On Saturday, September 13th, PYD hosted our first Career Mentor Brunch, in collaboration with Massachusetts Rehab Commission (MRC) with a mentor-for-a-day model.
The event took place at the Institute for Human Centered Design and was catered by Mucho Gusto, the catering company of Oz Mondejar and John Verlinden. There were a total of 37 attendees including MRC staff, mentees, and career mentors.
The goals were to provide mentees with transition support and to increase awareness about mentoring within the MRC and community to encourage more volunteer referrals of mentors who have disabilities.
The morning portion featured networking and presentations from guest speakers, including Ray Grand (PYD board member and President of Ray Grand Apparel) and Emeka Nwokeji (Director of Consumer Involvement at MRC). There was also a viewing of the recent documentary, Moving Mentoring Forward.
Mentees participated in resume building and interviewing workshops led by YEP Specialist Aileen Quintero with a “mentor- for- a-day” model in which mentees were paired with mentors from a variety of careers (e.g. graphic design, law, special education and legislature) to get one-on-one support with resume editing and mock interviewing.
It was a fun and informative day— thanks to all the mentors, mentees, and MRC staff who participated.
