Mentoring Programs for At-Risk Youth

The word mentor derives its origin from a character in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. When Odysseus, King of Ithaca, went to fight in the Trojan War, he entrusted the care of his Kingdom to Mentor. Mentor served as the teacher and overseer of Odysseuss’ son, Telemachus.1
In our society today, mentors generally are volunteers who are committed to helping students or youth identified as “at-risk” and/or as a potential dropout get back on track—academically, socially, mentally and physically.
The specific roles of mentors are multifaceted and varied. Mentors are big brothers/sisters, role models, friends and confidantes. Their goal is to make a connection and then, using that connection, convey a positive message to their mentee. Mentors build self-esteem, motivate and help young persons set goals and work toward accomplishing those goals.

There is little doubt of the importance of mentoring programs and the benefits they yield. Studies of existing programs indicate that youth who participate in mentoring relationships have better attendance and attitude toward school; less drug and alcohol use; improved social attitudes and relationships; more trusting relationships and better communication with their parents; and a better chance of going on to higher education.2
Unfortunately, all those who could be benefiting from having a mentor are not. According to Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring, “Of the 17.6 million young people who could especially benefit from having a mentor, only 2.5 million were in formal, one-on-one mentoring relationships.” 3
In the state of Connecticut, over 160,000 children—or 25 % of Connecticut’s youth—are in life situations that place them at risk for personal and academic failure.4 These situations include poverty, inadequate early childhood experiences and preparation for school, family drug use, violence, involvement in the criminal justice system and lack of access to needed social and mental health services.
Government, community and civic groups and individuals are trying to change that; trying to make a difference. Since 1989, The Governor’s Prevention Partnership has worked with the State of Connecticut, Connecticut’s corporate and business communities and other public, private and community organizations to provide the leadership and resources to assist 387 schools, 249 community organizations and 93 businesses in efforts to keep the children of the state safe, successful and drug-free.5
This is being accomplished, in part, through the following programs.
The Connecticut Mentoring Partnership
Created in 1977, The Connecticut Mentoring Partnership (CMP) challenges business leaders to help create a statewide mentoring initiative as a prevention strategy to protect youth from drug use, school failure and other related problems.
The program provides leadership, resources and training to schools, businesses, community and faith-based organizations throughout the state in an effort to increase mentoring partnerships and promote safe, quality mentoring programs.
The Partnership also works to:
Raise public awareness: CMP has partnerships with NBC30, CBS Radio, Buckley Radio and others, a statewide media campaign recruits mentors during National Mentoring Month in January. Raising awareness of the importance of mentoring is also done year-round. A toll-free number, 1-877-CT-MENTOR, provides information on mentoring and ties into a statewide database of mentoring programs.
Recruit and refer mentors: Business and community groups are assisted in recruiting their workforce or members to serve as mentors.
Develop new mentoring resources, including public and private funding; advocate and promote public policies and legislation that strengthen mentoring; and collect and track data.
Activities and services of the CMP include: The Mentoring Training Institute; technical assistance and support on Connecticut Quality Standards for mentoring programs and assistance on program design; resources and mentor recruitment, screening, training and program design; Regional Mentoring Networks for program providers; mentor recruitment and a toll-free Mentor Referral Line; annual mentoring showcase conference and workshops; The Mentoring Corporate Honor Roll and Corporate Mentoring Round Table that promotes, supports and recognizes corporate involvement; and program evaluation tools and resources.
Since 1997, CMP has created over 200 new programs and more than 3,000 new mentoring relationships. Since 2001, 70 schools and businesses have joined the Partnership’s School Business Mentoring Alliance and 90 companies have been recognized through the 2005 Mentoring Corporate Honor Roll.6
The Urban Mentoring Initiative
The Urban Mentoring Imitative (UMI) was created in 2005 in partnership with the state of Connecticut. Over the next two years—2006-2007—the CMP will initiate a mentoring expansion effort in Hartford, Waterbury, Norwich, Bridgeport, New Haven, New Britain and Windham.
