Mentoring - Resources and Tools

Elements of effective practice. (2003). MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.
http://www.mentoring.org/program_staff/ViewFile_new.php?id=441&type=RI&filename=
www.mentoring.org/_DownloadFiles/elementseffectivepractice.pdf
The guidelines presented here are geared toward helping mentoring relationships thrive and endure. They include measures any mentoring program can implement to offer the best mentoring possible — mentoring that does everything in its power to help young people and keep them from harm's way. These guidelines are based on solid research — research that affirms the importance of accountability and responsibility in meeting young people's needs. And, they are based on experience: The first mentoring Elements of Effective Practice were developed and published in 1990 by a national panel of mentoring experts brought together by MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership and United Way of America. For more than a decade, those Elements served as the gold standard for mentoring. These new guidelines are the culmination of a process that, once again, brought together many of the nation's foremost authorities on mentoring. In 2003, this newly formed group began by reassessing the existing Elements. They took the best of those Elements and added new ideas and new practices that reflect the latest in mentoring policies, practices, experiences and research.

Goode, Sr., W. W. and Smith, T. J. (2005). Building from the ground up: Creating effective programs to mentor children of prisoners (The Amachi Model). Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/185_publication.pdf
Drawing from P/PV’s five years of hands-on experience designing and implementing Amachi programs around the country Building From The Ground Up describes best practices for planning, developing and managing a mentoring-children-of-prisoners program. This guidebook is essential for learning the professional procedures, standards and administrative tools required to have an effective program.

Grossman, J.B., & Furano, K. (2002). Making the Most of Volunteers. Public/Private Ventures. http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/152_publication.pdf
This essay discusses the elements that experience has shown need to be in place to allow volunteers to be most effective. The insights come from studying hundreds of programs that use volunteers heavily-mentoring programs, service programs, and local community change initiatives. Research and practical field examples are presented that highlight the importance of screening, training, and volunteer management. These three practices were found to be critical to the success of any program utilizing volunteers; without the adequate infrastructure in place, volunteers can be wasted or cause damage.

How to build a successful mentoring program using the elements of effective practice: A step-by-step tool kit for program managers. MENTOR/National Mentoring partnership.
www.mentoring.org/eeptoolkit
This comprehensive tool kit includes tools, templates and advice for implementing and adhering to the second edition of the Elements of Effective Practice—rigorous guidelines that, when followed, will help to ensure quality mentoring. The tool kit contains OVER 160 ready-to-use tools that you can download and adapt to your program's needs.

Ingram, B., Johnston, D., & North, D. When stakes are high: Research-based mentoring for youth with multiple risk factors, Santa Monica: Evaluation, Management, Training.
Ten percent of youths face multiple challenges on the road to adulthood. They live in communities where violence, poverty, substance abuse, parental incarceration, parental mental illness, family violence, child abuse, high unemployment or underemployment, high rates of criminal and youth gang activity and poor community resources and infrastructures play powerful roles in their lives. Children who are high risk may include homeless children, children of substance-dependant parents, children of criminal offenders or incarcerated parents, children in foster care, and children on probation or in correctional settings. Youth who have been classified as high risk require effective mentoring programs that are specifically designed to address their issues. This training is designed to help programs that are considering serving these youth through mentoring with developing a sound program. Successful programs include the following elements: adequate planning that includes stakeholders from the community, especially youth, infrastructures that support the program design and operations, including long-term funding sources, sustainability, and an evaluation plan. This workshop will give readers a deeper understanding of the developmental issues associated with youth viewed as high risk, knowledge of current research findings regarding mentoring with this population, the ability to assess one’s own program infrastructure and suitability to provide mentoring, understand the process of screening, training, and supervision for mentors working with these youth, an opportunity to examine intervention practices with youth that help sustain mentoring relationships, and an understanding of the evaluation process for a mentoring program.

Jucovy, L. (2001). Building relationships: A Guide for new mentors. The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packfour.pdf
Several years ago, Public/Private Ventures, a research organization in Philadelphia, set out to learn what helps successful mentoring relationships develop. They also wanted to understand why some mentoring relationships are not successful—why the mentor and youth do not meet regularly, why a friendship never develops between them, and why the pair breaks up. The organization looked closely at 82 pairs of mentors and youth, ages 10 to 15, in Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programs around the country.

Jucovy, L. (2002). Measuring the quality of mentor-youth relationships: A tool for mentoring programs. The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packeight.pdf
All programs struggle to a greater or lesser extent with mentor-youth matches that fail to develop into the kinds of supportive relationships that can lead to positive outcomes. And even programs that carefully monitor individual matches rarely have the opportunity or resources to step back and look at the patterns across all of their matches in order to assess overall strengths and weaknesses, identify the sources of recurring problems, and make necessary changes in program practices. The material in this Technical Assistance Packet is intended to help programs both monitor individual matches and develop a larger picture that provides a composite view of the strengths and shortcomings of all their matches. The following pages should prepare program operators and staff to administer a survey to youth in their programs, score the survey and perform basic analyses of the scores, and understand how to use their findings to improve program practices.

