Messiah College Media Mentions

WITF, the local NPR affiliate, highlighted the Harrisburg Institute’s recent release of $200,000 in grant monies to four new mentoring partnerships comprised of 15 Harrisburg agencies. These partnerships will hopefully lead to long-term, sustainable partnerships among city organizations committed to matching youth with adult mentors.

Read “Messiah distributes $200,000K in mentoring grants.”

In an opinion piece in the February 26 Patriot-News, Heather Long, deputy editorial page editor, applauded new Harrisburg mayor Linda Thompson for partnering with the Harrisburg Young Professionals on several city projects and encouraged her to do the same with the successful mentoring intiative of the Harrisburg Institute — the Mentoring Partnership of Central PA.

Read “Mayor reached out to young professionals, can she do it to others?”

On January 21, the Harrisburg Institute’s Mentoring Partnership of Central Pennsylvania will host an event at Strawberry Square in downtown Harrisburg with 20 partner organizations that are eager to sign up adults interested in mentoring youth. The partnership hopes to recruit 500 new mentors.

The Patriot-News featured the partnership in two weekend articles.

Read “Wanted: mentors to guide our youths” from the Jan. 15 edition.
“One generation inspires the next” from the Jan. 17 edition is not available online.

In a December 7 editorial, the Patriot-News recognizes Messiah’s Harrisburg Institute’s “vital” presence in the city of Harrisburg and encourages the city’s new leadership to embrace the programs and partnerships already established by the College and the Institute. The editorial is the result of an editorial board meeting proposed by the Patriot-News with members of the College’s administration.

Read “Community Partner: Harrisburg Institute works to better city.”

On September 17, the Harrisburg Patriot-News featured the Serving and Living Together (SALT) program that allows students to live in downtown Harrisburg at the Harrisburg Institute while still taking their courses in Harrisburg. Student Karisa Martin said about her urban experience, “It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and learn about struggles and injustices. But here you can go out into the community and see them first hand or hear about them first hand. This program is Messiah’s footprint in the city. Hopefully we can bridge that gap.”

“Building a bridge: Messiah program brings people to Harrisburg” is not available online.

Craig Dalen, program manager of the College’s Harrisburg Institute, and Susan Hasseler, dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences and Community Engagement, consider the compelling research that mentoring programs for youth provide important connections to adults that can prevent a child from faltering or hanging out on the street. The two examine the benefits of mentoring in light of a recent rash of homicides in the city of Harrisburg in an August 2 Harrisburg Patriot-News op-ed.

Read “We can curb violence on city streets by providing mentors for our youth.”

In an interview with “Harrisburg” magazine (January issue), Mayor Stephen Reed comments on the city’s emergence as a “college town,” including mentioning Messiah’s recently-relocated Harrisburg Institute on the corner of Dewberry and Blackberry Streets. Messiah joins other midstate schools in making Harrisburg a center for higher education, a new chapter in Harrisburg’s evolution, the mayor said.