NCJ Number
163676
Date Published
1995
Length
36 pages
Annotation
A research initiative is described that assessed the usefulness of mentoring as an intervention in serving at-risk youth.
Abstract
Goals were to determine if a sufficient number of adults had enough flexible time and emotional resources to take on the demands of mentoring at-risk youth, whether mentoring could be integrated into large-scale youth-serving institutions, features of the adult role in effective mentoring relationships, the level of training and support activities required to effectively administer mentoring programs, and whether participants in mentoring programs made observable changes in behaviors and attitudes. The research initiative included the Adult/Youth Relationships Pilot Project which matched adult volunteers with adjudicated youth in the juvenile justice system. Project sites in St. Louis and Atlanta were evaluated. Each site employed similar strategies to recruit adult volunteers, although both sites had difficulty recruiting adult volunteers aged 55 years and over. Both sites experienced a long startup phase during which each trained staff in program procedures. In both St. Louis and Atlanta, the relative success of mentoring programs in secure residential facilities seemed to be related to two key factors: (1) agency caseworkers and youth were regularly at the facility during evening hours and on weekends when it was convenient for most adult volunteers to participate; and (2) mentors and caseworkers could meet during the caseworker's normal working hours. Mentoring was somewhat more difficult in the community-based setting. Participant and staff responses to the mentoring program and lessons learned from the two pilot sites are discussed. 14 references and 5 tables