Entries by Bernadette Sanchez

A conversation with Professor Bernadette Sanchez

Professor Bernadette Sanchez is one of our fields most prolific scholars and among the most consistent voices for cultural-sensitivity in youth mentoring.  I am pleased to have had a recent conversation about Bernadette about her new studies and more.  JR: In your study, which we posted on the Chronicle, you explore the role of mentors in […]

How mentors and mentoring programs can support mentees’ ethnic/racial identity

By Bernadette Sánchez & Aerika Brittian Loyd  In light of recent media coverage on murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd (and many others) and the resulting protests across the nation, supporting the positive ethnic/racial identity of youth of color, especially Black youth, is more urgent than ever. The senseless killing of Black […]

Creating a Culturally Relevant Mentoring Program for Girls of Color

By Bernadette Sanchez, Ph.D. Not too long ago, my colleagues and I created a mentoring program, called GirlPOWER!, for African American and Latina early adolescent girls. Our goal was to ensure that the program was gender specific as well as culturally and developmentally appropriate. We created the program in collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters […]

4 strategies (and 2 tools) to improve cultural competency in youth mentoring

by Bernadette Sánchez, PhD. How can we overcome cultural mistrust in mentoring relationships? (see related post) First, as staff get to know youth when they enter a mentoring program, it will be helpful to screen whether youth have cultural mistrust.  Practitioners can use this Cultural Mistrust Measure-Interpersonal Scale that we adapted to use with adolescents. This may […]

Are current mentoring models bad for kids’ health?

BERNADETTE SÁNCHEZ, PHD, NMRC RESEARCH BOARD MEMBER & PROFESSOR AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY Editor’s Note: This blog article was originally posted on the National Mentoring Resource Center website. NMRC Research Board members were asked to share their key insights from last year’s National Mentoring Summit based on a workshop they lead, an innovation they learned about, […]

New research outlines 9 steps in using mentoring to boost physical activity in youth

Smith, L. & Petosa, R. (2016). A structured peer-mentoring method for physical activity behavior change among adolescents. The Journal of the School of Nursing, 32(5), 315-323. Summarized by Justin Preston As the winter months roll in, a time typically reserved for hibernating and reduced physical activity more generally, new research has outlined an approach for […]

10 healthy strategies youth can use to cope with racial discrimination

By Bernadette Sánchez, PhD. A number of years ago, my colleagues David L. DuBois, Naida Silverthorn, and Julia Pryce, and I developed an evidence-based intervention curriculum, GirlPOWER!, for adolescent, African American and Latina female mentees and their adult female mentors at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago. I contributed to parts of the intervention […]

How Adults Can Step Up in Youth Social Activism

Bernadette Sanchez In a recent example of youth social activism, Meggie Noel and Kylie Webster-Cazeau started a campaign via YouTube videos and social media (#BlackAtBLS) to expose the racially hostile environment at their Boston elite public school. They gave examples of teachers who either engaged in racial microagressions and blatant racism and administrators who were […]

Racial discrimination and ethnic identity in Latina/o youth

by Bernadette Sanchez Ali Mroczkowski, my student, and I recently published a study on the roles of adult racial discrimination and ethnic identity in Latina/o youth’s perception of the economic value of education (Mroczkowski & Sánchez, 2015). The youth in our study were high school students who were mostly from ethnically homogenous communities and schools. […]