Young Professional Advisory Board
Summary
The Young Professional Advisory Board (“YPAB”) is a group of young professionals who volunteer their time to aid in furthering The Mentoring Partnership of New York’s Six Key Functions:
1. Mentor Recruitment and Referral
2. Technical Assistance and Training
3. Public Awareness
4. Resource Development
5. Public Policy
6. Data Collection and Tracking
History
In 2004, Zach Boisi and Matt Bonanno co-founded the Young Professional Advisory Board, which was comprised of 20 young professionals from numerous sectors/industries in New York City, including legal, non-profit, financial, government and entertainment. Under their direction, they came together on a monthly basis to find unique ways to support MPNY and to help young people find those caring adult mentors who can help them change their lives for the better. Each YPAB member recognizes the value a mentor played in his/her life and works with MPNY to help pass it on.
Events
The Young Professional Advisory Board’s signature event is the Luke Boisi Memorial Benefit, which is a unique event that celebrates the life of Luke Boisi, who passed away at the age of 21 in May 2003. The benefit occurs every summer and has grown tremendously over the years from 160 guests in 2004 to over 300 guests in 2008. Since its initial voyage, the Luke Boisi Memorial Benefit has increased its fundraising by 400%. The chosen venue always stays within the theme of Luke’s love for the water including the Mystic Cruise boat, Battery Gardens, and the Maritime Hotel.
In addition to the Luke Boisi Memorial Benefit, members of the YPAB volunteers at Mentors’ Day, which takes place in January, which is National Mentoring Month. Members also join hundreds of young professionals at the Back to the Bull Market Party. The Back to the Bull Market Party is the culmination of the year-round effort, the Back to the Bull Market Campaign to Close NYC’s Mentoring Gap, which is an initiative to expand workplace mentoring programs in NYC’s professional services community.
The Luke Boisi Memorial Benefit will be held on June 18th, 2009 at the Maritime Hotel. Tickets will go on sale in April. Please check back for more details.
Committees
• Event Planning – All YPAB members are expected to assist in the planning of the Luke Boisi Memorial Benefit in the summer. The event planning Committee is split into four sub-teams – Marketing, Silent Auction, Sponsorship and Venue Logistics – that work directly with MPNY staff on the logistical planning and implementation for these events. In addition, members have hosted recruitment events during National Mentoring Month in previous years.
• Resource Development – The development committee is responsible for finding new possible funding streams, such as corporate foundations, individuals and special events (where they would work closely with the event planning sub-team). Other funding resources include in-kind donations of space, printing, tickets, etc.
• Mentor Recruitment –The Mentoring Partnership of New York’s other biggest challenge – on behalf of all mentoring programs in New York City – is the recruitment of more mentors. There are approximately 30,000 youth in a formal mentoring relationship in New York City’s mentoring programs, but we estimate that more than 225,000 young people either need or want a mentor. This challenge represents the Mentoring Gap and the Mentor Recruitment sub-team will address this challenge through the following two strategies:
o Retail Recruitment – It takes just one person to make a difference in the life of a young person. MPNY’s goal is to place everyone interested in volunteering as a mentor into the best possible fit with one of our more than 114 Member mentoring programs. This sub-team will work on developing strategies for recruiting more individual mentors amongst family, friends and co-workers.
Information is available to potential volunteers via:
• Hotline: 1-800-83-YOUTH
• MPNY Website: www.mentoring.org/newyork
• Facebook Cause: www.causes.com/mpny
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mentoringny
o Wholesale Recruitment – MPNY also focuses their mentor recruitment strategy on recruiting corporations and organizations to mentor as a group. This sub-team will be responsible for recruiting firms to start internal mentoring programs, strengthen existing programs or recruit groups of interested volunteers.
For more information on how to join the board, please contact Sara Iragorri, Project and Operations Coordinator at siragorri@mentoring.org or 212-953-0945