Diversity in Youth Mentoring Relationships

In 2008, the Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring gathered leading mentoring researchers and practitioners to explore the nuances of race, culture, disability, developmental stage and community in youth mentoring relationships. 

The Institute explored many issues related to diversity in mentoring including:

• Should we match youth only with mentors of the same racial, ethnic, and cultural background?
• Do boys need a male mentor to benefit from the experience?
• Does mentoring “work,” or not, for certain populations of youth?
• What type of person makes a good mentor? And for whom?
• How do we train mentors to work effectively with youth from backgrounds vastly different than their own?

Michael Garringer of the National Mentoring Center summarized the 2008 Summer Institute for mentoring programs funded through the  US Department of Education. >> Download

Becky Cooper, of Friends for Youth Mentoring Institute, reported her impressions of the 2008 Summer Institute in her organization's newsletter. >> Download

Special Video Feature: Leading Researchers Discuss Issues of Diversity in Youth Mentoring

Laurie Powers, Ph.D., is Associate Dean for Research in the School of Social Work and Director of the Regional Research Institute for Human Services at Portland State University. Professor Powers is one of the foremost authorities on mentoring and individualized coaching of youth with disabilities.

Dr. Sanchez is an expert on the mentoring relationships of Latino adolescents and the role they play in the educational achievement of Latino youth. She has a special interest in cultural processes in volunteer mentoring relationships, especially when mentors and youth are from different races, ethnicities, or cultures. 

Jean Grossman, Ph.D., is an expert on after-school and youth mentoring programs, as well as evaluation design. She played leading roles in conducting the seminal PPV multi-site, randomized control design studies of Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based programs (in 1995) and school-based programs (in 2007) and has published numerous follow-up analyses based on data from these projects. Here she discusses issues gender-related issues in youth mentoring relationships as part of the 2008 Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring.

Michael Karcher, Ph.D., Ed.D., is Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at University of Texas-San Antonio. Professor Karcher is an expert on cross-age peer mentoring in schools, and he currently is conducting a major study funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation entitled “Effective interactions with Hispanic youth in school-based mentoring.” Professor Karcher is the author of numerous articles on mentoring in school settings, and he is co-editor of the landmark Handbook of Youth Mentoring.

2008 Summer Institute Research Fellows and Guest Speakers

Thomas Keller, Ph.D., Director of the Summer Institute

The Duncan and Cindy Campbell Professor for Children, Youth, and Families with an Emphasis on Mentoring in the School of Social Work at Portland State University. He is also Director of the PSU Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research. Professor Keller studies the development and influence of mentoring relationships in school and community settings and the role of parent involvement in mentoring interventions. Prior to earning his Ph.D., he worked for several years with a Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate in Seattle as a caseworker, supervisor, and program director.

Jean Grossman, Ph.D., Research Fellow

Lecturer and Research Associate in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and Senior Vice President for Research with Public/Private Ventures, a national non-profit research and policy organization. She is an expert on after-school and youth mentoring programs, as well as evaluation design. She played leading roles in conducting the seminal PPV multi-site, randomized control design studies of Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based programs (in 1995) and school-based programs (in 2007) and has published numerous follow-up analyses based on data from these projects.

Michael Karcher, Ph.D., Ed.D., Research Fellow

Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at University of Texas-San Antonio. Professor Karcher is an expert on cross-age peer mentoring in schools, and he currently is conducting a major study funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation entitled “Effective interactions with Hispanic youth in school-based mentoring.” Professor Karcher is the author of numerous articles on mentoring in school settings, and he is co-editor of the landmark Handbook of Youth Mentoring.

Laurie Powers, Ph.D., Research Fellow

Associate Dean for Research in the School of Social Work and Director of the Regional Research Institute for Human Services at Portland State University. Professor Powers is one of the foremost authorities on promoting self-determination among persons with diverse abilities and fostering successful transition of youth to adulthood. Her research includes the development and experimental evaluation of several interventions involving mentoring and individualized coaching of youth with disabilities.

Bernadette Sanchez, Ph.D., Research Fellow

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at DePaul University. She is an expert on the mentoring relationships of Latino adolescents and the role they play in the educational achievement of Latino youth. She has a special interest in cultural processes in volunteer mentoring relationships, especially when mentors and youth are from different races, ethnicities, or cultures. Her current research investigates these issues in a mentoring program for African American and Latina adolescent females and in another program for the diverse high school population in Chicago Public Schools.

Belle Liang, Ph.D., Guest Speaker

Associate Professor of Counseling and Developmental Psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Her expertise includes examination of interventions for high-risk and ethnic minority youth from cross-cultural and developmental perspectives, with particular emphasis on the influences of culture and gender in youth mentoring relationships. 

Marcelo Diversi, Ph.D., Guest Speaker

Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development at Washington State University. His research interests include the identity development in educational contexts of Latino adolescents as well as the experiences of street youth. He has studied the development of empowering adult-youth relationships among Latino(a) students and Caucasian mentors in a rural after-school program.