Content for Non-Profits & Policy-Makers

All content relevant for youth mentoring practitioners, youth-serving program staff, and people who are interested in mentoring-related policy.

Do program practices matter for mentors? New study has answers

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Keller, T. E., Drew, A. L., Herrera, C., Clark-Shim, H., & Spencer, R. (2023). Do program practices matter for mentors?: How implementation of empirically supported program practices is associated with youth mentoring relationship quality. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23019 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest: The quality and nature of mentor-mentee relationships have an influential impact […]

Read more

WT Grant Foundation: Reducing Educational Inequality After the COVID-19 Pandemic

/0 Comments/in , , /by

By Adam Gamoran and Richard J. Murnane, reprinted from the William T. Grant Foundation When President Barack Obama declared in December 2013 that the stifling combination of growing inequality and lack of upward mobility constituted “the defining challenge of our time,” he pointed to education as a pathway to economic opportunity (Obama, 2013).1 Nevertheless, the […]

Read more

Creating Better Opportunities for Young People

/0 Comments/in , /by

By and reprinted from Mentoring Europe The OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People in June 2022, with the aim of improving youth measures and outcomes. The recommendation emphasizes government-wide strategies and policy principles that focus on skills and competencies, labor market outcomes, social inclusion, youth well-being, and trust in […]

Read more

Going the distance: A longitudinal qualitative study of formal youth mentoring relationship development

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Spencer, R., Drew, A. L., & Gowdy, G. (2023). Going the distance: A longitudinal qualitative study of formal youth mentoring relationship development. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23006 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Although community-based mentoring is an excellent approach to promoting positive youth-oriented outcomes (e.g., academic, behavioral, social, and emotional), the quality of the relationships […]

Read more

Study suggests ways to strengthen post-pandemic connections

/0 Comments/in , , /by

O’Regan, C., Brady, B., & Connolly, C. (2022). Building back better – Using an ecological lens to argue for strengthening mesosystemic connections for young people in a post pandemic world. Child Care in Practice.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2022.2084364 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  It is evident that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will have long-term effects. Its disruptions […]

Read more

What is overlooked in volunteer work with young people?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Mölkänen, J., & Honkatukia, P. (2022). Ambiguous, affective, and arduous: Volunteers’ invisible work with young adults. Journal of Youth Development, 17(4). https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2022.1198 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Past research has either focused on a) the benefits of becoming a volunteer, b) volunteers’ motivations or c) how mentorships are a promising method for approaching at-risk […]

Read more

Study shows that mentoring programs can help reduce juvenile offending and antisocial behavior.

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Farrington, D. P., Gaffney, H., & White, H. (2022). Effectiveness of 12 types of interventions in reducing juvenile offending and antisocial behaviour. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2022-0022 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  This paper reviews findings from systemic reviews to assess the efficiency of twelve intervention types in lowering anti-social and juvenile […]

Read more

What were youth development staff members’ experiences during COVID-19?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Woodberry-Shaw, D., Akiva, T., & Lewis, S. S. (2022). Youth development staff experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods study. Child & Youth Care Forum.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-022-09711-y Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Youth development staff play a key role in providing support for young people. This study examined the experiences of youth development […]

Read more

How funders can help build evaluation capacity in a non-profit

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Castillo, I. (2017, September 19). Building evaluation capacity within a nonprofit – How funders can help (and not cause Trouble). Venture Philanthropy Partners. http://www.vppartners.org/blog-post/building-evaluation-capacity-within-a-nonprofit-how-funders-can-help-and-not-cause-trouble/ Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Metrics are a valuable asset for funders and non-profits. By having numbers to back up findings, they are able to demonstrate the impact their […]

Read more

Schools are struggling to meet rising mental health needs, data show

/0 Comments/in /by

By Laura Meckler May 31, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. EDT Ask most teachers or principals about the mental health of their students this year, and they will tell you stories of how much worse things are than normal: More fights in the hallway. Students unable to focus in class. Depression and sadness. New federal data helps […]

Read more