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The Secret Sauce for Successful Youth Mentoring Programs

• Mentoring programs that involve parents and caregivers are more likely to have positive outcomes for youth (Rhodes, 2002).

• Involved parents and caregivers are more apt to have a positive view of their child’s mentoring relationship and to be more supportive of the match. (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002)

• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

The Science

“After two decades of experience in establishing, maintaining and evaluating mentoring programs, I have found that, for the most part, the role of the family in the mentoring experience has been minimal. It is time to take a look at the potential and benefits of the involvement of families in mentoring activities.” Dr. Susan Weinberger, International mentoring consultant & pioneer in designing first one-to-one school based mentoring program in the U.S..

Challenges in Family Engagement• Limited time of parents and of staff• Parent’s fear of being judged or criticized, feeling

unvalued, unwelcome• Communication difficulties, cultural barriers• Staff perception of parents• Strained relationships between parents and children.

The obstacles

Steps Toward Implementing Family Engagement Activities Getting Started

First-Level Family Engagement PracticesWriting Family Engagement Into Your Program Staff, Volunteer and Mentor Training 1. Sensitize both staff and mentors to the challenges

and difficulties in typical parents’ lives.2. Provide sensitivity training for staff and mentors

regarding how to reinforce parents and their role in promoting positive impacts.

Steps Toward Implementing Family Engagement Activities Getting Started

Second-Level Family Engagement PracticesInitiating Low Cost Measures for Showing Parents and Caregivers That You Value Them1. Congratulate parents for coming forward to give their

child the gift of a new friend.2.

Honor and celebrate parents or guardians as “good parent” who had the courage, caring and commitment to seek out or agree to a match.

3. Sending a note of congratulations to a parent for their role in improved grades or other positive changes of their child.

More Steps Toward Implementing Family Engagement Activities Getting

StartedThird-Level Family Engagement PracticesDesigning Program Activities That Regularly Engage Parents and Caretakers 1. Publicly celebrating parents during already existing

program activities.2. Developing more recognition events for parents.3. Adding family engagement sessions like “Super

Saturdays” and networking opportunities for parents.4. Forming a cadre of long-term parents as support

volunteers for your program.

More Steps Toward Implementing Family Engagement Activities Getting

StartedFourth-Level Family Engagement PracticesShifting Program to Be Family-Centered & Powered1. Conduct regular “family joining,” or home visits in the

evenings to build friendships with families and to ask for their input, inform them of their child’s involvement.

2.

Develop Family Engagement Parent Team of veteran parents who take the lead in working with staff to design and carry out family engagement activities including visits and events.

3. Develop monitoring, learning and evaluation tools that measure your impact on families.