Profiles in Mentoring: Katherine Tyson McCrea on Uplifting Youth Mentors of Color

Katherine Tyson McCrea, PhD., is the Principal Investigator of the Empowering Counseling Program Participatory Science Initiative (ECP-PSI), and professor at the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work.

For nearly two decades, Dr. McCrea has led ECP-PSI in providing free mental health and enrichment programming to over 1,000 marginalized youth, while advancing participatory research that centers youth voices and informs more equitable social policies and practices. We recently had the honor of speaking with Dr. McCrea about her recent paper on supporting youth mentors of color. 

Chronicle (C): What originally drew you to explore the experiences of youth mentors, particularly those of color in under-resourced communities?

Katherine Tyson McCrea (KTM): Our participatory focus led us to gather data using peer-to-peer, youth co-developed interview protocols, over the course of 15 years of providing youth programs. We focused on the program and curricular elements youth said were most helpful to them in their personal and academic development towards positive life trajectories. The program element they consistently said was most meaningful to them was being mentors of community children. This led us to write the paper, “The promise of an accumulation of care…” and then to partner in obtaining a DOJ grant to carry out the Saving Lives, Inspiring Youth cross-age mentoring program and study its impact.

C: In your interviews, what responses from the youth mentors most surprised or moved you?

KTM: We have a paper in press now based on a photodocumentary in which mentors and mentees responded to the question, “What does mentoring mean to you?” The youths’ responses indicated, more than we had expected, sophisticated “folk theories” of how the mentoring relationship is impactful, with therapeutic elements specifically targeted for the needs of youth of color in high-burden communities. The sophistication of the youths’ theories of change was a wonderful surprise. In addition, throughout the program we were moved by the depth of connection youth sought and the fulfillment they experienced and expressed in caring for each other.

C: What do you see as the most urgent implication for mentoring programs aiming to support youth mentors (and not just their mentees), especially in communities facing systemic disadvantage?

KTM: It is very important that programs and funders provide resources for youth experiencing poverty (food, clothing, transportation, water, medical care referrals, hygiene supplies). This is often overlooked. Further, as is noted in the “We are not all gang-bangers” paper, these youth experience the greatest and most traumatic stressors of any sub-population of youth in the U.S. The degree of traumatic stress is often overlooked in programs that only focus on changing thinking or behavior. Youth in high-burden communities need programs that include counseling and group supports to mitigate traumatic stress, hence the importance of our intensive, relationally-focused support model for mentors and mentees. This is also why cross-age mentoring is so impactful: It focuses on building nurturing relationships via providing nurturing relationships, directly counteracting the fear, avoidance and excessive anger associated with high levels of stress. Because two youth are supported at once (mentor and mentee), it is a cost-effective way to provide much-needed relational supports and positive networks. Cross-age mentoring also provides essential opportunities to practice and learn employable skills, such as teaching, counseling, communication, conflict resolution, etc. Mentors and mentees wanted their programs to provide opportunities for support academically and in pursuing gainful, productive career paths. Finally, as we describe in our papers above, cross-age mentoring resonates with cultural strengths of youth of color, and so is welcomed and appreciated by them, leading to high rates of engagement which are essential for the impact of mentoring and youth programs in general.

P.S. We have several other papers documenting how impactful cross-age mentoring programs are for youth of color in high-burden communities:

Bulanda, J. and K. T. McCrea (2013). “The promise of an accumulation of care: Disadvantaged African-American youths’ perspectives about what makes an after school program meaningful.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal 30: 95-118. 10.1007/s10560-012-0281-1

McCrea, K. T., M. Richards, K. Wilkins, A. Moore, K. Miller, C. Onyeka, H. Watson, D. Denton, U. Temple and T. Smith (2023). ““We are not all gang-bangers”: Youth in high-crime, high-poverty urban U.S. communities of color describe their attitudes towards violence, struggles, and aspirations.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 10.1080/10911359.2023.2295516

McCrea, K. T., K. Wilkins, M. Richards, O. C. Onyeka, K. Miller, C. DiClemente, A. Moore, H. Watson, K. Gillis-Harrie, G. Martin and N. Williams (2024). ““We got to stand up and speak”: Youth in high-poverty, high-crime urban communities of color reflect on their cross-age mentoring program.” Children and Youth Services Review 163: 1-13. 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107685 

Quimby, D., M. Richards, C. Onyeka, K. Miller, K. T. McCrea, Z. Smith and D. Denton (2022). “The Effects of Cross-Age Peer Mentoring on Adolescent Mentors of Color Residing in Low Income, Urban Communities.” Youth and Society 55(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X221115761 

Richards, M., C. R. Dusing, K. Miller, O. Onyeka, A. Moore, J. Phan, D. Quimby and K. T. McCrea (2022). Stress, resilience, and empowerment: A trauma-informed mentoring model for youth of color. Un-silencing youth trauma: Transformative school-based strategies for students exposed to violence and adversity. L. Garo, B. B. and C. Lewis. Charlotte, NC, Information Age Publishing: 39-58.