Terry and Kiara have been a mentor pair for about six years. In honor of National Mentoring Month, they sat down to talk with Lt. Governor Zuckerman to share more about the mentoring programs they’ve been involved in, such as Grand Isle County Mentoring and our own mentoring program.

Asked how their partnership has changed over the years, Kiara told “We used to play Trouble a lot, and different board games. Now, we go ice skating a lot, we go to the movies, and we go to [my mentor’s] house and cook.”

Plus, Kiara is involved in Girls Who Code.

“Kiara just amazes me,” says her mentor Terry. “She’s very bright, and very interested in technology and computers. She was showing me this program that she wrote, and I didn’t know anything about it, and I thought, how can I help her in an area that I don’t know anything about?

Hearing about Kiara’s interest in coding, Terry’s daughter recommended Girls Who Code.

“So we contacted them, and found out that it was an agency, and located at UVM, so now every Saturday, I help by taking her to Girls Who Code,” says Terry.

Plus, there are countless other activities, too. As Terry told Lt. Gov. Zuckerman, “it has been great to branch out to [the Spectrum mentoring program]. It gave us a lot of flexibility.” Together, Kiara and Terry can go on all kinds of adventures, or out in the community together.

“Thanks to Mobius, there’s a bunch of businesses that offer discounts for the two of us.”

For example, when Kiara told her mentor she wanted to learn to ice skate, Terry took advantage of the Mobius discount to visit the Cairns Arena in South Burlington. It’s free for Kiara to skate, and Terry pays just $5.

Plus, they’ve been able to go to several shows at the Flynn, thanks to Mobius’s generous discounted ticket program for mentor pairs.

Lt. Governor Zuckerman asked how their mentoring relationship has impacted their lives.

“[Having a mentor] has helped me have a little more self-confidence,” says Kiara.

“I feel young again,” says Terry of her experience as a mentor. “I feel like a teenager when I’m with her. I feel excited to show her new things, but often Kiara is the one who is teaching me more.”

And says Kiara of the partnership, “it’s good to know that there’s someone there to bring you places and help you do stuff when nobody else wants to.”

“And, it’s good having someone to talk to. Sometimes, people don’t want to listen to you, but mentors do.”

Listen to their full interview on Lt. Governor Zuckerman’s Facebook page.

Interested in becoming a mentor? Contact Stephanie, our mentoring coordinator, at sball@spectrumvt.org or (802) 864-7423 x321.

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Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us at Spectrum. Today and every day, we are so grateful that people like you open your hearts to our youth, to make sure they have a safe place to be, a supportive community, and the help they need to thrive.

Thank you for keeping our youth in your heart.

With love and gratitude,
The Spectrum Team

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We wanted to let you know that our winter warming shelter for youth opened its doors for the first time this week. And it’s funded entirely by people like you.

The beds in our residences and longer-term shelter, The Landing, were full all last winter, and they’re full now. And, like last year, all of the other shelters in the area are full, too.

As Will, our supportive housing manager, put it: “I probably don’t need to tell you how hard it was to turn youth away last winter.”

But this year, thanks to generous supporters like you, we will have ten more beds during our coldest months, from November through the end of March.

Here’s a message from one of our young people: “Thank you very much. Y’all are literally saving lives. I would be dead if it weren’t for Spectrum. Thank you for keeping low-income youth alive.“

If you or someone you know (ages 18-24) needs housing this winter, call us at (802) 864-7423 x325, or, after 5 PM, (802) 324-2934.

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Charlie and Winston Smith choose their bowls.

What follows is a note from our Executive Director, Mark Redmond.

Thank you to all who joined us at the Empty Bowl Dinner on October 12th.

I was awestruck by the compassion and caring you showed for our youth. I am so grateful that our young people can rely on you to offer a hand when the going gets tough.

As René said that night, “Spectrum is about creating that sense of family. It is about creating a sense of community and knowing that we are loved and supported. And that there are youth and staff and, also, wonderful people like you out here who are supporting us every day. And I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing.”

Thanks to you, we raised $68,400 that night—$15,000 from the giving board alone! And because of the generosity of all who donated food and services to the event, almost all of the money raised will go directly to helping our youth build their own success.

Thank you for being a part of such a great night.

With gratitude,

Mark Redmond

Empty Bowl volunteers and Spectrum staff at the end of the night.

