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Christopher P. Dunne Award

PYD honors Jarriett Barrios and Dr. James Perrin with Christopher P. Dunne award at annual Gala on May 10, 2008.

Collaborative work on two-year Mitsubishi grant comes to fruition

Mentoring programs can now gain knowledge and tools to meet needs of mentors and mentees with disabilities

BOSTON - With the conclusion of a two-year grant from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, two nonprofit organizations - Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) and Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) -- have introduced a suite of enhanced resources for mentoring programs in Massachusetts to help them better understand and meet the needs of youth with disabilities who come through their doors.

"Our goal in funding the Inclusion Mentoring Project was to help mentoring programs be better prepared to serve youth of all abilities," said Rayna Aylward, executive director of the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation. "It's been exciting to watch the progress made toward that goal through the collaborative efforts of PYD and Mass Mentoring. We're particularly pleased that there are now a variety of resources available for youth mentoring programs to become more inclusive of children with disabilities and also of adults with disabilities who volunteer as mentors."

As a result of the Inclusion Mentoring Project, MMP's core trainings and technical assistance services offered across the Commonwealth now reflect inclusive practices. In addition, agencies that take advantage of Mass Mentoring's services for starting a mentoring program will be introduced to the tools and resources needed to create an initiative inclusive of youth with disabilities.

Noted David Shapiro, CEO of Mass Mentoring, "When mentoring programs can build their capacity to meet the needs of both the youth they serve, and the mentors who enter their lives, both gain enormous, lifelong benefits. This project provides the kind of resources to help programs better meet the needs of a population that has been overlooked for too long, while also allowing our own organization to adopt the principles of inclusion in everything we do."

Regina Snowden, executive director of PYD added, "We believe that youth - regardless of their situation or ability - can develop great skills, and build meaningful relationships through mentoring. However, we also know that the hundreds of mentoring programs help to forge those mentoring relationships may not always have the resources they need to support a match in which the youth has a disability. The Inclusion Mentoring Project was designed to help bridge that gap."

In addition to its work in Massachusetts, PYD operates a National Center for Mentoring Youth with Disabilities that provides expertise to organizations across the U.S. that are interested in creating mentoring opportunities for youth with disabilities, want to learn best practices, and network with others in the field. To learn more about training and technical assistance resources developed through the Inclusion Mentoring Project, contact Sue Anne Endelman, Vice President for Training and Strategic Services at Mass Mentoring Partnership, 617-695-2430, saendelman@massmentors.org; or Sheila Tunney, Mentoring and National Center Director at Partners for Youth with Disabilities, 617-556-4075 ext. 14, stunney@pyd.org.

Partners for Youth with Disabilities is a statewide nonprofit, community-based organization that pioneered a delivery of unique mentoring services for youth with disabilities. In addition to its longstanding mentoring program, it offers group and educational services that build independent living, self-advocacy, entrepreneurship and career development skills.

Mass Mentoring Partnership is the only statewide organization dedicated to strategically expanding quality mentoring to meet the needs of youth across Massachusetts. MMP serves more than 130 mentoring programs statewide representing over 20,000 mentoring relationships.

Workers with Disabilities: Talent for a Winning Team - January 2008

Javier S. and Oz M.: Demonstrating the Power of Mentoring Youth with Disabilities

Javier S. and Oswald "Oz" M. are role models for the power of mentoring. They first met several years ago through a program at Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD), and have remained in a mentoring relationship. Oz is vice president for human resources at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network, and Javier is a college student majoring in social work. Each has a congenital limb difference, and Javier has learned, among other things, strategies for overcoming barriers associated with his disability. Now working part-time at the hospital where Oz first mentored him, Javier is also passing on the gift he has received by mentoring a younger person with a disability.

Oz, whose job includes staffing various sites with skilled workers in an extremely competitive market, views mentoring as a business investment. "What better place for Javier to learn and gain exposure to his future career than in a hospital. Javier gains valuable experience. We gain a good trainee and, hopefully, a future employee," he says.

