Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series

Race, Ethnicity,

and Culture in

Mentoring Relationships

August 15, 2013

2013 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series Planning Team

Sarah Kremer,

Friends for Youth

Michael Garringer,

Education Northwest

Dana Gold, MP of

SWPA

Polly Roach, MP of

Minnesota

Tammy Tai,

MENTOR

Molly Brenner,

MENTOR

Meghan Ferns,

Oregon Mentors

Good to Know…

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Webinar Series webpage, where all

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Today’s Webinar

• Why Race, Ethnicity, and Culture Matters in Mentoring – Michael Garringer, Resource Advisor, Education Northwest

• Researcher on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

– Bernadette Sánchez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, DePaul University

“Should youth and mentors be matched based on race, ethnicity, or cultural similarity?”

Michael Garringer

Resource Advisor, The National Mentoring Center at

Education Northwest

Michael Garringer is an information services professional

who has spent over 13 years providing mentoring

programs nationwide with research, resources, and

consultation to assist in the development, improvement,

and evaluation of their program practices. As a Resource

Advisor with the National Mentoring Center at Education

Northwest, he has worked as a technical assistance

provider to federally-funded mentoring initiatives

sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention, the US Department of

Education, and the Corporation for National and

Community Service.

Why do race and ethnicity matter in mentoring?

• It’s part of what mentors and mentees bring to the relationship

• It influences how staff members interact with participants

• Role modeling is often a big part of what mentors are charged with providing (the mentor as “mirror” to a future self)

Jean Rhodes’ Model of Youth Mentoring

The complicated nature of “identity”

• Private regard vs. public regard

• Centrality

• Extremely subjective -- no agreement on what “good” or “healthy” identity looks like

But this is a topic that needs to be discussed…

• Differences between deliverers and recipients of mentoring services

• Programs can often take an overly-simplistic approach to dealing with race

• Programs should think about how much race matters in terms of their goals and theory of change

Bernadette Sánchez, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology,

DePaul University

Bernadette Sánchez conducts research on youth

mentoring and positive youth development. Her research

has focused on the role of youth mentoring relationships

and education in mostly urban, low-income youth of

color. She has also examined the role of racial and

cultural processes in mentoring relationships as well as

the role of mentoring in cultural processes, such as

ethnic identity. She has have authored literature reviews

on the role of race, ethnicity, and culture in youth

mentoring for first and second editions of the leading

scholarly handbook for youth mentoring. Bernadette also

works with community-based organizations in helping

them develop and evaluate their mentoring programs.

Oppression

• Systematic denial of access to opportunities and resources (Prilleltensky, 2003).

• Can limit marginalized persons in various domains of their lives (e.g., educational) and can have negative psychological effects (Case & Hunter, 2012).

Racial Discrimination

• Urban, low-income adolescents of color report experiencing racial discrimination from adults (Greene, Way, & Pahl, 2006).

– This discrimination increases with age (Greene et al., 2006).

How racial discrimination is related to mentoring

• May make natural mentors less available

– Youth of color are less likely to identify natural mentors compared to White youth (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2009; Munson & McMillen, 2006).

– Similar-race adults in the lives of youth of color may be experiencing race-based stressors.

How mentors can help

• Mentors can help lessen the negative effect of racial discrimination on youth – Among African American boys with a natural

mentor • Racial discrimination was NOT related to school

behavior problems and school engagement

– Among African American boys without a natural mentor • More racial discrimination was related to more school

behavior problems and less engagement (Cooper et al., 2013)

Cultural mistrust

• Pervasive attitude that racial minority individuals have towards White individuals as a result of historical discrimination and oppression in the U.S. (Grant-Thompson & Atkinson, 1997)

– There could be cultural mistrust towards groups other than Whites.

How cultural mistrust is related to mentoring

• Serves as a barrier to developing quality mentoring relationships

– Found to be related to poorer quality relationships and to perception of mentor as less culturally competent (Sanchez et al., 2012)

Implication of cultural mistrust for mentoring programs

• Provide more support to mentoring relationships in which youth harbor cultural mistrust

Stereotype Threat

• Social psychological predicament, in which a group’s intellectual abilities are relevant, that reminds one about the negative stereotypes held by society (Steele, 1997).