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From left, Riverstone counseling staff: Sunnie Lobdell, Kristen Vogel, Leslie Ferrer, and Will Kraman.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Spectrum Expands to Include New Riverstone Youth Counseling Program
Nationally Recognized Leader in Youth and Adult Services Launches New Service

BURLINGTON, VT (August 25th, 2017) – Spectrum Youth & Family Services, a nationally recognized nonprofit providing youth and adult services to the Burlington area, today announces the addition of a new counseling program: Riverstone Counseling. This new branch of Spectrum specializes in working with teenagers, young adults, and their families, to help youth identify and work with their strengths to help achieve their goals.

Since 1970, Spectrum has been an integral part of the Burlington community by supporting thousands of children and families faced with homelessness, mental health issues, violence, substance abuse and countless other critical issues.

Through services like mentoring, skills programs, supportive housing, multicultural youth programs, a health center, and more, Spectrum has helped to make sustainable, positive changes within the community.

The addition of Riverstone adds a youth-focused counseling program to Spectrum’s wide range of services.

Open to the public, Riverstone counselors are trained clinical mental health/social workers and substance abuse counselors who focus on a client-centered approach to help teenagers and young adults work through and overcome mental health and substance use issues.

Riverstone counselors specialize in helping clients with mental health and substance use issues using cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR for trauma, narrative therapy and other proven treatments.

“The goal of Riverstone Counseling is to be a mental health resource for our entire Chittenden County community, not just clients being served in other Spectrum programs,” said Sarah Woodard, Director of Development and Communications at Spectrum. “The addition of Riverstone adds another level of specialization and focus to Spectrum’s current services and allows us to provide personalized one-on-one counseling support to youth in our community who could benefit from counseling. The team at Riverstone is skilled in working with youth and young adults in crisis, trauma, or those who just would benefit from a therapeutic relationship.”

For more information about Riverstone Counseling, please visit: www.riverstonecounseling.org.

To make an appointment, email hello@riverstonecounseling.org, or call (802) 864-7423 x310.

The post Spectrum Expands to Include New Riverstone Youth Counseling Program appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

“I had a bit of a rougher childhood than most. My mom was a drug addict and an alcoholic. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the house, all alone.”

Charles was without a home at the age of 18, but he’s not letting that define him. Thanks to generous people like you supporting Spectrum programs, Charles and other young people are building their resilience.

You can meet a group of young adults in our community facing homelessness, addiction, and struggles with mental health, and hear their stories of resilience in this video from Parent Co., made by Brendan Bubion.

Thanks, Parent Co., for sharing this story!

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Recently, Jack Thurston of NECN visited Detail Works, our new social enterprise. Detail Works is a deluxe car detailing shop that gives job skills and life skills to our youth and empowers them to practice having a job in a supportive environment.

Jack spoke with Charles, one young person who was homeless before he came to live in our supportive housing. Without Spectrum, Charles said, “I don’t think I’d be anywhere at this point.”

It’s thanks to the generous support of community members like you that Charles and other young people find supportive employment at Detail Works.

The post Cleaning Cars, Transforming Lives appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

What follows is a guest blog post written by CeCe Horbat, the Diversity, Equity, & Multiculturalism Coordinator at Spectrum.

On May 6th, 2017, we hosted the Youth Leadership Conference at Champlain College. Created by our Multicultural Youth Program, the conference is designed for youth to have fun and learn, while also providing the support they need to build successful leadership skills.

To make it happen, we collaborated with many amazing community partners, including Northwest Counseling Support Services; Vermont Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health; Burlington Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront; Burlington Community and Economic Development Office; and Champlain College.

Our Youth Advisory Committee designed the whole conference, choosing everything from the t-shirt design to the workshops, from our amazing keynote speaker, Rebecca Eun Mi Haslam (Vermont’s Teacher of the Year), to our Snapchat geotag for the day! In order for the event to be a success, it had to be by youth and for youth.

Catherine, left, of the Burlington Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront; and Rebecca Eun Mi Haslam

Almost 100 youth, ages 14-24, participated in the day, learning about themselves and each other. Haslam kicked off the day by sending us the important message: “Know your why, and remember that you are the only one in control of where you’re headed.”

Some of the day’s most popular workshops were led by youth: “LGBTQ Intersectionality,” “Conversations about Racism,” “Breaking Down Cultural Barriers,” and “Spoken Book.” And many other community partners, like the Fletcher Free Library, The Peace and Justice Center, Opportunities Credit Union, and Parents and Youth for Change led fun, engaging workshops.

After lunch, youth explored over 30 organizations, service providers and post-secondary opportunities in a resource fair. Special thanks to ACLU, Vermont Tech, Vermont Works for Women, “I am Vermont, Too,” and Vermont Adult Learning, just to name a few.

In order for the event to be a success, it had to be by youth and for youth.

