Mentoring At-Risk Youth to Help Break the Poverty Cycle

“The value of mentoring goes well beyond the life of the mentee,” says Lowell Mazie, founder of the John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation (JAMMF). “The real beauty of mentoring is that its effects live on for generations, through the person who was mentored to his or her children and grandchildren and beyond. Mentors don’t just change one life, but they potentially impact thousands of other people who come in contact with that child for the rest of his or her life”

Sixteen years ago, Lowell Mazie and his family, of Wayland, founded JAMMF, a nonprofit, publicly funded organization, which operates the Mazie Mentoring Program, and is dedicated to enabling at-risk, disadvantaged youth into adults of promise. With a background in mechanical engineering and nearly 30 years experience in management consulting, Mazie created a unique goal-oriented scholarship award giving program that has since positively impacted more than 600 Massachusetts-based high school students as well as changed the lives of the adult volunteer mentors who support them.

An immigrant teen who struggles with English as a second or third language, a first generation American who juggles household chores and caring for siblings with part-time jobs and schoolwork, a student who requires extra help whose motivation to sit in a classroom declines with each D received – this is just a sample of the types of students whom the Mazie Mentoring Program serves. Mazie mentees are at-risk of not graduating from high school. They are in danger of not realizing their full potential in life.

Founded to honor the legacy of the Mazie family’s late son and brother, John Andrew Mazie, who was killed by a drunken driver at the age of 26, the Mazie Mentoring Program pairs high school sophomores who may lack parental guidance, financial resources or emotional support at home, with adult volunteer mentors who can help them thrive. John’s passion and belief in children who experience obstacles beyond their control were the inspiration behind the program’s model.

“My wife and I always knew that John was a great kid, but it wasn’t until his passing that we discovered just how strong his influence was amongst his friends and within his community,” says Mazie. “He worked with children of low socio-economic backgrounds during and after graduating college. He also helped to renovate dilapidated schools in the slums of Boston and New York City. He had this uncanny ability to lead individuals to come to their own conclusions as to how to identify and face their problems. The letters and outpouring of support we received following John’s accident are what drove us to create the Foundation and allocate all resources to helping at-risk children.”

Mazie mentors work with the students for five semesters to improve their academic standing, build confidence, apply to college, graduate from high school and experience earned success, all while fostering trusting relationships.

“The Mazie Mentoring Program and other similar programs are crucial to society in terms of the ripple effect their success can have in the future,” says Mazie, who continues to serve as the Foundation’s executive director and sits on the Advisory Board of the Mass Mentoring Partnership.”

Each year, the Mazie Mentoring Program accepts 60 Framingham and Waltham High School students. More than 90 percent of those in the program graduate from high school and over 75 percent go on to college or other post-secondary training programs. Seventy-five percent of JAMMF’s mentee population is of Hispanic, Portuguese-speaking, Brazilian, Haitian, or African-American heritages. Sixty-seven percent qualify for free or reduced-fee lunches. Certain of the program’s ability to positively change lives, JAMMF’s goal is to replicate and expand this program in other communities. The organization is publicly funded through events, grants, corporate support and individual donations.

January is National Mentoring Month. For more information, to donate or to become a mentor, visit www.mazie.org or contact Lowell Mazie, Executive Director, at lmazie@mazie.org.