1: Program Values

Standard of Practice: All mentoring programs should consider the values, principles, and ethics that inform their program design and delivery, and codify them into the program’s mission statement and a formal values statement, as well as in program policy.

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Practices Supporting this Standard

The program crafts a values statement that describes the core values, principles, and ethical viewpoints informing the program’s design and delivery.

Programs should spend time reflecting on, and naming, the values, beliefs, mindsets, and ethical considerations that inform their work at all levels and codifying them into a values statement, either as a standalone document or as part of a broader mission and vision statement. Although these values may differ slightly for every mentoring program, we strongly encourage programs to consider the following values as a starting point (see the discussion for more information on each):

  • An ethical standard of “do no harm”
  • A commitment to inclusive practices that recognize the diverse identities of young people and facilitate their sense of belonging
  • Honoring youth voice and agency
  • Honoring the voices of caregivers and the broader community
  • Adopting a strengths-based view of young people
  • Establishing, and not exceeding, indicators of program capacity and a maximum number of youth served
  • Embracing a continuous improvement mindset

Because there is tremendous diversity in how and where mentoring is delivered to young people, here we offer additional practices and recommendations related to this Element for some common mentoring contexts. Readers should note that there may be overlap in the following categories (e.g., a peer mentoring program in a school or a Boys & Girls Club offering a group mentoring program on-site) and read all that may be relevant to their work. The next recommendations may help clarify important values that could be woven into a values statement or program policies.

GROUP MENTORING MODELS

There are several ways group mentoring programs can clarify or build on the general program values noted above, including:

  • Emphasizing the diversity and inclusion of youth of all types within the groups formed and fostering new connections among youth who might not interact outside of the group setting.
  • Giving youth meaningful roles in crafting, leading, and evaluating the activities the groups engage in.
  • Implementing a group approach primarily because it is the best model for achieving program outcomes, not due to over enrollment or an inability to make one-to-one matches.

PEER MENTORING MODELS

Peer mentoring programs can build on the general program values noted above by emphasizing values such as:

  • Offering peer mentors meaningful roles in designing, developing, and leading program activities, and encouraging mentored youth to return to the program later as mentors themselves.
  • Recruiting a variety of peer mentors, including youth who have faced challenges or need extra support themselves. Offering these young people a leadership role may be especially impactful.
  • Designing the program (e.g., staffing, support) in a way that gives staff the time they need to supervise young mentors well. Peer mentoring programs may require additional supervision to yield strong program benefits (Herrera et al., 2008). Thus, it is important to ensure that the number of matches in these programs is small enough to allow staff enough time to provide strong supervision.

E-MENTORING MODELS

Values related to program capacity may be especially important in online programs. There is a temptation in e-mentoring models to serve large numbers of matches because technology-based program delivery may offer efficiencies that in-person programming does not. However, in some ways, running a high-quality e-mentoring program can require more staff time and effort, as participants may need multiple reminders to stay in touch and additional support to overcome the inherent distance between participants. Staff may also need to review written interactions as part of their supervision and support. Thus, we encourage e-mentoring programs to carefully consider these factors as they determine the number of matches they can serve well.

E-mentoring programs may also be uniquely positioned to adopt continuous improvement mindsets, as they may collect considerable information about the mentoring experience and have access to details about mentor-youth interactions that are not available to community-based programs. Given how relatively new e-mentoring models are, we encourage these programs to emphasize continuous improvement mindsets by utilizing their unique data and opportunities for tracking participants.

SCHOOL- AND OTHER FORMAL SITE-BASED MODELS

Programs set in schools or other site-based locations (e.g., youth development programs) will need to ensure that the mentoring values are aligned with the values of the larger organization or institution in which they are housed. This is especially true in instances in which an external program is being embedded into the site. Taking time to understand shared (or misaligned) values is a critical first step. There are also some additional ways school- and site-based programs can build on the general recommendations above:

  • Ensuring that the school or site understands, and leadership is aligned with, the mentoring program’s goals. Some schools or youth-serving organizations may want to use mentoring as a Band-Aid to help alleviate challenges the site is facing. While mentoring can certainly be used to strengthen and bolster the experience of young people in a school or other context, the mentoring program cannot address a youth’s every need. Clarifying the goals — and clearly outlining the limitations — of the mentoring program is important.
  • Because schools and other youth-serving organizations have a “captive audience” in the youth who are already part of their day-to-day operations, it can be tempting to scale programs quickly without carefully considering how staff capacity, roles, and responsibilities are affected by that growth. We encourage school-based and other site-specific programs to start small and make sure they are not overextending their capacity to do the work well.

INFORMAL MENTORING MODELS

We encourage youth development programs to be thoughtful in how they add informal mentoring to their existing services. While it can be helpful to ask staff to take on mentoring roles when young people need additional support, it is important to make sure that staff are prepared for that experience, that youth understand the nature and limits of the mentoring staff can provide, and that there is some effort to make sure that the experiences are positive for all involved. Mentoring should be a value-add to the program, not an additional action promised to impress a funder or take on more than staff can reasonably handle.

  • Who decides what our organization’s values are? How can we balance differences in perspectives? How can we ensure that power dynamics don’t interfere with the establishment of meaningful values and beliefs about our work?
  • How do youth and families from different backgrounds think about mentoring? What role do they want our program to play in their lives and how does that role align with their values?
  • How can we raise our awareness of the diversity of the community we operate within?
  • How does our staff think about young people and their families? Have we examined our own perceptions and biases?
  • What can we do to minimize the risk of harm to youth who may already be facing adversity based on their identity or background? How might our work inadvertently harm them and what measures can we take to guard against that?
  • How can we demonstrate our commitment to being the best mentoring program we can be over time?

  • Identify the values, beliefs, ethical principles, and ways of knowing that are important to youth, their caregivers, and the broader organization or community you serve. Create opportunities for these groups to share their thoughts and spend time reflecting on how their ideas align (or don’t) with those of your staff, board, and funders.
  • Form an Inclusion and Belonging Committee or other ad hoc group tasked with examining how well the program is living up to its values and honoring the identities inherent in youth, families, and the community.
  • Proactively involve youth, caregivers, and volunteers from diverse backgrounds in crafting inclusive policies or ethical guidelines.
  • Frequently ask participants about their experience in the program, keeping track of that feedback and using it to continuously improve the program experience.
  • Have youth or other stakeholders review program materials to identify instances where youth or the community are described in ways that are overly negative or ignore strengths.
  • Remove barriers that limit the participation of some individuals in the program (e.g., transportation challenges, inconvenient program locations or meeting times, power dynamics that limit how or when others can use their voice).

Programs may want to set benchmarks and track progress around metrics such as:

  • The frequency with which the program’s values statement is reviewed and revised.

Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide. Weiston-Serdan, T., Routledge.
This book introduces the concept of critical mentoring, presenting its theoretical and empirical foundations, and providing telling examples of what it looks like in practice, and what it can achieve.
 
First Do No Harm: Ethical Principles for Youth Mentoring Relationships. Rhodes, J., Liang, B., and Spencer, R., Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
Based on the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, this resource presents a set of ethical principles to guide mentors and programs in their work with mentees.

“Honoring Youth Voice and Building Power” from Becoming a Better Mentor: Strategies to Be There for Young People. Santiago, E., and Chen, M., MENTOR.
This chapter discusses the importance of youth voice in mentoring.

“How Mentors and Mentoring Programs Can Support Mentees’ Ethnic/Racial Identity.” Sánchez, B., The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring.
This blog post provides tips for programs/organizations and mentors on how to help youth of color develop a healthy ethnic/racial identity. It also explains why a healthy ethnic/racial identity is important for youth of color.

“Practicing Cultural Humility” from Becoming a Better Mentor: Strategies to Be There for Young People. Sánchez, B., MENTOR.
This chapter discusses how mentors can practice cultural humility in their work with youth.