Windsor County Partners

About Windsor County Partners

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Vision Statement

Our vision is that the youth of Windsor County will have the confidence and skills to direct their futures wisely.

Mission Statement

Our mission is that, through mentoring, Windsor County youth will realize their potential as healthy, responsible decision makers.

About Our Youth Mentoring Program

In existence since 1974, Windsor County Partners (WCP) provides mentoring partnerships, free of charge, to any Windsor County child between 5 and 18 who could benefit from a long term, trusting relationship with a caring adult. WCP serves children in 24 towns and 9 different school districts.

Our PALS (Partners Always Lend Support) program is community-based and serves youth ages 8-18 years. Mentors and their mentees engage in a wide variety of activities throughout the area for approximately 2 hours a week, or 6-8 hours a month. 

Let’s Do Lunch (LDL) serves the Springfield schools providing an opportunity for youth ages 5-18 to meet with their mentor for an hour a week on the school grounds to engage in child-directed activities such as reading, playing a game, working on a project or simply chatting.

Our overarching goal is to empower youth to make healthier life choices and realize their potential. Since the beginning, our mentors, or Senior Partners, have been encouraging their Junior Partners to explore possibilities, embrace learning, and make healthy choices while in a supportive, trusting relationship. Our Junior Partners become active participants in their mentoring relationships and are expected to make on-going efforts to communicate effectively, set goals, select and plan activities, and honor all agreements.

Mentor and mentee applicants are interviewed in their homes to gain a better sense of their family culture, skills and interests. Matches are made according to personalities, interests and geographic proximity (PALS).

All prospective mentors complete a thorough application process that includes the submission of 3 references and state, child abuse and FBI criminal record checks.  Each new mentor receives comprehensive training prior to being matched and is required to attend one additional training throughout the year.

Since our inception, we have created and sustained over 1,000 adult-youth matches. We are currently working to grow our organization and increase the number of Partnerships and their distribution throughout the County. We hope to match every child on our waiting list as quickly as possible and welcome volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds, ages, towns and careers.

Our Staff

As Executive Director, Kathy Kinter is responsible for organizational operations, including screening all potential partners, making matches, supporting partnerships, planning partner events, recruiting, training, collaborating with community organizations and fundraising. With a Master’s degree in environmental education and a Bachelor’s in social work, Kathy has had an eclectic professional life as an educator (naturalist, college professor and ropes course instructor), a project manager, organizational consultant and social worker. She envisioned, began and directed a state-wide trade network of herb growers and manufacturers and has owned two businesses.

Paula Townsend-Larabee, Administrative Assistant, assists the director with programming, fundraising, outreach and organizational operations. As a life-long resident of Springfield, Paula brings a passion for the area to her work. She received an Associate’s degree in human services from Community College of Vermont in 1999 and worked for Health Care Rehabilitation Services of Southeast Vermont for 5 years as a one-to-one case advocate with at-risk youth. Twelve years in customer service and sales has provided her with the skill set needed to work in the varied capacity her current position demands.

Our History

In 1974, District Court Judge George F. Ellison, Charles Gibbs, Esq., area social workers, and other concerned residents from several Vermont communities established Windsor County Partners. These individuals first met to address the increasing number of children at risk of damaging their lives through harmful behaviors such as premature sex, underage drinking, use of other illegal substances and violence.

With other successful mentoring programs such as the research-based Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America as models, the group concluded that mentoring opportunities for the community’s youth would make the difference. The group formed Windsor County Partners, Inc., a non-profit, 501(c)(3) youth mentoring organization, in an effort to guide children down new life paths through close relationships with dependable adults, and to instill in them the belief that they have opportunities in mainstream society.

The name the insightful founders chose for this organization includes a word purposely selected to impart a particular meaning to its mission—“Partners”. This word stresses the commitment required by both the Senior Partner and the Junior Partner in making their new friendship blossom. The youth becomes an active participant in the mentoring relationship and is expected to take an ongoing interest in communicating, sharing, selecting and planning activities, and honoring all agreements. For the child, this process of helping to build a healthy relationship with a sensitive, caring adult is sometimes a first lesson on how to form lasting, positive relationships in his or her life.

We have helped join over 1,100 fun-loving adults with area, at-promise youth so that, together, the pairs may discover the limitless rewards of a lasting, intergenerational friendship.

Goals of the Mentoring Partnerships WCP Creates and Supports

  • Help Partnerships to develop close friendships based on trust, respect and communication.
  • Increase Junior Partners’ self-esteem.
  • Increase Junior Partners’ awareness and accountability for their actions.
  • Promote fun and healthy life choices through safe, creative activities.