Entries for January 2023

Chris Gastright (mentor) and Christian Gates (3rd grader) are Lunch Buddies at John G. Carlisle Elementary School. Chris looks forward to his weekly sessions with Christian where he tries to be a consistent, positive influence in his life. He says that “the opportunity to mentor is one of the best things” he gets to do. They have been matched for four months and happily accepted the #IceBreakerChallenge.  Q: You have your own late night talk show. Who do you invite as your first guest? Christian: My...

Covington Partners Mentoring Program staff attended the 13th annual National Mentoring Summit, the mentoring movement's biggest event of the year, last week in Washington, D.C. Convened by MENTOR, the summit is an opportunity for mentoring practitioners, researchers, philanthropic investors, youth leaders, government and civic leaders, and affiliates from across the country to unite under the shared goal of driving positive change for young people. Attendees of the Bridging Opportunities through Mentoring Summit lea...

This month, the CP Board of Directors and staff came together for an all-day retreat focusing on the past, present, and future of Covington Partners. Board members and staff heard from Dr. Janice Wilkerson, founder of Covington Partners. Wilkerson expressed how impressed she is with the work of the organization since its inception in 1999. While she never dreamed Covington Partners would play such a large role in the support of students and families in Covington over 20 years after the first coalition meeting, her dre...

Covington Partners has two new board members—one with many years advocating for children’s health, education and development and the other with deep family roots in education. Rosanne Nields, who is vice president of government relations and planning for St. Elizabeth Healthcare, has served on various boards that address early childhood health, education and development over her 35-year tenure at the hospital organization. The involvement has helped her understand the importance of organizations like Coving...

Through art projects, quilts and oral histories, Covington students and residents are uncovering and preserving the African American experience in the city. Recently, students in the afterschool program at Glenn O. Swing Elementary School used what they learned to create their own comic shorts to highlight everyday heroes.  "They learned about different heroes (fictional and non-fictional), created their own superhero and a mini comic strip of them overcoming an obstacle,” said Jameela Salaah, program manag...