Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series

I Choose You: A Look at

Youth Initiated

Mentoring

April 25, 2013

2013 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar SeriesPlanning Team

Sarah Kremer, Friends for Youth

Michael Garringer, Education Northwest

Dana Gold, MP of SWPA

Polly Roach, MP of Minnesota

Tammy Tai,MENTOR

Molly Brenner,MENTOR

Meghan Ferns, Oregon Mentors

Good to Know…

After the webinar, all attendees receive:

Instructions for how to access PDF of presentation slides and webinar recording

Link to the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring where we: • Post resources• Keep the conversation going

Please help us out by

answering survey

questions at the end of the webinar.

Participate in Today’s Webinar

• All attendees muted for best sound

• Type questions and comments in the question box

• Respond to polls• Who is with us today?

Today’s Webinar

On the topic of Youth Initiated Mentoring

• Jean Rhodes, Ph.D.

• Sarah Schwartz (nearly) Ph.D.

Q & A throughout the presentation (use the Q

& A panel)

Jean Rhodes, PhDDr. Jean Rhodes is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston where she serves as Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring. Rhodes has devoted her career to understanding the role of intergenerational relationships in the lives of disadvantaged youth. She is currently involved in a range of research projects that address the role of both formal and informal mentors in vulnerable groups, including children of prisoners, community college students, high school dropouts, adjudicated youth, and low-income children in after-school settings.

Dr. Rhodes is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research and Community Action, and was a Distinguished Fellow of the William T. Grant Foundation. Rhodes is Chair of the Research and Policy Council of the National Mentoring Partnership. She is author of Stand by me: The risks and rewards of mentoring today's youth (Harvard University Press), and is currently working on a book about moral and ethical decision making in adult-youth relationships (Harvard University Press).

Sarah Schwartz

Sarah Schwartz is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at University of Massachusetts-Boston. She has published studies investigating factors that influence the impact of school-based mentoring, including the relationship histories of students and the duration of mentoring relationships. She completed her dissertation on the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, in which youth select an adult they know to serve as a mentor during and after participation in a residential training program.

What is Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM)?

An approach to mentoring where a youth nominates a nonparental adult from their existing social networks to be their formal mentor.Examples of potential mentors include; family friends, extended family, neighbors, teachers, coaches, afterschool providers, members of religious organizations etc.

Theoretical Basis for YIM

Incorporating youth voice and choice in the selection of mentors may increase the young person’s internal motivation and investment in the relationship.

Offsets some of the challenges associated with volunteer recruitment and the shortage of volunteer mentors.

Builds on strengths of natural mentoring while also providing structure to support the relationship development process.

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe ProgramIntensive intervention

program targeting youth ages 16-18 who dropped out of high school

Embraced YIM model in early 1990s

Currently operates in 29 states

2nd largest mentoring program in the United States

Program: Residential Phase (5 months) Highly

structured programming includes GED, life skills, job skills, health, and leadership classes and activities

Frequently takes place on a military base; quasi-military model (no military requirement)

Post-Residential Phase (12 months)

Transition back into communities

Supported by a mentor (YIM model)

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program

Program Results

9 months following entry into study remarkable success:• Large effects for educational, vocational,

behavioral, and health outcomes (Bloom, Gardenhire-Crooks, & Mandsager, 2009)

38 months following entry into study: • Significant effects remained for some

outcomes, not all: Significant educational and vocational effects; no effects for behavioral and health outcomes (Millenky, Schwartz, & Rhodes, in press).

Mentors in ChalleNGe

Mentor Demographics

• Average age: 46.7 years old

• 83% same race or ethnicity as their mentee

• 26% living in same zip code as mentee

• 93% working full time; 4% retired; 3% unemployed; 1% working part time

Mentor Selection

• 55% youth chose “mostly on their own”

• 37% parents helped choose

• 5% ChalleNGe staff helped choose

• 4% were chosen “some other way”(e.g. mentor asked youth)

YIM Relationships in ChalleNGe

• At 9 month follow-up: 76% participants reported contact with mentors – 34% weekly in-person contact – 47% weekly contact of any type

(e.g. in-person, phone, written)

• At 21 month follow up: 74% participants reported contact with mentors– 27% weekly contact of any

type

• At 38 month follow up: 56% participants reported contact with mentors

Outcomes & Benefits • YIM relationships tend to be

enduring (relative to traditional formal mentoring)

• Mentors chosen by youth and of the same race or ethnicity as mentees were most enduring

• Enduring relationships are associated with improved academic, vocational, and behavioral outcomes

• Mentors provided social-emotional support, guidance, and instrumental support

In the context of the ChalleNGe Program . . .

YIM also may provide unique benefits:

• Instrumental support • More prescriptive advice-giving • Greater cultural similarity • Acquisition of “help-recruiting”

competencies (Balcazar, 1991) • Builds upon and develops internal

social capital in communities

Outcomes & Benefits

Challenges of YIM

Screening (youth safety) Training youth to make the

ask Youth can’t identify anyone Rejection Early termination Managing Expectations

(consistent contact) Mentor Availability Limited training opportunities

for mentors

Elements of YIM

o National Guard Youth ChalleNGe

o YouthBuild USA

o Alternatives to generic programming: i.e. recruitment, speed matching, closure/ transition planning, etc.

Considerations & Suggestions

Allow adolescent youth greater autonomy in selecting their mentors (e.g. mixers)

Teach youth “help recruiting” skills (how to tell their story, and how to ask for support)

Use YIM to transition youth from formal mentoring services.

Additional Resources • Ready For Mentoring: A Guide for YouthBuild Students

– Tips for how to approach potential mentors. http://youthbuildmentoringalliance.org/webfm_send/129

• National Guard Youth ChalleNGe http://www.ngycp.org/site/mentor.

• Supporting the Transition to Adulthood among High School Dropouts: An Impact Study of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program – Study published by Sarah Schwartz, Jean Rhodes, and Megan Millenky http://www.mentoring.org/images/NGYCPImpactStudy.pdf

• Youth Initiated Mentoring: Natural Mentors + Youth Engagement = Stronger Outcomes – White paper on YIM published by Dare Mighty Things http://www.daremightythings.com/pdf/media_center/YIMWhitePaper.PDF

• New mentoring research on the Chronicle for Evidence Based Mentoring –Summaries of the latest youth mentoring research. http://chronicle.umbmentoring.org/category/research-roundup/

Remember…

After the webinar:

Everyone will get an email with information on how to download the slides/recording

Continue the conversation at the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring: http://chronicle.umbmentoring.org/

Please help us out by

answering survey

questions at the end of the webinar.

2013 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar SeriesThank you for participating today!

Topic: Mentoring at Risk Youth (MARY) study with Drs. David DuBois of University of Illinois-Chicago; Janet

Heubach of Washington State Mentors; and Carla Herrera formerly of

Public/Private VenturesRegistration will open next week on the

MENTOR website.

Sarah Kremer, Friends for Youth

Michael Garringer, Education Northwest

Meghan Ferns, Oregon Mentors

Dana Gold, MP of SWPA

Polly Roach, MP of Minnesota

Tammy Tai,MENTOR

Molly Brenner,MENTOR

Next Webinar: May 16th, 2013

(back to third Thursday of the

month )