AmeriCorps Alumni

Matthew Jameson

Mentoring Advocate at Partners for Youth with Disabilities

“As I have a long history of involvement with Partners for Youth with Disabilities, serving as an AmeriCorps Mentoring Advocate at PYD is a privilege. Thus far during my service, I have learned even more about this organization that I appreciate, and I have contributed to various PYD initiatives in a meaningful way. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have to further PYD’s mission, and I look forward to what is to come throughout the rest of the service year.”

“Service this year has given me something that I had been craving for a while: a caring and supportive community of people who are there to listen without judgment and validate the totality of my life experience. MMP and PYD have been extremely generous to me regarding both personal and professional concerns, and certain colleagues have become dear friends. I am indebted to MMP and PYD for all that they have done, and I will carry this experience with me in my mind and in my heart for the remainder of my life.”

Simon Crawford-Muscat

Mentoring Advocate at Jewish Family Services of Western MA

“Being the AmeriCorps Mentoring Advocate for the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts Refugee Youth Mentoring Program has given me the opportunity to work closely with refugee youth and their mentors to help them achieve their goals and dreams as they acclimate to life in the USA. The team at JFS is incredibly supportive, kind, and wonderful to work with, and I’ve enjoyed every moment. I feel a sense of excitement every day knowing I’m going to be working on something meaningful and impactful as part of my service year.” 

“Serving at JFSWM has made me feel a part of a larger community. Working with new Americans as they settle into the country and begin pursuing their hopes and dreams is rewarding and inspiring. I feel connected to my co-workers and clients in a way I’ve never experienced before, and with that connection comes a sense of fulfillment that defined what I hoped to get out of my year of service.”

William O’Neil

Mentoring Advocate at Boston Day & Evening Academy

“Service is my passion. To assist youth is my goal and influence them in positive notions giving them the keys to doors of success and confidence. This is my journey, my role I have accepted in being able to impact those at a high level. The reward is to watch them walk across that stage. Most importantly, exceed expectations beyond measure. As they should.”

Samuel Steed

Ambassador of Mentoring at Mass Mentoring Partnership

Sam serves to help promote the power of transforming relationships as the AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring at Mass Mentoring Partnership. He creates content, writes blogs and works to coordinate match opportunities for our program partners in the network as the Communications and Network Partnerships Associate. He helps to build capacity as a key lead on the Mentor Connector. Additionally, he is serving as the Father Monan Fellow, helping to support AmeriCorps Ambassadors through their service year, take the lead on the MLK Day of Service and facilitate and plan collaboration and network opportunities throughout the 2021-2022 AAOM Year.

Jenna Hutchins

Ambassador of Mentoring at Big Brother Big Sister of Eastern Mass at EMK

Jenna serves side-by-side with BBBSEM’s staff already at their partner high schools to improve the high school graduation and college success of teens at Edward M. Kennedy School. She provides ongoing support and training to the match parties, partners with their Community Engagement Team to recruit and enroll volunteers into the program, and participates in rolling out the curriculum through weekly classes and monthly events.

Evan Bixby

Ambassador of Mentoring at Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts

Evan serves at Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts (JFSWM), a community leader that empowers people to achieve fulfilling lives. Within JFSWM, Evan provides ongoing support and training to mentors, creates mentoring resources and curriculum, and maintains community partnerships. He works closely with colleagues to support mentees on their journey towards educational and career goals and beyond!

Matthew Jameson

Ambassador of Mentoring at Mass Mentoring Partnership

Matthew serves the Program Services Division at Mass Mentoring Partnership, a statewide leader and resource for over 370 mentoring and youth serving organizations in the Commonwealth. He helps to build capacity for the Program Services team, helping to overseeing Mass Mentoring Counts, training programs and technical assistance requests from their programming clientele.

Brenna Barrett

Ambassador of Mentoring at Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

Brenna manages the Big for a Day (BFAD) program where volunteers and corporate/community partners experience the power of mentoring and supports a wide variety of Big Sister Boston’s programming and enrichment services. The BFAD program annually serves approximately 300 girls in the Greater Boston area, by matching them with Big for a Day Big Sisters for a one-day event. BFAD programming provides a critical service to girls who are waiting to be matched with their long-term 1:1 Big Sister mentor by giving them the opportunity to participate in enrichment programming.

Oakley Arave

Ambassador of Mentoring at Boston Partners in Education

Oakley serves to review and recommend suggestions to increase youth engagement and agency towards mentee recruitment, and strengthen our partnerships with teachers and schools at Boston Partners in Education. She continues to build capacity in community outreach and mentor recruitment in our targeted neighborhoods at Boston Partners in Education. Oakley works to build upon our volunteer engagement strategies and increase our match support capacity.

Joey Annand

Ambassador of Mentoring at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, Boston, MA

Joey serves as the AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT). He supports the Student Affairs Team and manages the BFIT Ambassador Program, BFIT’s Peer Mentoring Program, which promotes student success and life readiness. In this role, he is responsible for recruitment, screening, selection, match support, training, meeting facilitation, and program development.

Lemitsa Vaz

Ambassador of Mentoring at Boston Adult Technical Academy

Lemitsa serves as the AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring at Boston Adult Technical Academy (BATA). She helps develop the look and feel of the program, ensures that BATA has the recruitment and matching practices they need, takes mentor and mentee training to the next level, supports matches from many different angles during the all-important first mentoring year and brings the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring to BATA for good.

Yajaira Estrada

Ambassador of Mentoring at Higher Education Resource Center

Yajaira is the AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring at Higher Education Resource Center. She serves as the Alumni Success Program Mentoring Coordinator where she manages their newly launched mentoring services for their Alumni Success Program. The program supports their college students and recent high school graduates from their college-prep program called Passport to College. The Alumni Success Program works to ensure students persist all the way through college and into the workforce, ultimately closing the achievement gap for low-income students in Boston. Their mentoring services are an essential component to assure the success of our mission.

Athena Jeanne Zeiter

Ambassador of Mentoring at Partners for Youth with Disabilities

Athena is the AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring at Partners for Youth with Disabilities. She supports the recruitment of a diverse pool of mentors and enhancing match support. She also increases the number of youth involved in PYD’s one to one and group mentoring programs. In her role, she orchestrates match events (e.g. Mentor Appreciation Night) and distributes resources for matches. Athena is involved with supporting a caseload of matches. She leads mentor recruitment efforts which includes attending recruitment fairs, developing recruitment materials and analyzing results. She also supports PYD’s Quality Base Mentoring renewal process through which they will assess best practices in mentoring.