501(c)(3) Changing the World...One Child at a Time.
Hands Across the Water 501c3 - EIN# 26-3448083
29 Deacon Circle
Southington, CT 06489
ph: 860-620-3735
fax: 860-620-3700
alt: 860-620-3705
support
In Touch Youth Mentoring Program
Our Philosophy and Mission
“We must fix broken schools!” That seems to be the mantra today of every politician trying to get elected lately. However, we at In Touch Youth Mentoring believe that trying to fix broken schools is an impossibility. It is not the schools that are broken, it is the community in which those schools are located that is broken. Schools are simply reflections of those communities. The problems with inequities we have failed to solve in society exist in our schools. Whether it be unemployment, the loss of good manufacturing jobs, or simply the endless cycle of poverty, there are certain endemic issues that keep some communities from prospering.
It is not a coincidence that, regardless of race, communities with low socioeconomic status have broken schools. We believe that building positive relationships between the schools and the communities is what is needed. If we support the community it would then in turn support the schools.
Our approach to youth mentoring comes from decades of experience working in education. We believe that our unique blend of both the school-based and community-based mentoring models is more effective than any other approach to school reform today. Our youth mentoring program is called In Touch for a reason. All of our mentors are certified, highly-qualified, public school teachers housed in the same buildings as their mentees. This gives them the opportunity to keep “in touch” with their mentees throughout the day (school-based) and because our program is not affiliated with the public schools our mentors have the freedom to meet with their mentees anywhere and at any time after the school day ends (community-based). This allows us to overcome the disconnect between the time the students are released from school and the time they return in the morning. This is a very precarious time for our students. Whether it be the call of the streets, peer pressure, hormonal pressures from the opposite sex, boredom, or any of the other myriad societal issues facing our youth, many of our students get lost during this period of time.
In Touch youth mentors are able to remove or reduce some of these pressures from our students by making themselves available at any time for their mentees, during this precarious, period of disconnect. Whether it be face to face time, phone, email, or even through texting, our mentors are always “in touch” with their mentees and their mentees always know that their mentor is there whenever they need them. We go a step further in trying to keep our students from straying on the right path by actually trying to reduce the period of disconnect that causes so many problems for our kids. We keep them involved and attached to the safety of the school by offering things like: tutoring, project-based learning activities, sports, computer training, AIDS, gangs, and drug awareness training, job skills and work readiness programs, guest speakers, and whatever else the students request, after school hours. At some of our locations (with the capabilities) we are doing things like web design, culinary arts, cosmetology, movie production, and audio recording. We also take an inventory of the skills our mentors, parents, and community partners have in an attempt to widen the range of offerings that the students can take advantage of – a the while keeping the community involved and engaged at all times.
Lastly, we are in the business of expanding horizons. Like Dante’s cave, many of our students are stuck in a corner of their city that they perceive to be the whole world. It is only when they are removed from their everyday surroundings and brought to a different place that they are able to see broadened horizons and expanding opportunities. Most of all they are able to see that some of the problems inherent in low socioeconomic areas, that over time have come to seem “normal” to them, are just not there in other areas.
When everything is said and done, and the mentoring program is over, quite simply we offer one very special thing that the majority of our inner city youth never understood that they had – possibilities.
An "Evidence-Based" Model for Youth Mentoring
The In Touch Youth Mentoring Program utilizes a “risk-focused prevention” strategy that strives to eliminate or reduce those risk factors that lead to problem behavior, while increasing protective factors to counter those risks, based on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters model. In Touch also utilizes a creative mix of the “community-based” and “school-based” mentoring models. Using only highly-qualified, state-certified teachers as mentors and data driven tutoring programs to help the students, we use the “school-based” model, but meeting for a longer duration and in locations of the mentee’s choice outside of schools, we use the “community-based” model.
Youth today are faced with a host of risk factors that increase their chances of problem behaviors. Research indicates that effective prevention programs must both reduce risk factors that increase the risk of problem behavior and enhance protective factors that buffer children from risk. This "risk-focused prevention" strategy identifies risk factors and introduces protective factors at the earliest possible time to reduce and counter risks (Hawkins and Catalano, 1992). Thus, the goal of mentoring programs is to support the development of healthy individuals by addressing the need for positive adult contact and, thereby, reducing risk factors (e.g., early and persistent antisocial behavior, alienation, family management problems, and lack of commitment to school) and enhancing protective factors (e.g., healthy beliefs, opportunities for involvement, and social and material reinforcement for appropriate behavior). The strength of the mentoring concept comes from the fact that it can impact so many different risk factors and can support many different protective factors at the same time. In fact, the mere presence of a mentor "can provide a youth with personal connectedness, supervision and guidance, skills training, career or cultural enrichment opportunities, a knowledge of spirituality and values, a sense of self-worth, and perhaps most important, goals and hope for the future" (U.S. Department of Justice, 1998).