Mentoring is an important strategy for assisting youth in transitioning successfully into adulthood, but little information has been available on mentoring youth with disabilities, or career-focused mentoring in general. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) awarded grants to a number of providers of mentoring services, including PYD, so that these providers could help build the capacity of small community and faith-based organizations to provide career-focused mentoring services to youth with disabilities. In 2006, PYD collaborated with ODEP to present the first national conference on mentoring for youth with disabilities. Through another grant program, the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, ODEP developed Paving the Way to Work: A Guide to Career-Focused Mentoring for Youth with Disabilities.

Lora Brugnaro - Mentor of the Year

We are happy to announce that Lora Brugnarao, longtime mentor, friend and supporter of Partners for Youth with Disabilities has been selected for this year's, Mentor of the Year Award! This award is given to the mentor in our program who demonstrates outstanding support, guidance, and encouragement aimed at developing the capability and character of their mentee. She was chosen for this award because of her enduring commitment to the two youth whom she mentors. Lora has gone above and beyond the call of duty in shaping these girls lives. She is truly an inspiration.

Lora Brugnaro is an extraordinary person and mentor. She has served as a one-to-one mentor since she was first matched in May of 2005. Lora took on the challenges of a teenager with similar disabilities and has help foster her self-esteem in many ways. In April of 2007, Lora took on another youth to mentor. This time a much younger girl with different needs and support.

Maureen Finnerty - Outstanding "Partner" of the Year.

We are happy to announce that Maureen Finnerty, longtime participant, friend and group mentor has been selected to receive the honor of Outstanding "Partner" of the Year.

Maureen Finnerty, affectionately known as Moe, has been a ongoing mentor to so many of the youth in our programs. She became part of PYD in 1995 as a shy and soft spoken teenager unsure if she wanted any part of what PYD had to offer. She now serves as the facilitator for Making Healthy Connections in Boston and Movement Director for our Access Arts Program. She has been an active member of our Youth Leadership Program, Peer Leadership Program, Making Healthy Connections as well as Access to Theatre. Moe, in addition to all of her hard work with PYD will be receiving her bachelor's degree form the University of Massachusetts Boston in Psychology this June.

Moe will be the first one to tell you she isn't doing anything out of the ordinary and by no means needs recognition for her hard work and commitment. Moe has promised to do whatever she can to make a difference in the lives of youth with disabilities. She takes calls all hours of the night, she finds resources to help guide them in achieving their goals, she supports their unique voice and allows them to grow as advocates for themselves.

We are extremely fortunate to have Moe as a role model, friend, and mentor.

Michelle Jasmin receives Christopher P. Dunne Peer Leadership Award

We are honored to present this years Christopher P. Dunne Peer Leadership award to Michelle Jasmin. This award is given to a member of the peer leader program who has exhibited outstanding bravery, compassion and guidance to the members of our programs. This award is given in memory of Chris Dunne, a courageous young man who motivated us all to be leaders and inspired our participants to shoot for the stars.. Michelle has been an essential member of our peer leadership team since she first joined in 2001. We would like to recognize her contributions to the other young adults in our programs. She has played a large role in helping others increase their own leadership, independence and unique voice. She is a supporter, a guide and a friend to all of the participants and we are very grateful to have her as a part of our program.

Strengthening their bonds

Online communication enhances relationships for those with disabilities

By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff | November 26, 2007

WELLESLEY - Gregory Walsh and Austin Lam sit facing each other in their wheelchairs, saying nothing.

Outwardly, that is. But on a level beyond speech, the 28-year-old Walsh and the 13-year-old Austin are communicating plenty.

The two have a special relationship: Walsh, who lives in Braintree, is Austin's mentor and role model. Through his own example, he teaches the Wellesley boy how to live day-to-day with the challenges posed by their shared disability: cerebral palsy.

Soon, though, the two will be able to communicate even more fully. Austin's parents plan to soon acquire a specially equipped computer device that will enable him to access the Internet. That means he and Walsh will join the growing ranks of disabled mentors and their younger proteges who communicate online under a program run by Partners for Youth with Disabilities, a nonprofit organization based in Boston.

"It's going to open up a whole new area for Gregory and Austin," said Janice Walsh, Gregory's mother. "It will reinforce their relationship. They'll become even better friends than they are now."

Walsh's prediction rests on a solid foundation: She has seen the bonds tighten between her son and his longtime mentor since they began a regular online dialogue.

It was just four years ago that Partners for Youth with Disabilities added an online component to its mentoring program, and discovered a pent-up demand. Up to that point, the organization had averaged 60 to 80 new mentorship matches a year between disabled adults and disabled youths. The organization continues to average 60 matches a year under the traditional mentoring program, but in the past four years has also added more than 600 matches under the online program.

Participants don't just communicate regularly with each other, but also take part in online chats and forums with other disabled youths and adults that revolve around issues that range from politics to careers to the challenges of living independently. "Youths that were isolated have been able to have experiences, education, and support that they wouldn't otherwise have had," said Regina Snowden, founder and CEO of Partners for Youth with Disabilities. "Children and adults with health issues that make travel difficult have been able to let the outside world in."

Walsh, for example, cannot speak or use his hands. To communicate in person, he moves his eyes from one letter to another on a plastic letter board to spell out words. It is a laborious process. But Internet use is another matter. He is able to play chess online and regularly e-mail questions to his mentor, George Donahue of Watertown, via a computer with a large switch he can manipulate with his right foot.

"George has been a mentor and a friend to me," Walsh wrote via e-mail. "He has introduced me to many new people and new experiences."

At 53, Donahue is struck by how online communication and other technological tools have leveled the playing field and expanded the horizon for people with disabilities. "Being online and talking to other people, it keeps you social," said Donahue, who has a neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and uses a wheelchair. "You don't feel alone." For young disabled people, he added, "They're more accepted. It's a different ball game."

The mentoring program runs background checks on the adults before matching them with disabled youths (for the purposes of the mentoring program, the organization defines "youth" as anyone under 24). If the pairing clicks, mentors and proteges can stay in contact via e-mail, instant-messaging, and Internet forums. But it doesn't always click. "We always tell folks that it's like any relationship," said Snowden. "There can come a time when you're ready to move on. We tell them not to feel discouraged if that happens, that we can find other mentors and mentees."

Sometimes a mentoring relationship that began offline will move online. That's what happened between Walsh and Donahue. The two met nine years ago under the original mentoring program run by Partners, but in recent years, due to the online program, they have been in more frequent contact. They still meet in person, but they also exchange e-mails (sometimes at a scheduled time, sometimes when one sees the other is taking part in one of the online forums) at least twice a week.

"A lot of times when we're online, Gregory may bring up a topic he wants to discuss," said Donahue. "We have lengthy talks online, man to man. Greg has questions, and I do my best to answer them."

Online, Walsh has asked Donahue such basic questions as where to find a wheelchair with a more comfortable seat and whether he should take a certain college class pass-fail. He also asked Donahue for advice on some matters he'd rather not discuss with his parents, such as how to navigate the world of dating and romance.

Through his own example, Donahue has also answered the unspoken question many disabled youths are likely to have: Will I be able to work and support myself? As a kitchen design expediter at the Home Depot in Waltham, Donahue shows Walsh that a disability is no impediment to a career. Walsh, for his part, has shown a drive and an intellectual curiosity, especially about technology, that convinces his mentor he will eventually invent a device that will make life easier for the disabled. One way or another, Donahue predicts, "he's going to put his name on the map."

Walsh has taken the lessons he learned from Donahue and applied them to his relationship with Austin. The two have formed a tight bond. In his e-mail, Walsh wrote: "I want to be a friend to Austin like George has been a friend to me, someone he can look up to, like I look up to George."

He has apparently achieved that goal. Austin is largely nonverbal, but when his mother, Pam Lam, asked her son whether he likes having an older friend, Austin responded with a gesture that means yes. His mother added: "And that you can go places and do things together, like go bowling?" Austin gestured yes again. (When they go candlepin bowling, the balls are placed atop 10-foot wooden ramps that rest on the arms of their wheelchairs. They then push the ball down the ramp, sometimes with the assistance of family members.)

Beyond transmitting his enthusiasm for the Red Sox to his young protege, Walsh provides living proof of the heights to which the seventh-grader can aspire. Walsh recently earned a certificate from Massasoit Community College in Brockton that affirmed his proficiency in Word, Access, Excel, and PowerPoint programs. He is now going for an associate's degree in liberal arts.

