TVP (thevalproj.org) is beginning its fourth year of operation.  It was created to break down barriers to equity and close the education-to-employment gap for high-achieving students from urban schools. TVP recruits and train mentors who see the importance of helping such students, who in most cases are first-generation college attendees, and are immigrants or the children of immigrants.  They lack the networks of privilege so many high achievers are fortunate to inherit at birth; TVP tries to fill the void.  I am starting my third year as a mentor.  My mentee immigrated from the Dominican Republic at age 12.  She spoke no English.  Six years later, she graduated as valedictorian from Boston English High School.  She lives with her mother and grandmother in Dorchester. She is entering her junior year at UMass Boston, the first in her family to attend college.  My mentoring has been by Zoom for the past two years, usually bi-weekly, and we have enjoyed visits to the MFA and Huntington Theater. Both were firsts for her.   Stephen Rosenfeld