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Research conducted by the Chain Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago ads support for the tutor/mentor method of assisting juveniles in overcoming their mistakes. Their findings state that it is imperative that society provide opportunities through which children can build the capacities and skills they need to function adequately as young people and later as adults. They further concluded that "over the long term, particularly for school age children, the potential for social participation is often what sustains a child's effort to overcome obstacles."
Each school day, America's 20 million young adolescents decide how they will spend at least five (40%) of their waking hours when they are not in school. For many, these hours harbor both risk and opportunity. On weekends and during the summer months, American youth have even greater amounts of discretionary time. For those young adults without adult supervision, the out-of-school hours constitute high-risk time for high-risk behavior. Young people left on their own or with peers stand a significantly greater chance of becoming involved in substance abuse, sexual activity leading to unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, crime, and violence than their peers who are engaged in constructive activities. For low income adolescents, economic disadvantages and the stresses of life in their neighborhoods are exacerbated by the lack of places that provide safe havens, attractive opportunities, and trustworthy adults.
Project Impact sponsored by the Volunteer Exchange of Orange County is a mentoring program that meets the needs of society and the wants of the justice system in helping to change a juveniles lie by bringing forth positive changes to youthful challenges. Our mentoring program is focused on drawing attention to important issues for social policy: how to provide young people with the relationships they so badly need, and how to engage the middle class in addressing the problems our juvenile population faces. A great many disadvantaged youth are in need of support that is developmental, nurturing, protective and extensive in nature-in other words, something resembling supplemental parenting. They need this caring not only to make the basic transition to adulthood, but to survive under conditions of great stress.
The Project Impact Mentoring program has great potential. It provides help tour juvenile population in the following ways:
In order for a program to maintain its integrity and success within the community it must a vision that is large enough, and far reaching enough that other people will be willing to join and provide contributions to assure its success.
The Program must have a gigantic commitment, it takes critical mass of service, support, nurturing, incentives, creativity, caring, compassion, and especially patience. The real key to building a successful tutor/mentoring program is the philosophy and the persistence of the staff involved, and their dogged determination to enable and encourage these young people to succeed.
Another critical element is that the project must be a team effort. No one person can do it alone. While one person can, and must, provide the leadership and often, the vision, it takes a team to build a program that will last long enough to do any good. You must be able to recruit people and organizations to help, and find ways to share your vision and delegate responsibility to be a success.
Since we are building a bank of mentors that are distributing knowledge, motivation, love, opportunities, along with a variety of other learning to young people and, for the most part, you re doing it in hours when they re not in school. Attitude plays the single most important part in the success of any program and especially ours. The following three elements help to strengthen and illuminate our program:
The most important commitment that Project Impact has to the community is our commitment to have on-going training and learning. While the goal of the program is to provide youth with positive mentors and develop learning opportunities for our youth, we must be able to provide ongoing training of our staff and mentors as well. By and through workshops, newsletters and DVD programs we hope to have a library of topics that are both informative, contemporary and interesting to the mentor to help build their capacity as well. In order for any program to be successful we recognize it must be rewarding and motivating.
Mentoring programs for at-risk youth are growing at a rapid pace across the United States. Youth mentoring programs differ in their curricula, but most emphasize the relationship between a disadvantaged or troubled youngster and a caring adult. The relationship involves spending quality time together and providing support and guidance, with the aim of helping the young person better negotiate life's difficulties. To date, the literature on mentoring I mixed and little research had adequately assessed the efficacy of mentoring programs.
The term "at-risk" is generally used to describe youth who come from single parent homes, who show signs of emotional or behavioral problems, and who lack the support to navigate developmental tasks successfully. As adults, they have a disproportionately high incidence of divorce, chronic unemployment, physical and psychiatric problems, substance abuse, demands on the welfare system, and further criminal activity. The toll of these problems is quit costly not only to the individual but also society in terms of health care, welfare, and legal costs. Conversely, the average cost per child per year for a well run mentoring program is approximately $250.00 and is believed to prevent or minimize a need for other social services in the future. The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention, estimates that between 5 and 15 million children could benefit form being matched with a mentor. That is why it is so essential that Project Impact be focused on high quality mentorship.
