including individuals, foundations and businesses that benefit the mentoring community.

Washington State Mentors has earned the reputation as the champion of mentoring in Washington through hard work.  This has been achieved by assessing challenges and obstacles in mentoring and coming up with viable solutions. 

Through our partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation we are adding evidence-based research to what all of us in this room already know to be true…. Mentoring works. 

With the research to prove it, the future of mentoring knows no limits.

Washington State Mentors has gone from being one of 28 state mentoring partnerships to being THE mentoring affiliate in the country.  The one to which the other 27 look to for guidance.

At Washington State Mentors we are grateful for your support and for being here today.  Thousands of kids like Amber are especially grateful for your support.

Your contributions will help WSM continue to build the capacity of mentoring programs so that one day every young person has a mentor.

An ancient philosopher named Rumi applies perfectly to mentoring: "Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."

Mentoring works. Thank you.