With High Hopes – A Message From MMP’s President & CEO
Dear Friends, Yesterday, our country participated in one of our democracy’s most important processes. This morning, we had our outcome of that process and time will reveal the full impact on the young people for whom many of us cast our ballots. In every corner of our beautiful state, there are youth and communities that reflect our hope for what is possible. They reflect the diversity, dignity, and opportunity that our democracy strives to protect and lift. They also reflect the youth workers and frontline advisors, the community-based leaders and youth employers, the schoolteachers and staff, the public servants and community philanthropists, the coaches and mentors, and the aunties and abuelas that watch over extended families. Our Commonwealth is full of the people, places, and resources that can build a better tomorrow that is guided by values of justice, equity, community, and an unwavering belief in modeling caring, respectful, and purposeful adult relationships. Today, like every day, but perhaps more than yesterday, we must continue to raise these values to ensure the next generation of leaders and stewards of our democracy have a chance to thrive and create better. bell hooks reminds us that, “Love is really more of an interactive process. It’s about what we do, not just what we feel. It’s a verb not a noun.” At Mass Mentoring Partnership, our values and our mission are what guide us to deliver high quality, evidence-based capacity building, advocacy, and support. We believe building the mentoring movement that supports all young people in the Commonwealth takes a dedicated community that is guided by love as an action. We will continue to keep relationships at the center of our thinking and of our work because we know that we are stronger TOGETHER, and we must remember that now more than ever. The stakes, certainly, remain high. We know that the work of each of our program partners remains critically important. Our team is committed to doing our part to support those efforts, to encourage and to uplift, and we remain inspired to do so, for the sake of our youth.  Cynthia K. Orellana, P.h.D. |