With a growing waitlist for Portuguese speakers, a regional youth mentorship organization is increasing accessibility to its program for households that primarily speak Portuguese.
J.R. Mell, regional director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands, said the organization has been working with the Community Ambassadors Partnership (CAP), a local nonprofit with a mission to connect English speakers and multilingual community members, to create a translation service to allow direct communication between mentors and guardians who don’t speak English.
According to Mell, the pilot program will allow mentors to message guardians directly by text, or another platform of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ choosing. Mell said CAP is vetting the process, but also guiding Big Brothers Big Sisters on how to “most appropriately” use the service.
Mell said the plan is to have the details finalized by the end of the month.
“We’ve seen, I’d say over the past 10 years, a significant number of kids being referred to us whose family speaks Portuguese,” Mell said.
The initiative comes in the organization’s 50th year serving the region’s youth, with the Vineyard program tracing its founding to Howard Leonard and David Finkelstein. The program is designed with a volunteer mentor, called a “big,” being matched with a young mentee called a “little” so they can take outings in the community with a guardian’s permission. Currently, there are around 36 pairs on the Island.
Mell said inquiries from Vineyard schools asking whether there were any Portuguese-speaking bigs increased roughly three years ago. While the students referred to the program were bilingual, many of their parents didn’t speak English.
“From our conversations with different community leaders in the [Portuguese-speaking] community, there was a need for mentoring for the kids, but we were unclear of how many potential volunteers we could recruit from the Portuguese-speaking demographic,” Mell said.
On the Vineyard, Portuguese is primarily spoken by Brazilian people, and it’s not a fringe population. It is estimated that around 20 percent of the Island’s population is Brazilian, contributed to by a wave of immigration sparked by Lyndon Johnson Pereira — the first known Brazilian immigrant to work on the Island — in 1987.
The language barrier pushed Big Brothers Big Sisters to “innovate,” Mell said, and launch the joint effort with the local nonprofit.
Leah Palmer, co-founder of CAP, and the English language learner director for Martha’s Vineyard Schools, said it was essential for the program to “address cultural and linguistic differences.”
“The concept of mentorship is deeply rooted in American culture, so helping parents from different cultural backgrounds understand what a mentor is and how they can support their child is essential,” Palmer said in an email. “Additionally, recruiting mentors (‘bigs’) from multicultural backgrounds will require a nuanced cultural understanding to ensure the program resonates with and meets the needs of these families.”
Having a “trusting and supportive adult mentor” can have a positive impact on a child that can last a lifetime, Palmer said.
“Arguably, it is even more helpful for families learning to navigate a new culture,” she said.
There are 10 Portuguese-speaking students waiting to be enrolled in the program once the translation pilot launches. By contrast, there is currently a waitlist of around four boys from the regular pool of applicants. The next step would be to match the children with on-Island mentors, and Mell said it was fortunate the Vineyard has many “pre-approved” volunteers who may be available.
It’s not the first time the two organizations have worked together. Palmer said the Partnership provides interpretation services between Big Brothers Big Sisters and families alongside “language access assistance for outreach efforts.”
“My hope is that CAP will help bridge the communication gap with multilingual families, enabling them to better understand the program while also supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters in getting to know and understand these families,” Palmer said. “This mutual understanding will foster trust and strengthen relationships between the families and the organization.”
Still, there are also other language access efforts at work. Palmer said the Partnership runs its own mentorship program for high school juniors and seniors in preparing for college and career planning. Additionally, the nonprofit also offers interpreting courses for high schoolers and medical services.
“These efforts not only enhance accessibility but also empower local youth and build a stronger, more inclusive community,” Palmer said.