– Induces anxiety

– May cause some youth to psychologically disengage from achievement (Aronson et al., 2002).

Interventions developed to address stereotype threat

• Intervention to help African American college students see intelligence as a malleable rather than fixed trait (Aronson et al., 2002).

– Led to more enjoyment with the academic process and greater academic engagement among students.

Mentoring intervention to address stereotype threat (Good et al., 2003)

• 7th grade students (mostly Latino & Black) assigned to either a – college student mentor who informed students

that intelligence was malleable, the tendency for all students to experience difficulty and bounce back or a combination of these messages OR

– Control group (antidrug program)

Implications of stereotype threat on mentoring

• Train mentors to talk about:

– intelligence as being malleable

• Through hard work and effort you can learn and improve.

– Transitions (e.g., transition to middle school) as a time when most students experience difficulty but they usually bounce back

Checklist from

Handbook of

Youth

Mentoring

Recommendations: Racial Similarity/Dissimilarity

• Consider the preferences of mentors, youth and parents regarding matching based on race, ethnicity, and culture.

• Assist mentors and youth in finding similarities on other dimensions (e.g. shared interests).

• Consider providing same-race/ethnicity mentors to youth who have few same-race/ethnicity role models or who might have internalized racism.

• Consider providing cross-race/ethnicity mentors to youth who have limited exposure to different cultures.

Recommendations: Racial/Ethnic Identity

• Consider the potential benefits of matching youth with

weaker ethnic identities with mentors with stronger ethnic identities to help catalyze the youth’s development of a positive identity.

• Integrate into programs opportunities for youth to explore their racial or ethnic heritage with the support of their mentors and staff.

• Assess youths’ ethnic or racial identity. Use this information to help inform whether your program is promoting healthy ethnic/racial identity among participating youth.

Recommendations: Cultural Competence

• Examine the cultural competence of mentors, the program/ organization (e.g., staff, policies), and the network of institutions that support it and develop strategic plans for addressing areas of concern.

• Ensure that program includes staff who share the same culture and language as the youth being served. Make a concerted effort to ensure that mentors recruited for the program include those whose cultural backgrounds are similar to those of youth.

• Consider providing training programs for mentors and staff that are organized around the components of Sue’s (2006) cultural competence framework (cultural awareness and beliefs; cultural knowledge; and cultural skills) and in doing so including a discussion of the social construction of race.

• Consider arranging for consultants (e.g., tribal elders) to assist with enhancing the cultural competence of programs and organizations.

• Assess mentors’ cultural competence using the Ethnocultural Empathy Scale (Wang et al., 2003)

• Assess youths’ perceptions of their mentors’ cultural sensitivity using the Cultural Sensitivity Scale - Mentee Report (Sánchez & DuBois, 2006b)

Recommendations: Cultural Competence

Resources

• Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Mentoring chapter in Handbook on Youth Mentoring, 2nd Ed.

• Cultural Sensitivity Scale - Mentee Report (Sanchez & DuBois, 2006b)

• Ethnocultural Empathy Scale (Wang et al., 2003)

• Bernadette Sanchez, Ph.D. bsanchez@depaul.edu

http://www.mentoring.org/program_resources/training_opportunities/collaborative_mentoring_webinar_series/

Remember…

After the webinar:

Please help us out by answering survey questions at the end of the webinar.

Everyone will get an email with information on how to

download the slides, recording, and resources on the CMWS webpage on the MENTOR website:

http://www.mentoring.org/program_resources/training_opportunities/collaborative_mentoring_webinar_series/

Access CMWS Information All Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series information for upcoming and past

webinars is on the new CMWS webpage on the MENTOR website!

2013 Collaborative Mentoring Webinar Series Thank you for participating today!

Topic: Mentoring Training

Registration will open next week on the

MENTOR website.

Sarah Kremer,

Friends for Youth Michael Garringer,

Education Northwest

Meghan Ferns,

Oregon Mentors

Dana Gold, MP of

SWPA

Polly Roach, MP of

Minnesota

Tammy Tai,

MENTOR Molly Brenner,

MENTOR

Next Webinar:

September 19,

2013 1:00-2:15PM EST/

10:00-11:15AM PST