This Changes (Almost) Everything: Mentor, Youth, Parent & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

This Changes (Almost) Everything: Mentor, Youth, Parent & Staff Perspectives on Youth Initiated Mentoring Renée Spencer, EdD, LICSW Boston University School of Social Work │ rspenc@bu.edu National Mentoring Symposium │ Banff, Alberta, Canada November 2, 2016

– Research Team: – Jean Rhodes , PI, University of Massachusetts, Boston – Katy Malley, Project Director, Innovation Research and Training – Emily Abrams, (previous) Project Coordinator, BU – Rachel Strathdee, Project Coordinator), BU – Alison Drew, Graduate Research Assistant, BU – Grace Gowdy, Graduate Research Assistant, BU – John Paul Horn, Graduate Research Assistant, BU – Agency Partners: Thank you to: – Midlands Mentoring Partnership – Youth Emergency Services – Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands – Girls Inc – 100 Black Men – Juvenile Assessment Center – Project Everlast – YouthBuild US – Funder: – U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention

Whitney Mastin Huge Shout Out

We become who we are and realize our full potential in and through This I believe strong supportive relationships with people who care about who we are and what happens to us.

Eugene 1 st Match: 2 months Tiffany & Elizabeth 8-year Match “we just kept on callin’ and callin’, and “I was like a terrible kid . … I was like nobody answered. So. We just gave wicked bad . Take tempers and stuff… I A Tale of Two up on him.... My mom said, ‘It’s okay. wouldn’t let kids touch me, talk to me, It’s not your fault’” “So, I was like really say hi to me or nothing. ….. I didn’t like devastated ” “cause he was like really Relationships teachers, I’d give them attitudes. Yell at keepin’ in touch with me, like most of them and stuff. …. ... and then … in 6 th the time. … he said exactly six weeks.” grade I started getting like honors and 2 nd Match 1 year later: 3 visits stuff. And doing wicked good ...” “I was like, really, really so angry … I really had wanted to hit him but I was “I’m glad she’s my Big Sister. I don’t like, Naw, don’t hit him ‘cause it might know what I would do if she wasn’t and be somebody else.” I don’t want to know.”

– Close and enduring relationships most likely to be effective – 1-year or more, SB continue into 2nd year – Connected – youth feels “close” to mentor, sees mentor as Importance significant adult – Collaborative - developmental or youth driven of Match – But many formal relationships never achieve this Quality and – 1/3 to 1/2 end early – Potential for decrements in youth functioning Duration – Early ending relationships – Inconsistent relationships – We often don ’ t help matches end well (Aseltine et al., 2000; DuBois et al., 2002; Grossman & Rhodes, 2001; Herrera et al., 2007; Karcher et al., 2007; Karcher, 2005; Rhodes, 2002; Spencer et al., in press; Whitney Henricker & Offutt, 2011)

– What is it? Youth-Initiated – Youth identify adults they know to serve as their mentors – Program finds, recruits, screens, and trains adults and Mentoring formalizes matches (YIM) – Why do it? – Not enough mentors to meet demand – Mentor attrition – Premature match closures – Low to modest effect sizes of mentoring, particularly for higher risk youth (DuBois et al., 2011; Grossman & Rhodes, 2002; Herrera et al., 2011).

– Sites in 27 states and Puerto Rico – Youth age 16-18 dropped out of school, unemployed – 17 month program: 5-month intensive residential phase, followed by 1-year nonresidential phase – Goal: Return to school, obtain GED or employment, enlist in military – Innovative mentoring component -Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) – Developed to address recidivism – 3-year follow-up: – More likely to have GED, to be employed, earning more than controls (Millenky et al., 2011) – Youth with longest-lasting mentoring relationships did the best, while those in shortest relationships not different from controls (Schwartz et al., 2013)

– But, we still don ’ t really know very much about it – No research to-date captures youth, mentor, parent and program staff experiences of these relationships.

Our Research on YIM

– Describe YIM relationships – Mentor and youth experiences – Types of support – Perceptions of influence Our Study – Strength of connections Purpose – Durability – Document YIM program practices – Challenges – Lessons learned

– Two programs serving Participant Age Race vulnerable youth Type – Program 1: Youth in or Youth 15-25 yrs Racially recently aged out of foster (M=18 yrs) diverse care system Participants Parents 29-47 yrs Racially – Program 2: Youth who were (M=37 yrs) diverse and Data first-time offenders in juvenile justice system Mentors 21-58 yrs 80% Collection (M=38 yrs) White – In-depth, in-person (mostly), semi-structured interviews All matched < 1 year Had known each other 7 months- youth’s lifetime

– Developed initial code book based on previous research and semi-structured interview protocol – Coded by cases of up to three interviews (youth, mentor & parent) Thematic – Created narrative summaries of each case Analysis – One team member as master coder, reviewing coding and narrative summaries to ensure consistency in coding across cases. – Coders met weekly to discuss questions and clarify definitions related to coding categories

– Interviews with 10 program staff Program Staff – 2 from agencies referring youth to YIM Interviews – 8 from programs implementing YIM

Mentor’s Previous Role inYouth’s Life School employee 6 Who were the Social services (e.g., case worker, CASA) 5 Church activities 2 mentors? Friend network 2 Extended family member 2 (aunt and informal cousin) Foster parent 1

– Recruitment – Matching YIM Influenced – Parent/guardian involvement More than just – Expectations Matching – Relationship development and duration – Support provided and received Process – Challenges

– Say what?! – Prior to this YIM initiative, the JJ program had referred 30 youth to mentoring programs but none had been matched Program – “for the most part every time we would contact the mentoring organization, they would say ‘We'll try but it's really hard,’ …. you Recruitment know over the course of time we'd be in meetings with different organizations and they'd say well we need special training because you know these kids are scary, and very much misunderstanding of these kids are our kids. This could be your son or daughter in fact many of these kids are sons and daughters of school teachers, police officers, you know people you know, your neighbor…. and so there was a real from I believe the administrators of mentoring programs, having a disconnect more than mentors themselves...” (Referring program staff)

– Engaged more typically difficult to engage youth – Motivated to keep connections and to have help with that – “that's another reason why I wanted to do it because I wanted to stay in touch with [mentor].” (Rosie, youth) Youth – “It’s really hard to get back in contact with someone Recruitment from your old high school or something.” (Stephano, youth). – “being able to go and like, build a more structured relationship with someone who was ….a good influence on me in my past because it’s really hard to set that up yourself.” (Cole, youth)

– Reaching different pool of mentors – Capable and trustworthy adults who were interested but “too busy” to sign up for a mentoring program – Felt compelled to serve because asked by youth – “I honestly don’t know if I would’ve just had, made the time to do it for Mentor a student I didn’t know. ” (Sarah, mentor) Recruitment – “I would not have done this, ... without it having been a youth-initiated piece. They really roped me in with that one …at first I thought, boy I’m overwhelmed… but when I heard that it was [youth] I was more than willing to help him..“ (Ashley, mentor) – It wasn't like it was a professional person thinking that I would be a good fit for her, it was [youth] remembering me and asking if I could do it. And how do you say no to that? I can't imagine saying no.” (Molly, mentor)