Pushing the Boundaries of

Mentoring: SIYM 2012 Preview

2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series

2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series

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Sarah Kremer

Friends for Youth

April Riordan

Mentoring Partnership of

Minnesota

o Research

o Practice

o Innovation

Date: Third Thursday of every

month.

Time: 10-11:15am Pacific/11am-

12:15pm Mountain/12-1:15 pm

Central/1-2:15pm Eastern

Cost: Free

Marissa

Strayer-Benton

Mobius Mentors

Michael Garringer

National Mentoring Center

Good to Know…

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After the webinar, all attendees receive:

Instructions for how to access PDF of presentation

slides and webinar recording

Link to the for resources,

contact information & opportunities to continue the

dialogue

Please help us out by answering 5 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

• We may invite you to “raise

your hand” during interactive

activities

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Today’s Webinar

1. What is SIYM?

2. SIYM 2012 Theme

3. Panel Discussion with Research

Fellows

Q & A throughout

the presentation

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Tom Keller, Ph.D.,

Institute Director

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The Duncan and Cindy Campbell

Professor for Children, Youth, and Families

with an Emphasis on Mentoring in the

School of Social Work at Portland State

University, and director of the PSU Center

for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research.

Professor Keller studies the development

and influence of mentoring relationships in

school and community settings and the

role of parent involvement in mentoring

interventions. Prior to his Ph.D., he worked

for several years with a Big Brothers Big

Sisters affiliate in Seattle as a caseworker,

supervisor, and program director. Email:

siym@pdx.edu

Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring (SIYM)

• Intensive week-long seminar featuring research on youth mentoring

• Sessions led by a prominent researchers

• For advanced mentoring professionals in program leadership roles

• Interactive discussions examining implications for policies and practices

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Each SIYM has a different theme

2012: Innovative and non-traditional

models of mentoring – Research on programs that have distinctive

features (structure, intensity, duration, goals, etc.)

– Mentoring programs that incorporate services vs.

service programs that incorporate mentoring

– Exploring definitions and boundaries

– Mutual exchange and advantages/disadvantages

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Mark Eddy, Ph.D.

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Director of Research for Partners for Our

Children, School of Social Work at the

University of Washington. Previously, Dr.

Eddy was a Senior Scientist with the

Oregon Social Learning Center, where he

conducted numerous studies of

interventions for parents and children in

conjunction with school systems, the

juvenile justice system, and adult

corrections. Dr. Eddy is the Principal

Investigator of an NIH-funded randomized

trial of the Friends of the Children program,

which provides paid professional mentors

for youth at risk for problems from

kindergarten through high school.

Friends of the Children

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Who are Friends?

• Friends are full-time, paid professionals

• Friends receive extensive training, supervision, and

support

• Friends are diverse

• Friends work with an average of 8-11 children,

spending an average of 4 hours with each child

every week

• Friends maintain regular contact with each child’s

family

• Each Friend has a Bachelor’s or an Associates

Degree

• Friends all have previous experience working with

youth

• Friends stay at Friends of the Children for an

average of 7 years

Friends of the Children

Professional

Development

• Training and supervision are

an ongoing priority.

Duration

• Endures across multiple

developmental transitions

and milestones.

Mentoring Plus

• Mentoring opens up avenues to support and advocate for the youth.

Community

• Structure creates a community of youth and adults that is present throughout childhood and

adolescence.

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Sarah Schwartz

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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 is completing 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.

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe

• Youth-Initiated Mentoring

– Pros and cons

– Implications for traditional

mentoring programs

• Mentoring as a strategy to

address erosion of effects

following residential programs

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National Guard Youth ChalleNGe

• Intensive intervention

program targeting youth

ages 16-18 who dropped

out of high school

• Embraced YIM model in

early 1990s

• Currently operates in 26

states

Intervention Phases

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

Post-Residential Phase

(12 months) • Transition back into

communities; educational,

vocational, or military

pursuits (no military

requirement)

• Supported by a mentor

(YIM model)

Youth Initiated Mentoring

Youth nominate a non-

parental adult from their

existing social networks

to be their formal mentor – Family friends, extended

family members, neighbors,

teachers, afterschool

providers, members of

religious organizations etc.

Formal

Mentoring

Natural

Mentoring

Youth Initiated

Mentoring

George Noblit, Ph.D.

