to address the increasing drug abuse, violence and criminal activity in Rutland County, VT. With disjointed funding and scattered youth programs, the Rutland community rallied together to find funding for a handful of struggling mentoring organizations. The outcome was a central organization to champion mentoring and combine the programs to offer community-mentoring services across the entire county. Throughout it’s existence, the Mentor Connector has mentored over 1,000 youth, collaborated with hundreds of local businesses and organizations to support mentoring and has assisted 25 community organizations and schools to establish mentoring programs.