There are many theoretical reasons to expect that mentorship will help troubled youth, mostly within asocial support framework. A 1999 study found that youth who reported lower levels of social support were more withdrawn, hopeless about their future, inattentive, and harmful to others that were youth who reported higher levels of social support. Mentoring may provide some of the social support and, hence, improve youth functioning. In addition, some theories of juvenile delinquency suggest that youth develop delinquent behavior patterns because they have not identified with appropriate role models in the environment. Mentors can serve as models with whom youth might identify, leading to increased social appropriate behavior and reduced delinquent behavior. Furthermore, almost every University study on juvenile delinquency suggests that the children who are most likely to survive abusive and neglectful upbringings are those who seek healthier relationships outside the home. Mentoring most certainly can provide resilient youth with such relationships.
The critical path to success in the Project Impact mentoring program is that it solicits and recruits mentors from the juveniles own community. The program is very focused on positive outcomes and is measured by various criteria in the deliverance of its services. The procedures are the fundamental success to the program and the Mentoring Integrity Assessment completed by the juveniles Probation Officer, Court Officer, and members of the juveniles community are direct tools of program evaluation and measurement.
Project Impact has developed its pattern of mentoring after the Governor's Mentoring Partnership and is in full compliance in developing and meeting all of the California mentoring elements of effective practices.
In conjunction with the Governor's Mentoring Partnership Program, mentoring is defined as a relationship over a prolonged period of time between two or more people where older, wiser, more experienced individuals assist youth through the human development process by providing constant, as needed support, guidance, and concrete help to a minor whose at-risk environment increases their chance of exposure to ten pregnancy, academic failure, gangs and violence, use of alcohol and drugs and other at-risk behaviors. It is the intention of the Governor's mentoring Partnership and the intention of those serving under Project Impact that relationships last at lease the length of one year and that the ratio of mentors to those being served does not exceed 2-1.
In essence a mentor is often a more senior individual, frequently within the community, although not necessarily, who shows a newcomer or a prot‚g‚ the ropes. These guidelines refer to Project Impact participants, prot‚g‚s as learners, who may be either, young adult men and or young adult women. Mentors may assist the more junior person in knowing proper protocols, social etiquette, who the key players are, what rules must be followed, who makes decisions, and how these decisions get made. Mentors can also give the Project Impact participant an opportunity to become more visible by letting decision makers see his/her work potential. They give the Project Impact participant an opportunity to stretch him/herself and advise him/her how to handle specific situations or make life changing decisions. In addition to offering insights into life's politics, legal systems, mentors can help the Project Impact participant to understand the values, history, norms, and standards of the community - the organizational culture.
A mentoring relationship usually begins with the realization that there is a commonality between the two parties. There is and must be mutual respect, which may have a fair number of things in common, often a friendship is evolving, and ideally they have or grow to develop similar values. The mentor often takes on the role of coach and begins to provide information, challenges and visibility to the Project Impact participant. Te relati0onship must be a two-way street, give as well as take for both parties. Men and women often have different ways of perceiving and addressing things and much can be gained by understanding these differences. Same is true with project Impact participants. We all can learn form each others strengths. Mentors and Project Impact participants can both gain from each other leadership styles, preferences and professional and personal needs.
How we all grow has a great deal to do with the environment within which we live-our community. A mentors role when expressed through mentoring crates a positive environment for development. Mentors are both a part of, and influence our everyday environment. When a mentor does their work well, they help the Project Impact participant to see not only the tasks before them, but also the broader context that gives those tasks meaning. Mentors do three types of things. The support, they challenge, and they provide.
Any interchange with a Project Impact participant will involve a mix of support and challenge, both going on at once. In an appropriate mix, development can occur. This depends on the particular needs of the Project Impact participant and the style of the mentor.
Listening is a vital support mechanism. This means actively engaging with each other's worlds and attempting to experience it from the inside. What does it feel like to be this person
Providing structure is another critical element. This is created through some sort of clear expectations and regular meetings with the participant. Close personal attention, specific assignments through some sort of project, short and achievable tasks, and reading material all helps to provide the basis for discussion and problem solving.
