Thrive’s Child Advancement Project

Seeking Adult Volunteers

Since 1986, Thrive has been supporting families in the Gallatin Valley. With two of its four main programs focused on schools, Thrive is intensifying its efforts to raise awareness and recruit volunteer mentors for the benefit of schoolchildren in our community.

One of their prominent initiatives, the Child Advancement Project (CAP), matches adult volunteers from the community with children enrolled in Bozeman and Big Sky Public Schools. This fall, the program will be launched in the Belgrade school district, starting at Saddle Peak Elementary School. Dedicated mentors work individually with students from pre-k to 12th grade, offering support, encouragement and helping kids recognize and nurture their unique strengths to shape their own futures.

To meet the increasing demand from students, Thrive is channeling extra energy and resources into growing the CAP program. Prior to the pandemic, more than 600 students were regularly meeting with their mentors across Bozeman and Big Sky, but by the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the program had approximately 420 matches. Thrive aims to achieve an ambitious, yet attainable, goal of reaching 750 active matches by the end of the 2023-2024 school year.

As an organization committed to evidencebased practices and data-driven approaches, Thrive was delighted to see the recent CDC report reaffirming the effectiveness of the flagship CAP program. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, covering the period from 2011 to 2021, included insightful arguments in support of Thrive’s school-based programming. For the first time, the study examined “social determinants of health and factors that are protective for students.” One section highlighted three actions to support schools through partnerships, and Thrive’s programs encompass two of them. The first action, “increasing school connectedness,” aligns with the CAP school-based mentoring program. In 2012, Thrive’s CAP Mentor program was added to the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices—only the third mentor program at the time to receive this level of recognition.

Thrive currently has a waiting list of more than 300 students in Bozeman alone. These students have either been referred to the program by teachers or community partners, or have personally expressed their desire for a mentor. However, there is a shortage of local adults available to be matched with them. The children and teenagers in our community need your help to achieve our goal of serving at least 10% of the district by 2024. The good news is the CAP program requires minimal time commitment and achieves maximum impact. Volunteer mentors need only commit ONE HOUR per week during the school day, and only for the duration of the school year. Matches might play board games, shoot baskets, walk and talk around the school campus or work on homework together.

If you are interested in learning more about the CAP program, how to support students in the Valley and WHY support for students in the Valley is needed, please reach out by emailing Thrive@allthrive.org today. Connect with us, ask questions and discover how you can make a difference.