Join us for an Exciting Opportunity to Improve Mentor Skills and Youth Outcomes!

Michigan 4-H Youth Mentoring is partnering with the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University to evaluate new Positive Youth Development (PYD) tools that have been created as a result of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Richard M. Lerner (Tufts University), Jacqueline V. Lerner (Boston College), and Edmond P. Bowers (Tufts University) provide leadership for this project. Project GPS introduces mentors to tools that can be used to assist their mentee in goal selection (G), pursuit of goals (P), and shifting gears when the going gets tough (S). If we can enhance the ability of the mentors involved in youth programs to promote and develop GPS skills among the young people with whom they are working, then youth will thrive. Michigan mentoring programs and other youth development programs that meet the criteria are invited to take part in Project GPS. This is a wonderful opportunity for programs, mentors, and the youth they serve. We are fortunate that Michigan has been selected to participate in this project.
 
Please join us for a webinar to learn more about this exciting opportunity and how you can get involved.  We will be joined by Edmond Bowers, the Director of the GPS Project, who will share a brief overview of the research, the tools, and how the evaluation process will work.  Webinars will be held on: 
 
Monday, September 27th at 2pm
Wednesday, September 29th at 10am
Thursday, September 30th at noon
 
To register, click here. 
 
Below you will find answers to some of your questions. We hope you will get involved in this exciting endeavor!
What are the requirements for participating programs?
To participate in this project, programs will identify and engage current matches who are interested in getting involved.  Staff will be invited to a one day workshop to learn more about the research, become familiar with the tools and find out what the next steps are for participation. Tufts University and Michigan 4-H Youth Mentoring will provide support to programs as needed.
 
Mentors and mentees will each take three surveys over the course of the evaluation.  Mentors take an average of 20 minutes to complete each survey and mentees an average about 40 minutes per survey.  The surveys are available online and can be printed for those without internet access. Mentors and mentees will each receive a $50 gift card following the completion of the final survey.
What are the benefits?
Participation in this project will benefit your organization, staff, mentors, and most importantly, the youth you serve in a number of ways. 
 
Participation will provide:
  1. Measurable evidence for your organization's impact on youth.
  2. The means to identify program areas of strength and areas that might need more attention.
  3. The ability to contribute to the development of materials that will be used in youth-serving organizations across the country.
  4. Empirically-based information on youth development to your staff in a user-friendly and accessible manner.
  5. Activities and videos that are engaging and practical ways to complement and extend mentors' efforts.
  6. A great opportunity to sit down with the youth and ask about their goals and achievements for the past year and next year.
  7. The means to identify youth's areas of strength and areas in the young person's life that might need more attention.
  8. Youth with a well-thought out plan to reach their goals, the motivation to pursue those goals, and the life skills critical to successfully achieving those goals.
 
Additionally, staff will have access to a professional development workshop to learn about the concepts and how to use the tools.  Mentors and mentees will each receive a gift card upon completion of the final survey in the evaluaiton process. 
What is the timeline?
Informational webinars will be held in September 2010.  Following the webinars, participants will be sent an electronic survey.  This survey will ask programs to indicate whether they are interested in participating and if so, an estimate of the number of matches they will engage in the evaluation.  A professional development workshop and train-the-trainer session will be held in four Michigan cities in January to prepare staff to recruit matches and share all the necessary materials.  Tufts will work with sites to implement three surveys, one just after the mentors have access to the tools, one at a mid-way point once some of the tools have been used, and a final time that should occur before September 2011.  There is flexibility to meet the unique needs of programs. Upon completion of the third survey, mentors and mentees will receive a gift card.
 
Mentors will have the option of on-line training or sites can conduct face-to-face training based on the train-the-trainer session held in January.  Some sites may choose to use both methods and let individual mentors select what works best for them. 
Who can participate?
 
Mentors involved in the evaluation must be at least 18 years of age.  Youth participants must be at least 10 years old. 
 
Mentoring programs:
  • Community-based
  • Site-based
  • One-on-one
  • Small group
 
Youth serving organizations that:
  • Create long-term relationships between one adult and one or a small group (4 or fewer) of youth
  • Adults and youth must have regular interaction
 
We understand that some matches will not choose to participate.  Programs are not required to engage a minimum number of matches to be included.   

Michigan 4-H Youth Mentoring

 
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