Resilience research provides clues to the possible reasons for the success of mentoring programs. Resilience is defined as the capacity of those who are exposed to identifiable risk factors to overcome those risks and avoid long term negative outcomes such as delinquency or school problems (Rak and Patterson, 1996). The two factors that are frequently cited as predictors of resilience are: 1) the presence of someone to relate to; and 2) the ability to generate that relationship (Werner, 1984). Similarly, these two factors are the foundations of the mentoring concept. As a result, resilience research demonstrates that at risk youth who are involved with at least one caring adult are more likely to withstand the range of negative influences, including poverty, parental addiction, family mental illness, and family discord than are peers who are not involved in a similar relationship.
EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS
Not all mentoring programs are successful, researchers (Tierny and Grossman, 1995) evaluating the BIG Brothers/Big Sisters (BB/BS) program found that certain aspects of are essential in implementing mentoring programs. These include
The researchers also found several factors that serve as prerequisites for successful mentoring programs. These recommendations are all included in the In Touch Youth Mentoring Program:
Include the following:
Measurement of success for In Touch Youth Mentoring is accessed using a variety of “evidence-based” methods. A weekly progress report is issued, which includes both qualitative and quantitative measurements. Achievement based on grades, attendance/tardies, and disciplinary records are all recorded quantitatively. Personal outlook, social interaction, and personal/family issues are recorded qualitatively on the same progress report.
The software application En Grade is used to record and measure the mentee’s success. All of the quantitative measurements are based on a mentee’s baseline records – attendance/tardies, grades, and disciplinary action – against post mentoring results. A minimum 30% increase in positive factors is mandatory.
To ensure that our mentoring program is successful we utilize an intervention technique called – Cooperative Pupil Redirection. This method involves consistent and positive contact between all parties – the mentors, the mentees, their teachers and administrators, and the family and community. Regular meetings between the interested parties keep the mentors in touch with everyone involved with the mentee and works to keep “risk-focused” factors low and positive factors high.
IMPORTANT FACTORS OF THE PROGRAM
Parent and Community Involvement
Outcomes
MENTOR INFORMATION
Screening Process
Mentor Training
Formal mentoring programs have been established to compensate for the lack of positive influences or protective factors. Traditionally, formal mentoring programs can be either school-based or community-based. The basic difference between the two is that in community-based mentoring programs the mentor and mentee meet wherever the youth chooses. On the other hand, in a school-based mentoring program the mentor and mentee meet at a school in a supervised setting. We have decided to utilize a creative mix of both.
In Touch’s Mixed School- and Community-Based Mentoring Program | |
School Based | Community Based |
Meet in school in a supervised setting | Meet wherever youth or mentor chooses |
Reduced mentor screening | High mentor screening |
Regularly scheduled meeting time | Meeting time is variable |
Shorter term commitment | Longer commitment |
Matching is less stringent | Matching is more stringent |
Matches spend less time together | Matches spend more time together |
More likely that program dictates activities | Youth and mentor choose activities together |
Mentors in school-based programs spend more time working on academics or doing homework with their mentees (who are more often selected based on their lack of school success). School-based mentors also have more contact with teachers and feel more effective in influencing their mentee's educational achievement. This is why we utilize this model. However, in community-based programs, mentors spend more time in social activities, have more contact with parents and feel more effective in influencing their mentee's social behavior. We feel like this is a more effective way to bring the community together and in touch with our program. Another important distinction is that school-based programs deliver only half the number of mentor-mentee contact hours (6 hours a month, compared with 12), and are also significantly less expensive per youth ($567 compared with $1,369, annually) (Herrera, Sipe, and McClanahan, 2000). In summary, the results indicate that the "school-based approach to providing disadvantaged youth with volunteer mentors provides a promising complement to the traditional community-based model. School-based mentors report relationships with youth that are similar in quality to those observed among mentors in community-based programs. On the other hand, well-implemented community-based programs yield a wide range of benefits that may not be realized in school-based programs" (Herrera, Sipe, and McClanahan, 2000; 9). It is evident that there are benefits to both programs – that is why we utilize portions of both. Our mixed method is both less expensive (school-based) AND delivers more contact hours (community-based).
DATA COLLECTION – QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE MEASUREMENTS
Discipline
Absences and Tardies
Achievement
Health
Individual Behavioral Modification Plan
Data Collection Method
MENTEE INFORMATION
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Weekly “Jam” Sessions (group meetings): all mentors, mentees, interns, and volunteers
Additional Offerings: students will be able to choose from these activities on a rotating basis:
Family BBQs and dinners
End of the year - Success Celebration:
To be part of the In Touch Youth Mentoring Program please do not hesistate to Contact Us. To contribute to the success of the program please click on the link below:
Copyright 2010 Hands Across the Water. All rights reserved.
Hands Across the Water 501c3 - EIN# 26-3448083
29 Deacon Circle
Southington, CT 06489
ph: 860-620-3735
fax: 860-620-3700
alt: 860-620-3705
support