Nonprofit features often focus on executive leadership. Conversations with Executive Directors are illuminating and important, providing a sense of organizational vision and leadership; it’s why we were delighted to interview Colby Swettberg, CEO of Silver Lining Mentoring. But program staff are uniquely positioned to speak to the essence of the work day to day, which is why we were delighted to chat with Evan Hubbard, Program Supervisor at Silver Lining Mentoring. Evan has been at Silver Lining since 2012, fulfilling his passion for working with youth in foster care, in particular the LGBTQ population. He shared his perspective on what makes Silver Lining’s approach unique, what makes for a great mentor, and how the organization got its name.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Every day is really different. As may be true for other jobs – particularly nonprofit jobs –  every day here is so unique; they really vary. That’s why adaptability and flexibility are traits we really look for in our program coordinators; we need people who can keep up with the fast pace of what’s going on at the organization. I spend a lot of time supporting mentors: seeing how they’re doing, providing resources, and really just cheerleading them on. Depending on what’s going on with them and their mentee, we also provide clinical insights around different behaviors, or just more context into what youth may be experiencing as part of the foster care system. I also reach out to mentees to form our own unique bonds. They’re not just getting a mentor; they’re getting a whole team of adults who care about them and are committed to their success.

I also spend a lot of time screening and training mentors – the whole process takes about twelve hours total, which seems like a long time, but we really want to ensure that we’re getting folks who are fully on board and have the resources they need to be successful in the relationship. We want them to feel like they have the knowledge and the relationship with us at Silver Lining to reach out when they’re not sure how to respond to something or are looking for guidance with their mentee or their own self-care. Building relationships with other providers and program development are also major responsibilities for me – I’m always looking at ways we can adapt our programs to better serve our young people. There’s a need for this service and no one else is doing it. As the Program Supervisor for our Community Based Mentoring Program, I also spend a large chunk of my time providing supervision for our Program Coordinators, and managing the day to day functions and health of the program. I’ll top off the list with data entry, community engagement speaking opportunities, etc.

In addition to comprehensive training, what makes for a great mentor?

We’re looking for people share our values. We want to make sure that our mentors are long-term match links – people who are dedicated to being in a young person’s life over time. We’re looking for folks who are going to be here (geographically) for a couple of years at least, and who are patient, eager to learn, self-aware, and above all: people who are committed. Ultimately, we’re looking for people who can be a history keeper for our young people – someone who can say, “Hey, remember when you were twelve and totally obsessed with this thing?” And, “Remember when you were having a hard time with this thing? Look at how far you’ve come!” That requires being present and engaged in someone’s life over a long period of time.

What a great phrase: history keepers. Why do history keepers matter for young people?

I think it’s something we all want; we all want people who can provide us with a sense of belonging around who we are, and where we’ve been.  Our lives are mapped by who we connect with in our life, where we go and who is important to us along the way. This is especially important for people in transformative years of development; for them, it’s critical to be connected to people who can bear witness, provide care and affection – someone who is with you throughout every part of your life. Having people like that creates this sense of “I’m worthy of care, love and affection – not just through this relationship, but as a fact.” For our young people, their mentor can be the one consistent tie to their sense of self when they are losing everything they know, moving multiple times per year, and often feeling incredibly alienated.

Did you have a mentor growing up?

I was a big band dork growing up – instead of sports, band was the big thing you did in my town. From the first time we had a band in our school system, which was 4th grade, a conductor who worked with high school students was coming to our concerts, saying “I want to see you in four years.” He would come to all of our concerts, even though he wasn’t the conductor, to say “I want to see you here – I want to see you on my stage.” I remember him saying that to me many times; it wasn’t because I was the best, but because he wanted to grow my potential; he wanted me to stay involved. In high school, he became a big part of my life. We were on the road often performing, and he knew a lot of what was going on for me. He knew when I was struggling in classes, he knew my family; he was someone that I knew I could talk to. There were definitely times I thought I was done, over high school, etc. and he said, “You can give up now, but I’m not going to give up on you.” That was incredibly powerful for me as a young person – to have that grounding and unconditional support; someone who saw my potential and held onto that even when I couldn’t see itAnd it wasn’t just me – he was a huge presence in our town; he would go to graduations and community events because he cared.