We finished the jam-packed day by reading a Letter of Support from Senator Bernie Sanders (though he wasn’t able to make it!) and holding a raffle drawing for prizes to local businesses. To our amazing community raffle prize partners like Old Spokes Home, City Market, YMCA, Burlington Electric, the staff at TJMaxx and many, many more, we thank you for your amazing support.

The conference was successful and empowering because of the support of people like you. We’re looking forward to an even bigger and better conference in 2018. In the meantime, you can find us on Facebook to see photos and stay up-to-date on how you are helping. Huge thanks to all who believe in our youth!

CeCe Horbat, left, and Emmajane Hoffman, of the Multicultural Youth Program.

CeCe Horbat is the Diversity, Equity and Multiculturalism Coordinator at Spectrum, as well as the AmeriCorps member serving in our Multicultural Youth Program.

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Essex High School participated in the Spectrum Sleep Out for the second year, and raised over $500 this year for our youth. The following is a reflection from one student who slept out. It’s reprinted here with permission.

First of all, one challenging part was figuring out how I was going to stay on top of my homework and participate in this event because I typically do homework until 10pm. It took a lot of focused work ahead of time to make sure I had enough work done for school on Friday. It made me think about all the extra thinking ahead of time that someone would have to do if they didn’t have a steady or constant home to go to every night.

I was not cold sleeping outside, but I did have the advantage of a nice sleeping bag on a relatively warm night on dry ground. It made me thankful that my family has the ability to buy sleeping bags to go on vacations, but other people buy them as means of survival. It was hard, however, to sleep with all the bright lights and noise (from cars and other students).

Friday at school was really hard because I felt really tired and also kind of dirty and gross. It is so much harder to go to school without getting to wake up and take a shower and go through your normal morning routine. I struggled to stay focused during the day because I was tired.

Overall, this was a really gratifying experience that taught me about being comfortable and being uncomfortable, and it also gave me some perspective on what homeless teens face on an everyday basis. I am looking forward to participating in this event next year!

The post Reflections from the Essex Sleep Out appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.

From left to right, Ilka Pritchard, Jess Smith, and Shannon Foster, Dealer.com team members

This is a guest blog post by Ilka Pritchard, Certified Scrum Master at Dealer.com.

Just like that, the 2017 Executive Sleep Out is over and I’m back in my warm home reflecting on the significance of this annual event. My colleagues and I raised over $26,000, and I’m left feeling proud, hopeful, and like we’re nowhere close to being “done” supporting our at-risk and homeless youth.

This year our Dealer.com team was 10 people—a new event for a few, and for several of us it was our second, third, fourth (for me) and even fifth time. Every year leading up to the Sleep Out, I worry about reaching my personal goal as well as the team goal, but am always astounded by the support I see from friends, colleagues, and community members allowing us to CRUSH our goal.

I’ve seen donations from all parts of the world, colleagues paying top dollar for baked goods & chili tastings, local businesses making generous donations for our silent auctions and raffles, and more.

Why? Why do people open their wallets, share posts, and, for the love of Dog, spend a night sleeping outside in the cold when they have their own warm beds at home? It’s simple: most of us empathize with the young people who are hovering somewhere between childhood and adulthood who lack the basics to survival that we often take for granted.

Another reason why we see such an outpouring of support has everything to do with Spectrum and their unwavering commitment to giving young people the tools they need to build a path to a successful life and to thrive. From what I’ve learned about Spectrum, mere survival is not enough. From the Drop-In Center that has the feeling of a family living room, to the housing, counseling, healthcare, and all other services they provide, Spectrum cares for their young clients holistically and it is evident in all of their interactions.

Spectrum’s integrity, and the creative way they’ve found to run an effective, low-overhead fundraiser is a winning combination. Plus, the Sleep Out provides a profoundly special opportunity to be connected with and surrounded by like-minded people with a commitment to our community.

In a sometimes-crazy world it gives me peace of mind to know how many people can come together to help a cause like this. It is my wish that the youth we serve feel the love and care that we put into these efforts and that it gives them hope – because hope is something money can’t buy.

Photos by Brian Jenkins

See you at the 2018 Spectrum Sleep Out!

Spectrum and the Dealer.com team would like to thank these businesses for their generous donations to our silent auction that helped us raise over $4,000 beyond our individual and corporate funds raised:

ArtsRiot; The Spot; WND&WVS; Play Dog Play; Oh My Dog!; Dedalus Wine Shop; Hen of the Wood; Burton Snowboards, Inc.; Must Love Yarn; Higher Ground.

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