Mentoring African-American and Latino Male Adolescents: Preliminary findings from an evaluation

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Mentoring African-American and Latino Male
Adolescents Preliminary findings from an
evaluation

• Bernadette Sánchez, PhD Adina Cooper, MEd
• Presentation at the School-based Male Mentoring
  Forum at DePaul University
• November 15, 2013

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Male Initiative Project (MIP) Evaluation

• Purpose of the Study
• To determine how the MIP school-based male
  mentoring programs are currently being
  implemented in 3 Chicago public schools.
• Goals
• Determine how students are benefiting
• Identify program strengths and potential needs
• Gather information on approaches to tailoring
  programs for African American and Latino male
  students
• Develop Best Practice toolbox

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Evaluation Progress to Date

• Participants
• 2 Student MIP Participants
• 6 MIP Staff Members
• Procedure
• Qualitative one-on-one interviews
• Students and Staff
• Approximately 1 hour long
• Digitally recorded and transcribed
• Identify common themes across the interviews

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Preliminary findings

• How should mentoring programs address the needs
  of African American and Latino male adolescents?

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Consider neighborhood and community context

• Role of gangs and violence in youths lives
• Role of SES and poverty
• In the winter months, thats starting to get
  dark. So you know its fear when darkness is
  concerned. I need to be aware that it took them
  an hour and a half to get to school, it might
  take them two hours to go home. So, I might need
  to shorten my meetings during the winter months
  so they can get out before it gets dark, cuz Im
  afraid for their safety. I need to be aware of
  the violence, and the culture of urban. of
  Chicago. I need to be aware that many of the guys
  have never left off of their blocks. So taken a
  trip downtown can be important. " (Staff 1)
• The streets are the most powerful thingmore
  than the mayor, more than the police, more than
  anybody. The gangs have taken over the streets.
  They have control. (Staff 6)

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Address socioemotional needs

• Provide safe space to discuss personal issues and
  emotions.
• I think the key is the social emotional stuff.
  Having the space for them to say like whos
  afraid of not being successful in this room? And
  like 10 guys raising their hands saying yeah,
  Im really scared to not be a success Having
  the space to talk about that stuff the
  violence (Staff 6).

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Provide positive male role models

• As guest speakers
• As older peer mentors
• As adult mentors
• "They see a lot of pitfalls, they see a lot of
  pitfalls but they dont see a lot of people come
  out of that." (Staff 2).
• "its all about experiences. A lot of our kids,
  um if theyre exposed to negativity with doing
  good in school then thats what they thats what
  overcomes them and they conform to that versus
  getting out there in an experience and seeing
  positive males actually doing things. And its
  like man, I can do that, I can do what youre
  doing or even better. And Im a go back and do
  that in my school setting. (Staff 2).

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Defying Stereotypes

• "But we show them how to do it in a positive way,
  you know? Theres nothing wrong with you know,
  they actually really get a kick out of it. Even,
  um, white t-shirt day, you know? Thats the
  stereotype, that Black males wear white t-shirts
  now are all thugs and gangbangers when you see
  them on the corners. So we just tell them how to
  do it in a positive way. You can wear jeans and a
  white t-shirt, as long as theyre not sagging on
  your bottom." (Staff 2, p. 5).

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Cultural competence of staff volunteers

• Understand adolescent development
• Acknowledging students as individuals
• Allowing adolescents to define for themselves
  what it means to be a young man.
• Be aware of child and adolescent development.
  Say the development theorists, you
  haveEriksontheres a litany of developmental
  theorists understand how children develop into
  adults. So that can be helpful, because when
  youre coming in as the coordinator of this
  program (Staff 1)

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Cultural competence of staff volunteers

• Sensitivity to family issues
• Understand SES and neighborhood
• E.g., staff member ensures that students do not
  pay for activities staff member doesnt ask
  students to fundraise.

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In young mens own words

• "Gained a better view on college and all the
  opportunities that I have as a young African
  American male."
• "If you want to go anywhere in the program you
  have to be passing all your classes and its our
  motivation to pass all of our classes and it
  helps us develop as students and young men."
• "Try to create a bond, because if you can get a
  group of people to trust each other thats the
  strongest thing you can do."
• "You have to have a motivation, you have to have
  a long term goal and a short term goal. Your
  short term goal should ultimately get you to your
  long term goal."

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Next Steps

• Conduct a total of 30 student interviews
• Develop a draft of a tool kit for school-based
  male mentoring
• Present toolkit to
• Focus groups of MIP students
• Focus group of MIP staff
• Revise and disseminate final toolkit

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Acknowledgements

• Glenna Ousley, DePaul University
• DePaul University Research Assistants
• Jamie Bobert, Carlos Luna, Nicole Torres, Aubrey
  Williams, Ife Williams
• Male Initiative Project Staff and Students
• Bank of America Foundation