Practice

Black College Student Mental Health Needs Attention Now

By Chandra White-Cummings, Ourselves Black It’s always a time of great celebration when a student graduates from college. At a 2014 college graduation ceremony at North Carolina Central University, the longest laughs and applause came when one of the officiating faculty talked about the intense struggles and doubt of making it through the course work […]

Resources for mentors around race, inclusion, and cultural respect

By MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership Americans are increasingly battling to dismantle racism and systemic oppression, and our young people are on the front lines fighting for their lives to matter. Mentors are uniquely poised to support youth during this time, but have to enter into relationships with humility, including self-awareness, discovery, and understanding of […]

Racial Equity: How You Can Help Youth Ignite Positive Social Change

By Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Roots of Action Protests over the murder of George Floyd and the senseless deaths of so many African Americans question our integrity and remind us that the struggle for racial equity is never-ending. I was a college student during the protests of the 1960’s. Photos like this one pushed me out of […]

Embedding a Racial Equity Perspective in the Positive Youth Development Approach

By Zakia Redd, Kristin Anderson Moore, and Kristine Andrews, Child Trends Positive youth development (PYD) is a strengths-based approach used by programs to support the development of young people’s skills, nurture their interests and values, seek and incorporate their input, and connect them to positive adults and useful resources. Appreciation for the value of youth […]

Celebrating Fatherhood and Encouraging Mentorship with “My Brother’s Keeper”

Ed. note: This was cross-posted several years ago on the U.S. Department of Justice blog.  By Eric Holder I would not be where I am today without the love, guidance, and support of my father. He taught me to work hard, to dream big, to give back to my community, and to always remember the […]

7 ways American racism is alive and well today

By Sandra Feter, Futurity Racism is a deeply American problem and, based on a review of prior research, there are seven factors contributing to racism in the US today, researchers argue in a new paper. “People often define racism as disliking or mistreating others on the basis of race. That definition is wrong,” says coauthor […]

Resources for helping and healing

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, America once again contends with its deeply ingrained, structural, systemic racism. We have gathered a number of resources here that we hope will help our community of readers cope with this incredibly traumatic series of events. While the reality of American racism is not new or […]

What’s lost when black children are socialized into a white world

Dani McClain, The Atlantic  I interviewed dozens of black mothers about how they help their kids navigate schools where they might be perceived as threats or made to feel unwelcome. Jessica Black is a Pittsburg, California, mother of two black teenagers, both of whom have been disciplined multiple times at their middle and high schools. […]

Mentoring in Trump’s America

Update: We wrote this post 3 years ago, soon after Trump became president. Our focus was on what mentors can do to support youth who are marginalized by our society (e.g., youth of color, LGBTQ youth). Our post is still relevant as an urgent call to mentoring organizations, staff, and volunteer mentors to support Black […]

New study: Doing good for other people is contagious

By UT Austin, Futurity Seeing someone do something good for someone else motivates people to perform their own helpful acts, researchers report. The finding could help drive cooperative behavior in communities navigating through the health crisis. In their new study, researchers confirmed that people can be heavily influenced by others, especially when it comes to taking on […]