 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||
| |
|
|
|
||
| |
|
|
|
||
| |
|
||||
| |
|
|
|||
| |
|
||||
| |
|
||||
Community for Youth: Mentoring Youth, Building Futures, Changing Lives
by Sean Cameron
When Kelvin was eleven years old, he found himself faced with a series of difficulties. The death of his mother was followed quickly by the imprisonment of his father and older brother who were both dealing drugs. Over the span of a few months five of Kelvin's friends died by suicide or as the result of violent crime. By the time Kelvin entered high school he had been a drug user, a drug dealer, and had routinely carried a gun. He might not have graduated from high school, or even lived to his eighteenth birthday had he not made drastic changes in his ways of living.
Fortunately, when Kelvin entered high school, a representative of Community for Youth http://www.communityforyouth.org/index.html spoke to his class about the Steps Ahead mentoring program. Kelvin applied, was accepted, and enrolled. At the four-day Launch Course with Steps Ahead in his freshman year, Kelvin made it his goal to graduate from high school. In 2004, he earned his diploma. He would later say, "If the people at Community for Youth weren't there for me, I don't think I would be here right now." Kelvin's story is exemplary because it is not exceptional.
Community for Youth serves at-risk youth in Seattle's three most challenged high schools. Cleveland, Chief Sealth, and Rainier Beach have the lowest standardized test scores and graduation rates among district high schools. 92% of students participating in CfY are minority youth, 60% of students qualify to free lunch program, and only 22% of students live with both their parents. These are the criteria in the definition of "at-risk youth" provided by MENTOR in its 2004 report on mentoring in Washington state ("State of Mentoring" 6). Community for Youth pairs at-risk students with committed, well-trained volunteer mentors who stand by them as the students work to achieve goals they have set for themselves.
It is a demanding yet rewarding program for both students and mentors. They both learn what means to make a commitment, participate 100% and to make choices. The year is filled with weekly group gathering, as well as one-on-one time with mentors. After a competitive admissions process—students must be both "at risk," willing to work hard, and have goals they want to achieve—and a brief orientation, students and mentors embark upon a four-day Launch Course at a local retreat center. It's an intensive community-building time, which also introduces the program's emphasis on goal setting. Students and mentors are encouraged to see the ways in which they have choice over how they define themselves, how they act, and what they achieve. Both students and mentors identify one goal to achieve by the end of the school year and commit to taking all the steps necessary for their own success. Throughout the year mentors and students support each other in the goals that they set.
Students and mentors participate in choosing their match. At the end of the weekend, all participants list three people with whom they have formed especially strong bonds. With this information, Community for Youth staff pair mentors and students and announce these new unions at Match Night which follows the Launch Course retreat. Match Night is a festive and celebratory occasion that brings the energy and community generated over the retreat back home, into Seattle and into the schools.
After the Launch Course the program enters the monthly rhythm it will maintain throughout the school year. Three weeks of each month students and mentors meet together for a life-skills workshop, a fun large-group activity, or for one-on-one time as mentor and student. The fourth week is reserved for important training for mentors, one of the keys to Community for Youth's success.
Mentorship and the strict demands it makes—to refrain from advice-giving, imposing beliefs or becoming attached to the successes and failures of students rather than to the students themselves—do not come naturally to many people. Mentors learn to be a consistent, non-judgmental, persistent presence attached enough to be a friend but detached enough not to be a parent. Mentors talk together as a group once a month about the trials and triumphs of their efforts and role-play common situations. Barbara had trouble getting a student to follow through on a commitment to meet for one-on-one time at an appointed place and time. When a mentor is expected to be a relentless commitment, it can be very disheartening when a student is consistently absent. But with the support of her fellow mentor's encouragement and advice, as well as the school's experienced program manager at the monthly mentor training, Barbara was able to navigate the hurdles between herself, her student, and her student's success.
The mentor becomes a friend who simply will not go away. Community for Youth calls this a relentless commitment, to support the student through his or her successes and failures without passing judgment, imposing advice or beliefs, or giving up. The first job of the mentor is to be reliable and consistent. Because mentoring is a relational activity, establishing reliability is fundamental. Before a student can feel comfortable talking about the challenges of his or her life and of meeting his or her goals, a trusting relationship must be established between student and mentor. Similarly, that same trust is needed for the student to ask for and respond to the mentors; coaching. Coaching is about placing the students best interest at the center of a discussion and activity. It is a nondirective, Socratic process in which the mentor, through open questions, helps guide the student to see the choices available in a given situation, to foresee the potential consequences of those choices, and to commit to a certain course of action. The mentors learn to ask the questions that help the student see the available options and then remain a relentless commitment to the student as he or she follows the selected path to the next fork. Ultimately, however, the student is not accountable to the mentor for his or her success and failures. The student has made goals and choices, and the accountability for the consequences, which will rest ultimately upon him or herself.
Stories like Kelvin's are not uncommon. Community for Youth has achieved a 98% graduation rate among students who remain in the program for all four years of high school. District wide, the graduation rate is only 58.9%. In addition, students report lifestyle improvements such as increased self-confidence, a greater sense of personal accountability; feeling connected to a supportive community, and improved relationships with friends and family. Community for Youth's program of one-on-one mentoring combined with participation in a caring, consistent, non-judgmental community has been very successful. Through the close participation of concerned adults in the lives of teens, Community for Youth is making a positive impact in Seattle schools and an invaluable impact in supporting the Seattle community as a whole.
References
For more information about Community for Youth visit http://www.communityforyouth.org or contact Executive Director Margy Bresslour at (206) 325-8480 or info@communityforyouth.org.
"2004 Demographic Summary: Rainier Beach High." 1 Jan. 2005. Seattle Public Schools. 2 Aug. 2005 http://www.seattleschools.org/area/siso/test/schoolpages/ 021.xml
"The State of Mentoring Report For Washington." Washington State Mentoring Partnership. 2004.
Sean Cameron recently graduated from The University of Washington. He is a high school cross country coach and former writing center tutor.
©September 2005 New Horizons for Learning
This information
is provided by a grant from the
Office of State Superintendent of Public
Instruction
Special Education
P O Box 47200
Olympia, WA 98504-7200
(360) 725-6088
Fax (360)586-1631
E-mail:
dgill@ospi.wednet.edu
You
are here: