The Vermont Women’s Mentoring program provides a path for women to rebuild their lives.
BURLINGTON — Mercy Connections is recruiting women to join its Vermont Women’s Mentoring program aimed at supporting incarcerated women to successfully reenter the community.
The mentorship program seeks women in Vermont who wish to make a lasting impact on the lives of other women. It requires a five-week training course at Mercy Connections in Burlington, to be held on Wednesdays, February 26 to March 26, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
“The program is pretty straightforward,” says Joanne Nelson, Mercy Connections Director of Justice, Mentoring and Reentry Programs. “Mentors go through an in-depth training process … they meet their mentee once a month and attend multiple social events planned by Mercy Connections throughout the year.”
The population of Vermont has grown almost 26% since 1980, according to the United States Census Bureau’s most recent historical population change data, meanwhile, the Prison Policy Initiative points to the more than 500% increase in the rate of incarcerated women in that same period.
This alarming trend speaks to the urgent need for successful interventions to assist women in completing programs that are alternatives to incarceration. The programs also aim to not only support women with reentering the community, but to also not re-offend.
The Vermont Women’s Mentoring Program has a proven track record of helping women to successfully reestablish their lives post-incarceration. The support of a mentor promotes systematic and permanent change for incarcerated women by reducing risk behaviors associated with recidivism.
The program encourages mentors from all walks of life to join and requires that they make at least a one-year commitment. Mentors assist with support, coaching and act as a new healthy companion to trauma-affected women. Challenges may include addiction disease, mental health conditions, loss of employment and/or housing difficulties.
Women interested in training do not need to have prior knowledge of the criminal justice system to participate.
For more information, please contact Mercy Connections’ Director of Justice, Mentoring & Reentry Programs, Joanne Nelson, at [email protected] or at 802-846-7164. Online registration is also available here.
Looking for other ways to contribute to Mercy Connections? Information on programs as well as volunteer and donation opportunities can be found at www.mercyconnections.org