the 2nd annual

VANGUARD

awards

SPONSORED by

KRISTINA MARSHALL

Kristina Marshall is President and CEO of Winning Futures. In a time when charitable contributions are down and companies are not as flexible to allow staff to volunteer as mentors during the day, Winning Futures continues to thrive by serving teens throughout Metro Detroit.

Since 1998, Ms. Marshall has been advancing Winning Futures to be a top-rate school-based mentoring program based upon an award-winning life skills and goal-setting curriculum. In her eleven years with Winning Futures, she has raised $3,000,000, impacted over 18,000 youth, and personally mentored 42 teens. Ms. Marshall has made the organization her life's mission. She speaks nationally about mentoring and impacting at-risk youth. Over 90% of students who participate in Winning Futures continue their education past high school and 84% improve their grades while in the program. As the first student in the program in 1994 in Warren, she has taken an innovative approach to creating a sustainable, strong nonprofit by developing a business structure to ensure success. She has streamlined a mentoring curriculum into two copy-written workbooks (which she co-authored) and two training manuals that other nonprofits, schools, and parents can utilize to assist youth in character value development, goal-setting, and strategic planning. She has piloted this method locally and it has been extremely successful.

The program has grown from just serving youth in Warren to impacting children in Sterling Heights, Troy, Oak Park, Harper Woods, Detroit, Pontiac, Howell, and Kalamazoo. The Winning Futures mentoring curriculum has also been implemented into agencies and schools in 16 other states. In 2003, Ms. Marshall created and founded a professional network called The Metro Detroit Mentor Collaboration (MDMC) which is designed to enhance the state of mentoring in Southeast Michigan through collaborative efforts in mentor recruitment, fundraising, and program training. Through her leadership, individuals from other mentoring agencies have been able to grow their program to new heights, empowering them to increase their mentor numbers and fundraising capabilities to benefit the youth they service. Her personal vision is to enhance mentoring in the state of Michigan and create a support system for mentoring organizations.

Ms. Marshall is a leader who sets high standards and has tremendous goals. Most importantly, she knows the importance of community and how to develop partnerships and is dedicated to changing Metro Detroit one child and one mentor at a time.

Detroit Young Professionals (DYP) is bringing together movers and shakers from across Southeast Michigan to honor 10 remarkable innovators and changemakers at our 2nd Annual Vanguard Awards. This event was established to recognize and celebrate outstanding Detroiters who have distinguished themselves through professional leadership and service to our community.

Hosted by Local 4 News Anchor Rhonda Walker, the 2nd Annual Vanguard Awards will take place on Thursday, March 25, 2010 at Amnesia, perched high above downtown Detroit on the 16th floor of MotorCity Casino Hotel. Attendees will enjoy a special networking reception, awards presentation and after party with a complimentary hors d'oeuvres and music by DJ SloPoke.

Tickets for the 2nd Annual Vanguard Awards are only $25 and can be purchased online at http://www.detroityoungprofessionals.org/vanguards. For more information, please email vanguards@detroityoungprofessionals.org.