"When we see the potential and the possibilities [Walsh] has accomplished, it gives us a lot of hope," said Pam Lam.

Added Janice Walsh: "What he imparts is the success of a physically disabled young man who can go to college, and the message that life doesn't have to be that different, even if you're severely disabled."

But Gregory Walsh also gets a lot back, according to his mother. "He feels like he is the adult in the relationship," she said. "He really is proud of that. He's always telling people that Austin is his mentee."

The depth of the relationship between the two was made clear recently when they were assigned to different teams on one of the bowling expeditions their families regularly undertake together. Each of them found a way to communicate to his parents his displeasure about being separated from his pal. "He let me know with his facial expressions," Pam Lam said, of Austin. "He gave me a very big sad face, before and after."

She believes that online communication will make a world of difference to Austin, in his relationship with Walsh and beyond. "He wants to feel connection," she said. "It will be his window to the world."

Because of his disability, Austin Lam does not have the use of his fingers, but he can use his knuckles to hit a switch that will enable him to control the computer and communicate online. When he does, he will find an eager correspondent in his friend and mentor.

"I am looking forward to the day that Austin and I can communicate together," Gregory Walsh wrote in his e-mail. "I want to know what he is thinking about."

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com. Your browser may not support display of this image.

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©Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

PYD's Annual Black Tie Gala is May 10, 200 at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge!

More details are forthcoming

Mentor Match event: Live performance of Peter Pan!

Wheelock Family Theatre
200 The Riverway * Boston, MA 02215

Presents:

PETER PAN

PYD Performance on

Sunday March 2 at 3:00 PM

Reception prior to show at 2pm in Alumni Room and Question and Answer session with the cast following the show

All tickets only $6.00

This performance will be interpreted in ASL and offer live audio-description and open-captioning.

A darling musical adventure for the entire family!
"Look at me, way up high suddenly, here am I... I'm flying!"

Since the musical, Peter Pan, opened in 1904, tens of millions of people have attended - making it the most popular children's play of all time. It is also one of the only works to have made the leap from literature to folktale. Part fantasy, part adventure story, Peter Pan is a rich confection of pirates and natives, fairies and crocodiles, and a clever, courageous, and not a little conceited elf/boy who just doesn't want to grow up. J. M. Barrie's marvelous creation evokes all childhood's enchanted dreams and eternal truths.

Recommended for ages 6 and up. The production, with intermission, will run approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes.

TICKETS

Tickets are $6.00 per person (scholarships available)

Cash or check will be collected on the evening of the performance.

Show length: 2 hours and 20 min.

For those arranging transportation: The reception begins at 2pm. We assess that 6pm will be the end of the "Question and Answer" session following the performance.

In order to attend this event you must RSVP by February 22nd to: Laurie Silipigno- Mentor Match Specialist

617-556-4075 x 18
TTY: 617-314-2989
Fax: 617-556-4074
e-mail :LSilipigno@pyd.org

**Please include all resonable accomodation information. Wheelock Family Theater is a wonderfully accessible facility.

ACCESSIBLITY

Accessible ramps are located on either side of the Lobby.

An elevator is located at the entrance marked 180 The Riverway. (located to the left of the theater lobby) This is the wheelchair accessible entrance to the reception area as well as the entrance to the theatre. If you are using "The Ride" system please give them the following address: 180 The Riverway Boston, MA 02215

The reception is being held at the Alumni Room at 2pm.

TRANSPORTATION & PARKING

WFT is a 5 minute walk from the Fenway T stop on the D Riverside car on the Green line. By car, WFT is easily accessible from Rt. 9, Rt. 2, Storrow Drive, Harvard Street and Ruggles Street. For more detailed directions on getting to Wheelock, please go to the directions page at www.wheelock.edu/wft/

Parking in the Fenway can seem puzzling as we navigate the serpentine roads of the neighborhood. We STRONGLY urge our patrons to park at the MASCO garage, 375 Longwood Avenue, which is located between Brookline Avenue (Longwood Medical Area) and The Riverway. The garage offers discounted parking on weekends and evenings and is only a short walk to the front doors of WFT.

To receive your discount at the MASCO Garage, WFT patrons should ask for the discounted parking ticket at the Box Office on the date of attendance.