AT NO COST TO YOU, GET FUNDING FOR Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia WHEN YOU:
Buy a Home / Sell a Home / Lease Commercial Property

Your Real Estate Transaction Can Support Boys To Men Virginia
As a member of Investing In Communities®, Boys To Men Virginia can receive funding as a result of any brokered real estate transaction – home sales, home purchases, or commercial leases. As more supporters use this platform, before engaging a real estate agent, Boys To Men Virginia will have more resources for its mission.
About
Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia (BTMVA) believes each young man has the power within himself to express his feelings. We create a safe, consistent circle of young men and mentors who support each youth’s journey through their day-to-day lives and deeper experiences, helping them find language to define their feelings. We equip participants with goal-setting skills to meet their academic and personal goals through the group mentoring process.
Over the past ten years, BTMVA has supported over 1200 young men through group mentoring circles held in partnership with schools and community partners across the Greater Richmond and Tri-Cities area. We see our work continuing to expand with current school partners and within communities across the region, while offering a virtual circle for young men across the State.
Connection and Mentoring
Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia leverages the group mentoring model to address the emotional needs of each participant. The pandemic caused many of our youth to become disconnected and to experience isolation and loneliness. Now more than ever, our young men need to connect with their peers and mentors. Our mentoring program connects participants with trained male mentors who role model positive behaviors and healthy communication every week, while sharing candidly and honestly about their mistakes. These candid discussions between mentors and boys are often the first time boys see an adult being honest about their past mistakes and hear how they moved from those mistakes and what they learned about themselves. This approach creates a safe place for our boys to express their fears and to share years of trauma, isolation, and pain.
Andrew, a former participant from 2014-2016, reached out in early 2021 saying, “Boys to Men believed in me when I was lost in this world as a young teenager trying to find my place, I just finished recruit training for the Marine Corps, so I guess I figured it out. Thanks for never giving up on me. Without those meetings and friends made I might not be here today.”
History
Boys to Men was initially started 25 years ago in La Mesa, California, by Herb Sigurdson (1927-1997), Joe Sigurdson and Craig McClain. The founders worked diligently to assemble a team of committed men and created a mentoring program that was meant to support the fatherless teenage boys in their community. They created a curriculum that incorporates holistic, intergenerational, and asset-based mentoring practices and encourages community involvement, intensive self-reflection, positive critical thinking habits, and self-accountability.
The curriculum is being replicated in various communities to empower young men around the world (United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) that are autonomously governed and managed. This includes the Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia.
BTMVA was started by Steve Martin. Steve had completed training and weekend outings with the ManKind Project in 2008-09 and started mentoring with the Boys to Men District of Columbia chapter soon after. After a few years of taking boys to the DC chapter and hosting a community circle in Richmond, VA, Steve officially founded the Virginia chapter in 2012.
In the past ten years, BTMVA went from one community circle to annually hosting over twenty-five school based circles, as well as a community circle, virtual circle and twelve-plus mentor specific trainings. What started as one boy and Steve has grown into an organization that has served over 1200 young men.
Programs
Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia engages boys through our group mentoring program, family home visits, tutoring program, our Rite of Passage Adventure Weekend, and our Educational/Experiential activities, such as our Personal Financial Bootcamp and Leadership Camp.
Our group mentoring circles meet boys’ social-emotional needs, while helping male teens to overcome anxiety, depression, fear, stress, and isolation in a safe environment. In ten years of programming, only two participants have been incarcerated while in the program. Additionally, only one boy has failed to earn a high school diploma/GED, according to our current program data.
We engage boys outside our circles through our exciting supplemental Experiential/Educational activities Rite of Passage Adventure Weekends (ROPAW), Leadership Camp and Personal Finance Bootcamp. ROPAW and Leadership Camp offer boys the opportunity to practice empathy, respect, communication, anti-bullying language, and decision-making skills. Participants can connect in a more meaningful way with their peers and mentors in an environment outside their schools or homes. Our young men begin to transform by understanding their behaviors and attitudes, improving their academic performance, and building their self-esteem.
At our Leadership Camp, which runs every two weeks during the summer, our young men improve their self-confidence, practice their new skills, and learn new outdoor skills. By partnering with Beyond Boundaries and RVA Paddlesports, we equip 30-40 boys with leadership skills, river safety, CPR and improve their self-confidence by overcoming physical and mental challenges.
We invite boys who have made progress in setting and meeting their goals to attend our Rite of Passage Adventure Weekend. Participants create stronger bonds with mentors and peers during our transformational weekend camping experience. At ROPAW we challenge our young men to reflect on questions like “Who I am now? Who do I want to be?” and the last day “Choosing the man I will become”. These experiences equip them with hands-on experiences to make decisions, improve creative thinking, leadership, and communication skills.
Mentors engage boys through our Personal Financial Bootcamp, equipping them with basic financial literacy skills. During the eight-week course, participants learn basic financial literacy including credit, banking (savings, checking), stock market basics, basic job search techniques, and goal setting.
Your Purchase, Sale, or Lease Helps Close The Achievement Gap
At no cost to themselves, anyone who cares about helping at-risk young men become successful adults can turn virtually any brokered real estate transaction into funding for Boys To Men Virginia. For example, the purchase or sale of a $300,000 home can result in about $1,350 of free funding. Support their mission by using IIC’s free platform to make arrangements with an agent you already have in mind (as long as you haven’t already signed a brokerage agreement.) Or use IIC to find and choose among real estate agents that are appropriate for the specifics of your residential or commercial real estate needs.
Location: Rockville, VA
Focus Area: Community Development, Education
Budget: Less than $250k