Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries Receives $100,000 Grant to Fund Transitional Youth Mentoring Program
Cincinnati, OH .. October 13, 2011 .. Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries Rehabilitation Center, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has received a $100,000 two-year grant from The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) to fund a new program for mentoring young adults which will provide guidance, support, and instruction for transitional young adults ages 18 to 24. The new program seeks to develop ways to support young adults from the Cincinnati School System with career guidance by providing experienced and trained mentors to keep transitional young adults from falling into the ranks of the under-employed or unemployed. A premise of the program is that the presence of an understanding and supportive mentor in the lives of young adults, especially as they begin their careers in an entry-level job, can help them reduce the effect of the barriers that may be presented by their attitude and lack of experience.
Additionally, the grant will help to recruit and train volunteer mentors and supervise the mentor/mentee match and to provide ongoing supervision and oversight of its progress in achieving program goals. A goal of the program is to provide a mentoring match for 20 individuals in the first year and 40 all together in the two-year proposed project. The project will last until June, 2013.
Ohio Valley Goodwill has long had experience in youth mentoring with the success of its ” Good Guides” youth mentoring program which started in January, 2010. ” We have been pleased with the outcomes developed through our Good Guides program and the individuals that we have been able to serve,” said Joseph Byrum, President and CEO of Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries. Since its inception, the Good Guides program has been able to match over 100 youth with experienced mentors. Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries has been offering vocational training and job support services for men and women with disabilities for 95 years. Goodwill is positioned well to participate in this project because of its long and successful history of vocational development and retention services. The many years of success in working with men and women with all types of employment barriers, aspirations and attributes to build their careers, and the more recent success with the Good Guides mentoring program for younger transitional youth make Ohio Valley Goodwill a natural and obvious choice as a provider manager of these services.
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation empowers donors to make a profound difference in the quality of human and community life in the Greater Cincinnati region, today and tomorrow. We believe in the power of philanthropy to change the lives of people and communities. As a community foundation, GCF makes grants and provides leadership in six key areas: arts and culture, community and economic development, education, environment, health, and human services. An effective steward of the community’s charitable resources since 1963, the Foundation inspires philanthropy in eight counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
For more information about Ohio Valley Goodwill’s new Center for Mentoring Young Adults, please contact Ms. Kelly Manns, Assistant Director, Employment and Training at (513) 771-4800, ext. 6214 or at kmanns@cincigoodwill.org