Jucovy, L. (2000). Mentoring sexual minority youth. Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/33_publication.pdf
It is estimated that up to 10 percent of the U.S. population is lesbian or gay. Thus, one can assume that some of the teenagers being served by mentoring programs are members of this sizeable minority group. Understanding the issues these young people face can help programs create an environment where gay and lesbian youth benefit from the adult caring and support that is at the heart of mentoring. This technical assistance packet, written by P/PV and published by the National Mentoring Center at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, describes the significant obstacles confronting lesbian and gay youth. It also suggests initial steps and mentor training that programs can implement to make gay and lesbian youth feel safe and welcome.

Jucovy, L. (2001). Recruiting mentors: A Guide to finding volunteers to work with youth. The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packthree.pdf
Recruiting mentors is an ongoing challenge for almost all programs. In most communities, there is increased competition for volunteers—and especially for people who possess both the available time and the kinds of personal characteristics that are required of mentors. There are no easy solutions for the challenges of recruiting. However, a systematic recruitment plan, carefully developed and implemented, will increase your chances of success. Drawing on effective practices used by volunteer-based organizations and on research findings about mentoring, the following material describes recruitment strategies that programs can adapt to meet their particular circumstances. The next section outlines key steps in developing and implementing any targeted mentor recruitment plan, while later sections look more specifically at approaches for recruiting two large groups of potential mentors: college students and older adults. The conclusion lists some important next steps after recruitment. The material also includes a checklist and worksheets to help guide planning, a list of additional resources, and an appendix that contains sample forms and useful readings.

Jucovy, L. (2002). Same-race and cross-race matching. The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packseven.pdf
Each program has to make its own decisions about the complex issue of same race and cross-race matching. The following pages are intended to help inform those decisions: The second section, “The Question of Race,” provides an overview of the debate. It outlines arguments used in defense of same-race and cross-race matching, looks at results of research that has examined the strength of the mentor-youth relationships and the outcomes for youth in both kinds of matches, and provides cautions about those research findings. The arguments and research about same-race and cross-race matching have both philosophical and practical implications for programs. The third section, “Considerations for Program Practices,” suggests practices that programs can consider implementing to address some of those implications. All mentors, regardless of whether they are matched with youth of the same race, could probably benefit from training in cultural understanding. And for mentors who are a different race than their mentee, such training is critical. The fourth section, “Training Mentors in Cultural Understanding,” provides information about conducting this training and includes suggested activities.

Jucovy, L. (2001). Supporting mentors: The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packsix.pdf
The following pages are intended to guide you through the process of developing and implementing program strategies that support your mentors, help them build trusting relationships with their mentees, and, ultimately, contribute to positive outcomes for the children and youth in your program. The first section, Monitoring the Relationships, examines approaches for monitoring and supervising mentors, while the next section, Providing Ongoing Training and Support, provides suggestions for in-service training and other forms of ongoing mentor support. The Conclusion describes strategies for recognizing your mentors’ accomplishments, both individually and collectively. The material also includes checklists to help guide your planning and a list of additional resources.

Jucovy, L. (2001). Training new mentors. The National Mentoring Center, Public/Private Ventures.
www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/packfive.pdf
The following material focuses on training new mentors, and includes suggested activities for two workshops that, together, add up to between five and six hours of training. Because the tone of a mentor-youth relationship can be set quickly during the first few meetings, it is important that some training take place before the two begin to meet. Thus, the activities included here are intended as pre-service training. The next technical assistance packet in this series will discuss ongoing training for mentors, as well as other forms of program support.

Kaplan, C. & Engel, L. (2007). CORI: Opening Doors of Opportunity: A Workforce and Public Safety Imperative. Report of the Task Force on CORI Employer Guidelines. The Boston Foundation,
www.tbf.org.
This report documents the findings of the Task Force on CORI Employer Guidelines, which met over a 8-month period to identify opportunities to improve access to employment for low-risk, qualified applicants with CORI, while continuing to protect vulnerable populations. The report includes a number of recommendations to benefit both employers and individuals with CORI.

Technical Assistance Bulletin: You Can Use Communications Principles to create Culturally Sensitive and Effective Prevention Materials (1994). Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
This bulletin will help in identifying ways to incorporate cultural sensitivity and effectiveness into communication projects. Methods of targeting groups for messages and materials are viewed on two dimensions: a) Primary-based on culture and linked to race, ethnicity, language, nationality, and religion; b) Secondary-based on additional elements such as age, gender, sexual preference, educational level, occupation, and income.