"A Unique Mentoring Model for Youth in Foster Care"

Rick Newell - Executive Director

Hope Herd
Rick Newell and his wife, Rebecca, started, built up and handed off the very successful mentoring program called M.U.S.T. (mentoringisamust.org) that focuses on the most underserved black males in Seattle Public Schools. Now the Newell's are using what they have learned to start a new mentoring program for youth in foster care.

About the Speaker

Rick Newell had a good career in technology working at companies like Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Cingular. Rick, however, felt he wanted to try something different. Instead, he went to work at the Rotary Boys & Girls Club in the Central District of Seattle. Newell applied the same work ethic he gave in the corporate world to the kids at the club. The result was the youth he mentored won 9 national awards from a pool of 2 million kids over a 7-year period. From his years at the Boys & Girls Club Newell came to firmly believe that the need of the hour in the urban core is positive male role models. This belief caused Rick and his wife to start, build and hand off the very successful mentoring program called M.U.S.T. (Mentoring Urban Students and Teens). Rick and his wife are now turning their attention to the world of foster care through their new organization called Hope Herd. Using the same basic model as M.U.S.T., they plan to pay and support young adults who grew up in foster care to mentor youth currently in foster care. Rick is happily married to his wife, Rebecca, and loves being a dad to his four boys.