Goodwill is Awarded Grant from Community Foundation for the Alleghenies to Expand Mentoring

JOHNSTOWN, PA, July 28, 2011—Goodwill of the Southern Alleghenies has been awarded a grant by the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies to continue and expand collaboration among its Goodwill GoodGuides^® Youth Mentoring Program, the Community Foundation’s volunteer‐led Community Intervention Plan (CIP), neighborhood leaders, and churches. The $20,297 grant will support two AmeriCorps workers for one year to increase from seven to 13 the number of approved mentoring sites and to facilitate activities at these new sites.

The CIP is a community‐wide, volunteer mentoring initiative that consists of partnerships throughout the Greater Johnstown region, with Goodwill as the lead agency and the administrator. The CIP links caring adults with disadvantaged youth, 6 years of age and older, helping them to gain the confidence, support, and skills they need to reach their potential. In addition, Goodwill operates GoodGuides as subgrantee to Goodwill Industries International under a national mentoring grant funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This program helps youth ages 12–17 to overcome barriers to success.

Since Goodwill launched GoodGuides in November 2009, the growing community‐based mentoring initiative has achieved noteworthy milestones, including:

• More than 100 volunteer mentors have received extensive training and passed stringent state and federal clearances, including the FBI clearance.
• More than 100 youth have been matched with trained mentors in one‐on‐one and group settings and have received a minimum of two hours of career development per month
• Seven sites in at‐risk community neighborhoods have been identified and secured as “safe,” where interactive mentoring can take place. After‐school mentoring chess clubs have also been created at Greater Johnstown High School and Greater Johnstown Middle School.

As the mentoring effort continues to grow, many Johnstown‐area children, with the support of caring adults, will have the potential to change their educational trajectories.

For information about Goodwill’s GoodGuides Youth Mentoring Program and the Community Intervention Plan, please contact Cindy O’Connor, GoodGuides Program Manager at (814) 536‐3536, ext. 304 or goodguides@goodwilljohnstown.org.

Goodwill Industries of the Conemaugh Valley (GICV), Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1962 to empower individuals and families with employment barriers to achieve their fullest potential in the community through work services. Headquartered in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, GICV serves individuals with disabilities and disadvantages, dislocated workers, youth, and other job seekers throughout south central Pennsylvania in the counties of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, Indiana, Somerset and a portion of Westmoreland by providing education and career services as well as job placement and postemployment supports. GICV is a community-based member organization of Goodwill Industries International, a 179-member network in the U.S., Canada, and 13 other countries. Learn more at www.gicv.org.