Based in Boston, Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) is the only statewide organization solely dedicated to strategically expanding quality youth mentoring in Massachusetts. As the umbrella organization for more than 190 mentoring organizations supporting 23,000 youth in mentoring relationships across the state, we provide services including training and technical assistance, networking and professional development, mentor recruitment campaigns, advocacy, resource development & recognition, and mentor-mentee match activities.

Our program network includes schools, religious organizations, community non-profits, and workplaces, serving youth 5 to 18-years-old. These institutions utilize a variety of program structures including one-to-one mentoring, group mentoring and e-mentoring.

Vision and the Future

MMP is working toward the day when each community has access to an active and vibrant high-quality mentoring infrastructure to meet the needs of its youth.

History and Accomplishments

Mass Mentoring Partnership was founded in 1992 by the then-president of Boston College, J. Donald Monan, S.J., and the CEO of New England Telephone, Paul O'Brien, as Greater Boston One-to-One, the first local extension of the national organization One-to-One. Since then, MMP has had a rich history of catalytic involvement in the start-up and sustainability of high-quality mentoring programs. We now maintain the only statewide directory of 190+ quality youth mentoring programs, which guides referrals for potential mentors and provides leads for parents.

Since 2006, MMP has:

• Reached 100 programs in the first year operating our Quality-Based Membership program - a quality assurance and indicator of quality process for mentoring programs that is now a national model for other state mentoring partnerships
• Increased by 17 percent the number of youth served in MMP-assisted programs from 2006 to 2008, and aims to double the number of youth served to 40,000 by 2013
• Engaged and signed on more than 50 mentoring champions in the state legislature, thus retaining funding for mentoring in the 2010 state budget and increasing funding in the 2012 state budget
• Launched the Red Sox Mentoring Challenge and Mentors of Color recruitment campaigns, referring nearly 1,500 new mentors to programs statewide

Awards

• President & CEO David Shapiro named a Barr Foundation Fellow for 2011
• 2010 Finalist for the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s Annual Excellence in Advocacy Award
• President & CEO David Shapiro named to the Boston Business Journal’s “2009 40 Under 40”
• Awarded the 2009 Manza Excellence in Leadership Award by MENTOR in recognition of the highest-performing state mentoring partnership in the country
• Selected in each consecutive year since 2007 by the Celtics as the sole community partner for the Season Ticket Exchange, providing more than $450,000 in tickets to mentoring matches statewide
• Recipient of Eastern Bank’s inaugural “Community Quarterbacks,” presented by the bank and Doug Flutie for outstanding leadership and commitment to the community
• Winner of the New England Publicity Club’s top Bell Ringer Award for the Red Sox Mentoring Challenge