FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington has received a $5,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Western Mountains Fund to support its award-winning mentoring program for young girls in the Phillips and Kingfield Elementary schools.

UMF’s nationally-recognized program, “Girls Talk/Teen Voices,” pairs girls in grades five to eight in Phillips and Kingfield with female mentors who are UMF students or community professionals. The mentoring relationships provide role models for the girls and develop into friendships that support the positive development of the girls’ aspirations and self-esteem.

Kirsten Swan, UMF assistant director of student development and co-founder for the Girls Talk/Teen Voices program, said, “We are so pleased to receive both the support and the recognition from the Maine Community Foundation.”

“Although we have known for some time that we are doing something very valuable, it is nice to receive this recognition by one of our state’s major donors,” said Swan. “Their contribution will help us continue to increase the outreach for this program by offering information and training to other communities that are interested in replicating our efforts.”

The program is designed to expand the girls’ exposure to cultural experiences and issues that will help them develop as future leaders and become active and long-term participants in service to their communities.

The collaborative program is literature-based. Each month the girls and their mentors read a book and gather to discuss the issues, personal and societal, that are raised by the stories. The program also introduces the girls to career options and global issues through guest speakers.

The girls also adopt community service projects, which have included activities such as a book drive of the Pediatrics Unit of Franklin Memorial Hospital and service at the Sugarloaf Special Olympics. The girls have traveled with their mentors as a group to major cultural events.

The program began in Kingfield in 2000 and expanded to Phillips in 2002. Today the program involves more that 140 participants, including mentors.

In 2002 the program received national recognition, selected by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators as one of 10 programs nationwide to receive its Exemplary Program Award. Leaders from other communities throughout Maine, the U.S. and Canada have expressed interest in adapting the model for use in their schools.