June 26, 2012 — Mass Mentoring Partnership, a Boston-based nonprofit that serves more than 170 mentoring organizations across Massachusetts, announced that it raised $210,000 in connection with the recent celebration of its twentieth anniversary.

Approximately 350, including community leaders, staff, and business people attended the annual Champions of Mentoring Breakfast, which introduced Marty Martinez, the new president and CEO of Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP) to the larger community.

In addition to funds generated through the event, MMP is seeking to raise funds through its 20 Challenges in 2012 campaign. The combined amount raised through the event, auction, and 20 Challenges effort will support expanding quality youth mentoring and building a stronger youth mentoring movement across Massachusetts.

MMP said it will issue 20 challenges throughout the year and aimed at addressing key goals to:

• Increase the number of adult mentors who enter into quality mentoring relationships.
• Help mentoring programs employ effective practices to sustain themselves, create high-quality matches, and achieve positive outcomes for youth.
• Diversify and increase financial and in-kind resources to support mentoring.
• Position mentoring as a powerful youth development strategy.
• Generate research and knowledge to help advance the field of youth mentoring.

The breakfast event honored Nancy Altobello from Ernst & Young, a former MMP board member, and Bank of America as Champions of Mentoring.

The event was presented by State Street, and lead sponsors included Citi, Bank of America, First Niagara, Goodwin Procter, Hill Holliday, and Raytheon Corporation. Notable pro-bono support was provided by CTP, a marketing agency that designed the event collateral.

The breakfast coincided with the annual Mentoring Night at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox and Mass Mentoring hosted more than 1,000 mentors, mentees, and friends of mentoring from across Massachusetts at the game against the Baltimore Orioles.