SAFER SOCIETY FOUNDATION INC

Description

New Circle Mentoring. Launched in Addison County in 2017, New Circle Mentoring provides one-on-one mentoring services to Vermont children from primary school through high school who have been separated from one or more parent/or are in the foster care system. New Circle's goal is to support these children academically, psychologically, and emotionally so they can overcome the obstacles on their paths to healthy adulthood. Each child in NCM is matched with a mentor who has been carefully recruited and trained by a professional counselor. Each NCM mentor commits to spending at least one hour per week or fours per month, for at least three years, with his or her mentee.

A child who has a parent in jail tends to be isolated and lonely, a poor student with low self-esteem, and more likely than other children to end up incarcerated. The goal of the NCM program is to provide dedicated, one-on-one time with such children so as to reduce these present effects as well as mitigate the possibility of bad life outcomes. Although NCM has been in existence for less than five years, we are already seeing improved performance in school, more social connections, and higher levels of self-confidence and self-esteem in the children who are in our program.