On October 24th, Lansing native and nationally renowned mentoring leader, DeVone Boggan, is addressing a capacity crowd at 12:15 p.m. at the Mentor Michigan Conference at the Holiday Inn West in Lansing. Also at the conference, David Eisner, President and CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, is presenting Michigan State University graduate student, Carlas "CJ" Quinney, with a President's Volunteer Service Award for his work with mentoring youth.
"I am so excited to be back home to interact with the phenomenal mentoring programs that are doing so much for young people in Michigan," said DeVonne Boggan. "I applaud these organizations and the volunteers who are mentoring children and changing their lives."
Boggan is president of DbMentors, Inc., a national consulting group that provides training and support to those developing, operating, or managing mentoring programs. Among his many accomplishments, Boggan has served as a consultant to the President's National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women and Children, has co-authored three mentoring publications, and helped develop national standards for effective mentoring practices.
In an amazing twist of fate, Mentor Michigan learned that Boggan's brother, Dan Boggan, was CJ's high school football coach, thereby confirming that young people who have strong adult role models become confident, caring adults themselves. CJ is proudly passing on what he has learned and is being honored for his commitment.
President George W. Bush's Council on Service and Civic Participation created the President's Volunteer Service Awards in 2003. The award thanks and honors Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. Eisner is presenting CJ with a congratulatory letter from President Bush and a gold lapel pin recognizing his outstanding service.
CJ has been mentoring since he was in 9th grade at Sexton High School. He has also been a Big Brother to Marton for six years and helped him grow from an eight-year-old with mediocre academic performance into a well-mannered young man with a 3.5 GPA. Marton was recently awarded a H.O.P.E Scholarship. H.O.P.E participants begin the program in six grade and promise to finish high school in exchange for two free years of tuition at Lansing Community College. CJ is also involved with Break the Cycle, a national organization that works with at-risk youth to help them break the cycle of poverty, gang involvement, drug addiction, hopelessness, and despair.
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm presented CJ with the Outstanding Mentor Award at the Governor's Service Awards celebration in June 2007.
In addition to presenting the award to CJ at 9:00 a.m., Eisner is keynoting at the Mentor Michigan Conference.
"The most effective intervention in a troubled child's life is a mentor," says Eisner. "There are 15 million at risk children who need caring adults in their lives. We need more people willing to invest an hour a week to turn a life around."
As the leader of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the nation's largest federal agency for service and volunteering, Eisner has expanded national service programming to support 75,000 AmeriCorps members, 500,000 Senior Corps participants, and 1.4 million Learn and Serve America students. This $900 million agency is the second largest grantmaker to the nonprofit community following the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Corporation has set a national goal of providing mentors to an additional three million youth by 2010 with an emphasis on serving children with incarcerated parents and children in or aging out of foster care.
The Mentor Michigan Conference, now in its second year, is an annual gathering of mentoring professionals from all over Michigan. It includes keynote addresses and workshops by national, state, and local leaders with expertise in the field of mentoring. First Gentleman Daniel G. Mulhern is presenting the workshop, Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Mentoring. Mulhern will bring stories, humor, a little theory, and some totally usable ideas on how to strengthen leadership in mentoring relationships. Mulhern will be available afterwards to sign copies of his book, Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business, Politics and Life.
For more information on how you can get involved with mentoring in your community, visit
www.mentormichigan.org
.
Background
Mentor Michigan serves as an expert resource, clearinghouse, and advocate for mentoring programs statewide. Housed at the Michigan Community Service Commission, it is increasing public awareness about the impact of mentoring and the need for mentors. Together with nearly 200 mentoring organizations across Michigan, it is enhancing the quality of mentoring relationships and increasing the capacity of mentoring programs. Mentor Michigan is connected with 38 state and local mentoring partnerships nationwide through MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.
Mentor Michigan is led by two of Michigan's strongest mentors and mentoring advocates-Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and First Gentleman Daniel G. Mulhern. Through their involvement, Mentor Michigan has emerged as a leader in the mentoring movement and is working to make mentoring an integral part of Michigan's volunteer community.
The Michigan Community Service Commission is a state agency that builds a culture of service by providing vision and resources to strengthen communities through volunteerism. Each year, the MCSC grants more than $5.6 million to local nonprofit organizations, schools, and agencies for volunteer and service activities. The MCSC's programs include Mentor Michigan, Michigan's AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve - Michigan, and the Governor's Service Awards. The MCSC is a part of the Michigan Department of Human Services.
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