A lot of times our mentors here fill that role, which is incredible. They’re the ones that are showing up for young people. They’re the person who is going to softball games, competitions, shows, etc. One of our mentors told me about a transformative moment she experienced, actually, at her mentee’s softball game, where she realized, “If I wasn’t here, she’d have no one. I’m her “person”.” Her mentee leapt off the field and gave her a huge hug – saying she couldn’t believe her mentor had come. And her mentor’s thinking, of course I would come. Of course I would be here. When you think about that person who is there during major moments, like moving to a new residence, graduation, and in general navigating new experiences – our mentors are often filling that role for our young people- and that’s incredibly special.

How have young people shaped the program?

It’s really important to Silver Lining that we are a youth-focused organization, which means we don’t do anything “for” youth without their involvement. Everything is shaped by their insight and input. I think that’s really embodied in how we approached our name change a few years ago. We were founded under the name Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring. We heard from our mentees that they were really proud to be part of our family, and especially proud to introduce their mentors to other people out in the world. But some young people were saying, “Every time someone asks where my mentor is from, I have to talk about adoption and foster care.” Some people were fine sharing that part of their life experience in a really open way, but others just didn’t want to have to have that be the context of introducing their mentor. As an organization, we brought our young people into that process and decided we were going to rename ourselves. We said “We’re in our adolescence now” and need to respond to these emerging concerns. We polled our youth on what we meant to them, what our name should be reflective of, etc. During one of our brainstorming exercises, one of our mentees came up to us and asked for silver glitter. Someone offered the mentee gold, and they were adamant about wanting silver. They were drawing a rainbow, and outlined it in that silver glitter.The mentee said, “The world of foster care in my life is pretty dark. But my mentor and AFC – you’re my silver lining. My mentor makes life better. You give me hope for my future.” And we saw all of the youth in the room nodding their heads. We all just kind of looked around the table and went, “Yup, that’s it.”

In addition to our name, our Learn and Earn program came from seeing our young people getting ready to age out of care and trying to provide new resources for them. We’ve really crafted our policies around program that based on their feedback.

What’s on the horizon that you’re really excited about?

One of the things I’m the most excited about is to serve more and more young people. We’re going to be able to serve more young folks, which means we’re going to be able to innovate more. We know that there are many young people in the Boston region that could use services like Learn and Earn, and we are growing and developing to be able to meet the extensive need. I’m excited about us being bigger thought leaders and talking to other providers about our work and our models. We’re able to provide that sense of permanency, sense of belonging, what many young people in the foster care system lack.
There are amazing mentoring organizations, but the role Silver Lining plays is so unique. We’re targeting the foster care population in most need of support – these are folks who deserve community and need that, as we all do. We had a mentee who came in just last night and said, “I’ve got a biological family, but I don’t have a lot of connections to them. But I have a second family through Silver Lining.” We build that sense of connection through so many venues and programs, and I’m excited to bring something so fundamentally important – sense of belonging – to more young people in the Boston area.

Colby Swettberg

Silver Lining Mentoring empowers youth in foster care to flourish through committed mentoring relationships and the development of essential life skills. We talked to their Executive Director, Colby Swettberg, about what drew her to youth in foster care, what makes Silver Lining Mentoring unique, and what’s in store for the organization next.

Q. You’ve been involved with causes supporting youth, in particular LGBTQ teens, and also have a background in education. What drew you to working with youth, and to make the transition from education to the social service/advocacy field?

A. I started my career as a high school English teacher, actually! In fact, when I graduated from high school the faculty named me “Most Likely to be an English Teacher,” and I thought “ that’s funny, but no way!” It turns out they were right: I taught at a public school outside of Philadelphia after graduating college. Interestingly, though, I found what I enjoyed most about my job was the time I got to spend with students before and after school when they would come and talk with me about their lives. As much as I loved teaching students how to hone their writing skills and about literature, what kept me up at night was the discussions that I would have with kids when they would share what was going on in their lives outside of the classroom.