Expressing positive expectations means viewing the participant as someone who is competent, identifying and affirming the other's capabilities, and expressing the view that the participant is capable of change. This helps the participant develop greater confidence and balances both a present sense of where the participant is and a dream of what the participant can become-without allowing either to eclipse the other. A supportive tone to the relationship is important, and reinforcing strengths always helps.
Serving as an advocate is another avenue that brings about support and trust. Mentors are often seen as "powerful allies." They intercede with the members of the community. They literally give the participant a boost up the ladder. Giving praise and promoting their good deeds within the community is an excellent mechanism to strengthen the mentor/participant bond.
Sharing yourself as a mentor is a key to gain participant and community support. This means sharing stories, being vulnerable through relating your own feelings, struggles, and successes. Timing is important-given too soon, the participant may ignore it or reject it, but self-disclosure can lead to a valuable deepening of the relationship for both parties.
One final element of support that builds relationships is making the relationship special. This means making the relationship feel safe enough to share honestly. Helping the participant to feel that they are valued by the mentor as a unique person is a vital asset in building support. This is reinforced by the quality of listening-this is most important in the midst of a transition, when the new events are being shared, often for the first time with the mentor, and affirmation is being sought by the participant.
Challenge is what Project Impact is all about. The challenge for a mentor to meet a unique juvenile in the community and change their life style is a monumental accomplishment. The challenge of a juvenile who is constantly battling peer pressure to accept another persons values and social mores is most commendable. But challenges are what makes each of us all better and stronger individuals. The following elements are all challenges that must be met to be a successful mentor.
Finally, the last element in successful mentoring is providing a vision to the participant. If you are the more learned, more educated and elder of the two most certainly you are being perceived by the participant that you are more knowledgeable and can provide insight to the Project Impact candidate. Do not let the participant down! Here are a few elements under "providing vision" that will make you a better mentor and gain the respect of the person you are working with.
In summary the list of methods suggests an approach to mentoring that can provide an excellent basis for dialogue and mutual discovery.
1. Begin listening to the participants stories without trying to solve a problem or give advice. Be attentive to what you learn about the other person-can reinforce and validate, and what the person needs to learn.
2. We can view ourselves as guides, using questions in a powerful way to promote alternative perspectives and options.
3. We can plan assignments, meetings, and debriefings to promote development, using an appropriate mix of support and challenge to encourage participants to stretch.
4. We can use other resources to provide a rich learning environment: other leaders who can support the participants growth and development, articles and books, projects, outings and assignments.
5. We can recognize that in part, our own growth depends on those who learn from us. As leaders, we need to teach. This helps us avoid stagnation and to think about our own assumptions and beliefs in a deeper way. Those who teach describe the benefits as, expanding personal impact by increasing personal growth and awareness.
In conjunction with the Governor's Mentoring Partnership the Volunteer Exchange has developed the following Program Criteria:
1. A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND A LONG RANGE PLANT THAT INCLUDES:
2. A RECRUITMENT PLAN FOR BOTH MENTORS AND PROJECT IMPACT PARTICIPANTS:
3. AN OREINTATION FOR MENTORS AND PROJECT IMPACT PARTICIPANTS THAT INCLUDES:
4. ELIGIBILITY SCREENING FOR MENTORS AND PROJECT IMPACT PARTICIPANTS THAT INCLUDES:
5. A READINESS AND TRAIING CURRICULUM FOR ALL MENTORS:
6. A MATCHING STRATEGY THAT INCLUDES:
7. A MONITORING PROCESS WHICH INCLUDES:
8. A SUPPORT, RECOGNITION AND RETENTION COMPONENT:
9. CLOSURE STEPS TO INCLUDE AND INCORPORTE WITHIN THE AGENCY:
10. AN EVALUATION PROCESS:
In order to become a Project Impact Certified mentor the mentor must complete a 20 hours training program. The courses to be completed are listed below: