INTENTIONAL MENTORING YOUTH INITIATED MENTORING FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE YOUTH A cutting edge mentor matching process originally brought to Omaha by our organization and implemented in 2014, called Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM), is extremely successful with justice involved youth. YIM harnesses a young person’s ability to recruit adults in their lives who are likely qualified for mentorship and who are aware of that particular youth’s background, personal history and challenges. In 2018, research on our YIM model was featured in the Journal of Adolescent Research. Findings from the study, conducted by Dr. Renee Spencer of Boston University and Dr. Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, found the YIM approach “empowered the youth to identify a mentor on their own, which allowed them the opportunity to reflect on and define what attributes of a mentor they found most important.” The study also found youth spoke about how having a say in who their mentor would be was a part of what motivated them to decide to participate in the mentoring program.
SUCCESS MENTORS FOR CHRONICALLY ABSENT YOUTH Based on a model implemented in 2010 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and rolled out in 2015 under the Obama White House’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, our organization brought the Success Mentors model to Omaha in 2017, to help support students who struggle with chronic absenteeism. This model has been facilitated in partnership with Omaha Public Schools (OPS). In the 17-18 school year, 135 students were served across six OPS schools. The schools include: Skinner Elementary, King Science & Technology Magnet, Belvedere Elementary, Minne Lusa Elementary, Conestoga Elementary and Monroe Middle School.
STRIVE MENTORING FOR REFUGEE YOUTH Project STRIVE is a partnership with Omaha Public Schools funded through the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that will support the mentoring of refugee youth at Benson High School. The mentoring program has three goals: 1) to increase the civic and social engagement of refugee students, 2) to promote the education and vocational advancement of refugee students, and 3) to develop a transition plan for refugee students.
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