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Dr. Noblit is the Joseph R. Neikirk

Distinguished Professor of Sociology of

Education in the School of Education at

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Professor Noblit has studied A+arts-

enhanced schools, charter schools, and

prison education for young offenders. He

currently is investigating how the Blue

Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program builds

the social networks of students and

enhances their social mobility through

mentoring, advocacy, enrichment, and

leadership training.

Graig Meyer, Blue Ribbon

Mentor Advocate (BRMA)

Coordinator

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Graig Meyer has been the coordinator of

BRMA since August of 1998. Through his

years in the program, Graig has learned to

love the special phenomenon of

introducing mentors and mentees who

would not know either other without the

role of this program. These relationships

knit a tighter and more healthy social fabric

in our community. Graig is a 2003-2005

William C. Friday Fellow for Human

Relations through the Wildacres

Leadership Initiative. Graig is a Phi Beta

Kappa graduate of the College of Wooster,

and was trained as a social worker at the

University of Chicago's School of Social

Service Administration.

Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate

(BRMA) program

• Advocacy

• Comprehensive

services

• Explicit emphasis

on race and racial

identity

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BRMA – 4 Program Elements

1. Mentoring—Volunteer mentors with students of color; 2 year min. commitment

2. Youth Leadership and Service projects

3. Advocacy-staff, parents and mentors advocate with schools and community agencies for student supports and appropriate programming

4. Academic Support—tutoring programs

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BRMA – Evaluation Focus

1. How mentoring may

promote social mobility

2. How race affects both

mentoring and mobility

3. Characteristics of useful

mentoring relationships

between mentors,

mentees and parents

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BRMA Evaluation – Multiple

Methods Design

A. Quantitative study of effects on school system data (achievement, behavior and other markers.

B. Qualitative study involving observations of program activities and interviews with staff, parents, mentees and mentors

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BRMA Evaluation – Findings

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BRMA mentees have high HS graduation rates and college going rates (only 1 student of 40 so far has not completed HS and continued into post-secondary). In 2009, 14.3% and 12.5% of college students were African American and Latin@ , respectively (NCES).

Parents see it as effective in a situation where “race is everything.”

BRMA mentees do not have significantly different academic outcomes than a matched sample. Thus BRMA ‘works around’ the existing achievement gap to keep students in school and motivated to attend post-secondary institutions.

Mentoring relationships are scary to parents who have to give up their children. The relationships that work best are marked by honesty about valued (White dominant) cultural capital and a valuing of what parents provide for their children (aspirational, social, navigational, resistant, linguistic and familial capitals.

Parents, mentors and mentees all see BRMA as providing a valuable service. (“They do so much!) (“It’s an incredible program.”)

Mentors are sources of social and cultural capital that when coupled with advocacy can make some things possible that would not otherwise have been.

Gabe Kuperminc, Ph.D.

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Gabriel Kuperminc, Ph.D., is Professor and

Chair of Community Psychology at Georgia

State University. Professor Professor

Kuperminc studies the processes of resilience

and positive youth development, and he has

expertise on group mentoring as well as the

role of mentoring within multi-component

programs. Since 1999, he has evaluated the

effectiveness of Cool Girls, Inc., a

comprehensive youth development program

that provides mentoring, tutoring, and life

skills training to high risk, urban,

preadolescent and early adolescent girls.

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Mentoring is a Flexible Strategy

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Mentoring can begin

with an introduction to

a positive person,

coming to a positive

place or by accessing

a positive opportunity.

Future Webinars

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August 16 - Back to School: Training Mentors

for Effective Relationships within Schools

This webinar will focus on how to prepare volunteers to create

and sustain effective relationships within school walls. First, Dr.

Michael Karcher, will talk about ways in which school-based

mentoring is different than community-based mentoring, both in

practice and in the kind of impact it can have on youth

outcomes. Then, learn strategies and tips from expert trainers

and quality SBM programs to help you better prepare mentors

for the school-based mentoring environment, which in turn will

help all participants feel more connected to each other, their

schools, and the programs.

Future Topics:

September 20 –

Closure

October 18 –

Public/Private

Ventures

November 15 –

Disconnected/

Opportunity

Youth

Good to Know…

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After the webinar, all attendees receive:

Instructions for how to access PDF of presentation

slides and webinar recording

Link to the Mentoring Forum for resources,

contact information & opportunities to continue the

dialogue

Please help us out by answering 5 survey questions at

the end of the webinar.

The Mentoring Forums

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2012 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series

Thank you!