News Article
Raytheon Inspires Lawrence Businesses to Support Mentoring
Raytheon recently hosted dozens of Lawrence-area business and community leaders from ten different organizations for a one-day conference to explore ways they might create or strengthen community partnerships that will collaborate to support local youth.
In addition to Raytheon and Mass Mentoring Partnership, conference participants included Stand and Deliver mentoring program, MIT, UMASS Lowell, Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, Lawrence Boys and Girls Club and other non-profits, volunteers and mentors, and Lawrence youth.
The idea of the conference stemmed from Raytheon’s experience with the Stand and Deliver Corporate Campus Mentoring Program where Lawrence Public School 8th to 12th grade students are bussed to the Raytheon campus weekly to meet with mentors who help them with their academics. The program began in 2005 with 14 matches and has grown to 100 potential matches for the upcoming 2008 school year.
The success of the program has garnered Raytheon significant recognition including a 2007 Champions of Mentoring award from Mass Mentoring.
It was this success that ignited Raytheon’s desire to get other local businesses and nonprofits together with the hope of inspiring greater collaboration between the two sectors.
“There are many organizations helping Lawrence youth. If we can learn about each one of them, together we can leverage each other’s strengths and expertise to make sure youth know about and are taking advantage of the services that can meet their needs”, said Raytheon employee Terri Munson, who mentors through the program with Stand and Deliver.
Terri added that she sees many opportunities to add a mentoring component to many existing youth development programs.
“Mentoring is not only good for the students but also for the businesses and the community at large. Having a mentor who believes in you can make all the difference in a student’s success. For businesses like Raytheon, we have the opportunity to develop the workforce of tomorrow. For the local community, having youth graduate from high school and college in greater numbers means they become contributing members of society, and they in turn can become mentors,” noted Munson.
“The conference was yet another way that Raytheon is showing its commitment to the Lawrence community, and demonstrating the power of partnerships,” said Sue Anne Endelman, Mass Mentoring’s vice president of training and strategic services. “Mass Mentoring is eager to continue collaborating with Stand and Deliver, Raytheon and other Lawrence-area organizations to broaden the availability of quality mentoring opportunities in the region.”