During that time, The UMI will be responsible for attempting to significantly increase the number of mentors for at-risk children in those communities. This will be done by increasing the capacity of existing mentoring programs to reach more children; developing new mentoring programs and models to address existing gaps; and identifying and accessing additional resources.
The two-year funding appropriated by the State legislature will be matched by corporate and private sector monies secured by The Governor’s Prevention Partnership.
Project Choice Mentoring Program
Project Choice Mentoring Program (PCMP) is dedicated to helping the youth of the City of Hartford. Its mission is to empower committed delinquent youth to make positive life choices that will enable them to maximize their personal potential and be successful in their community.
“The program provides caring mentors who are fully trained and supported by the professional staff of Project Choice and Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters,” according to Eddie Perez, Mayor of Hartford, CT. “Project Choice mentors strive to be a positive support system to the youth as well as to the family by forming a relationship based on trust and respect. This allows Project Choice mentors to advocate for the youth in academic, community and family settings while opening doors of opportunity that otherwise would not be available to them.”7
Project Choice started as an idea of David Norman in August 2001 at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS). Norman took on the challenge of becoming a positive role model for one “in need” youth. Over time, the youngster responded to Norman’s efforts with improved behavior, causing others to notice the change. As a result, the idea of role model became more widely accepted and the term was gradually changed to mentor. This acceptance allowed Norman and others to work with more youth at the CJTS facility and Project Choice was born.
Project Choice works with Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice and “at-risk” youth between the ages of 11 and 21. The program operates on a “buy-in” premise. It is completely youth-driven, ensuring that the youth have the option to “buy-in” (or participate). No participant is forced, mandated or court ordered to be part of the mentoring process.
In 2003, Project Choice partnered with Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters (NBBBS). Today, PCMP also is partnered with Boys ; Girls Clubs of America and together with NBBBS, work under the umbrella of Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families, Bureau of Adolescent and Transitional Services. Project Choice also is networked with the One-on-One Mentoring Program.
Project Choice again expanded its resources by establishing a formal collaboration with Project Connect. Project Connect specializes in presenting alternative choices to youth and reinforcing the belief that positive behavior yields positive rewards.
Youth Fair Chance, Inc.
This national project is funded by the Department of Labor. Established on a case-management basis, this Connecticut program targets individuals between the ages of 14 and 25.
Focus is on computer, job and life skills training; tutoring, which is conducted four times a week; and informal mentoring. There are no specific project guidelines for the mentoring program, which currently operates on an as-needed basis. Set up within a peer-to-peer mentor atmosphere, Yale University students occasionally provide assistance.
Other services offered by Youth Fair Chance include day care, summer employment assistance, support groups, high school diploma equivalency classes and recreational activities. Four youth program areas are presently being developed that will focus on gender-specific prevention programs for female youth.
During the 2005-2006 academic school year a follow-up evaluation of the school-based mentoring program was conducted by the Connecticut Mentoring Partnership. One hundred and ninety mentored youth from seven school systems were evaluated.8
The evaluation was viewed as a pilot or exploratory study that would serve as a stepping stone for future evaluations and mentoring research. Overall, the results were positive. The state’s mentoring programs seem to be reaching those individuals who are somewhat academically at-risk and are subsequently able to sustain or improve their academic performance during the course of a mentoring relationship.
Footnotes
1Reh, F. John. Mentors and Mentoring: What Is a Mentor? Retrieved December 1, 2006, from http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/mentoring.htm.
2Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring. Results of a poll on mentoring commissioned by MENTOR. Retrieved December 1, 2006, from http://www.mentoring.org/leaders/partnerships/index.php?s=CT.
3http://www.mentoring.org/leaders/partnerships/index.php?s=CT.
4The Governor’s Partnership Program; Connecticut Mentoring Program. Retrieved on December 1, 2006, from http://www.preventionworksct.org/mentor.html.
5http://www.preventionworksct.org/mentor.html.
6http://www.preventionworksct.org/mentor.html.
7Project Choice Mentoring Program. Received from http://www.projectchoicementor.org/index.htm.
8Connecticut Mentoring Partnership 2005-2006 Evaluation Results Executive Summary. Received December 1, 2006, from http://www.preventionworksct.org.