INNOVATIVE MATCH SUPPORTGetting ready to serve special populations of youth

Michael O’Teter, Vice President of Program, BBBS Lone StarKaty White & Jen Walper Roberts, Dare Mighty Things

Introductions

Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star• Headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, with

14 regional offices in communities across all of north, west-central and east Texas, as well as the Greater Houston community

• Serving almost 10,000 children with a mentor each year

Dare Mighty Things, Inc. • Consulting company specializing in performance

management solutions for those working with vulnerable populations

• Serving as an outside evaluator for the Caruth Foundation

Caruth Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Initiative

Goals:• Pilot an effective approach

to prevent and reduce crime in Dallas County

• Advance the frontier on successful intervention with high-risk children and youth

Target Populations:• Children at-risk for early

academic failure• Truant adolescents• Adjudicated adolescents

Develop School

Partnerships

Retain Match

support Specialists

House In Order

Infuse Educational Strategies

What have you tried?…to develop and retain

high-quality match support specialists (mentoring managers/supervisors)?

… to infuse school-connectedness strategies into your mentoring program?

…to develop school partnerships?

Enhance Standing of MSS

To develop and retain high quality MSS’s, we implemented:

Development Based Training & Supervision

Comprehensive Annual Evaluation

Salary Adjustments

Recognition and Compensation Plan

Reduced Caseload

Educational Support

Phase 3 (Focus Intervention): Tailor educational consultations & pla

ns

Phase 2 (Piqué Interest): Engage matches in educatio

nally focused match activities

Phase I (Lay Foundation):

Solidify relationship & expose match to educational resources

Raising the Bar

Researched Based

Recruitment

Market research data-driven recruiting to enroll “High Performing”

mentors

Mentors Commitm

ent: Higher

expectations for commitment,

pre-match training and

screening

Family Commitm

ent:Pre-match

training orientation and

participation expectations

School Partner

Commitment:

Stronger commitment

requirements and critical mass

of students

Faith Partnerships

Corporate Partnerships

mentor2.0

Over to You!How can we build upon

these foundations to meet the needs of youth who

have been truant or adjudicated?Communit

y Based Mentoring

Table Discussion

mentor2.0 Table

Discussion