The stories were multifold: it was a young person disclosing that he had been homeless and sleeping on a park bench for weeks; it was an exchange student who shared that she was living with a host family where there was severe substance abuse and she didn’t feel safe. All of it really stuck with me. I ended up going to graduate school in Boston for education, although I already had a sense I probably wasn’t going to return to the classroom. I ended up co-creating a film in grad school that got traction both nationally and locally.  I was traveling and doing screenings in academic settings and human service agencies, including a big social service agency here in Boston. After a film screening, they offered me a job starting up a new group home for LGBTQ foster youth. It was an incredible honor to be part of the inaugural team and to develop a program from scratch – not to mention that it was the first co-ed LGBTQ group home in the country.

As a member of the LGBTQ community myself, it was really meaningful for me to be able to forge relationships with youth and offer them a safe space. I had always loved working with young people, particularly vulnerable populations, and through this work I learned about the foster care system. I ended up going back to school for a masters degree in social work. I just loved this population and knew that working in child welfare was going to be part of my life’s work.

Q. What’s the best part of your job?

A. The best part of my job is seeing young people define and achieve success for themselves – in both little and big moments. It might be hearing from a young person that they’ve landed their first job or that they’re moving into their first apartment. It might be hearing our youth talk about the trust they developed when they realized their mentor was going to keep showing up no matter what – and witnessing what happens when they know there’s someone in their corner. It might be going through program evaluations and seeing young people write that they want to stay connected to their mentor and our organization forever – that they consider Silver Lining to be their family.  There are so many awesome parts of my job – I’m really lucky!

Q. What are you most excited about for Silver Lining Mentoring over the next five years?

I’m excited to serve more young people. We have a three year business plan with ambitious growth goals and I’m eager to follow the path we’ve mapped out to get there. We endeavor to serve the majority of young people in foster care in greater Boston who are most in need of mentors. We’re developing and iterating on our programs all the time, constantly looking for ways to improve, evolve, and partner. In particular, I’m really excited to grow our housing support program. Housing is a major issue when young people age out of foster care, because after they turn 18 and age out they simply don’t have places to live.  Without support youth who age out of foster care frequently become homeless. We developed a partnership with a local housing organization called Caritas Communities that is opening its doors to our young people.  We have some generous donors who have invested in this program and we’re excited to see it grow.

Q. Why is mentoring so important?

Youth in foster care have many needs. In a lot of ways, their needs are no different from those of any other young person. What they need more than anything is a consistent connection to a caring adult. For youth who aren’t in the foster care system, those connections to adults often come from families, communities, and schools. Youth in foster care aren’t finding consistent relationships in those settings because they’re being moved so frequently. Youth need someone in their corner who is going to keep showing up when the going gets rough, when a young person needs cheering on, to be there for them when they’re going through major milestones. Many times, our mentors are the only adult showing up for that kid’s soccer game or debate tournament or cheering for them at their high school graduation. Our youth frequently don’t have anyone to spend holidays with and may end up celebrating holidays with their mentor. In some cases at Silver Lining it is a mentor who ends up taking our youth to college and helping them settle into their freshman dorm.  

In order to make those relationships possible and truly meaningful for both mentees and mentors, we do a huge amount of work on our end to recruit, screen and train mentors. Once a mentor has been screened and selected, we spend a lot of time providing individualized support. We want them to feel and know that we are shoulder to shoulder with them in the work of supporting youth. We think of our mentorships as a triangle: the young person is at the top, the mentor is the second corner and our staff is is the third, supporting both the mentee and the mentor. Our mentors don’t have to come into the program as youth development experts, but we expect our mentors to be youth centered, self-reflective, open to learning, and deeply committed.

Q. Silver Lining Mentoring works in partnership with other community organizations. How has this allowed you to do your work more effectively?

A. We are very grateful for our partnerships and wouldn’t be able to do our work in as comprehensive a way without them. An important part of partnership is knowing what you bring to the table and when to rely on the practice wisdom and resources from other organizations. We have terrific partners in a variety of settings – whether it’s help with mental health service referrals, housing, financial aid applications to college or employment – we rely on strong collaborators that share our values and seek to empower young people realize the success that they’ve defined for themselves.

The SheGives community shows up. Our non-profits are on the frontline with those at risk and marginalized: Foster children. Homeless children. LGBT+ community. Women. Families affected by domestic violence. Immigrants. We march for all. #shegives#shemarches