Date and Time
Thu, May 25, 2017
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM EDT
Location:
Suffolk University
Registration Fee:
Free
Youth-Initiated Mentoring and related strategies that build on youth’s natural support networks can expand the reach of formal mentoring and also may play an important role in easing youth‚Äôs post-program transition. Likewise, after school programs and other youth settings with informal mentors are increasingly encouraging their staff to be more intentional about taking advantage of potential ‚Äúmentoring moments‚Äù in their relationships with the youth they serve. Join Suffolk University Professor Sarah Schwartz to learn more about mentoring models that empower youth to recruit mentors from their existing social networks and develop circles of support.
About the Presenters
Sarah Schwartz, Ph.D., has a degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Her research focuses on school- and community-based prevention programs for vulnerable youth with an emphasis on mentoring relationships. She has authored a number of publications, including studies on formal mentoring programs and natural mentoring relationships, and is the leading researcher on Youth Initiated Mentoring interventions.
Kate Bronner, Program Coordinator at Foster Forward, has a degree in Social Work and Sociology from Castleton University in Vermont. Over the course of her career she has worked primarily with youth involved in child welfare. Since 2008, her work has been focused on addressing the permanency needs of youth involved in the mentoring program she coordinates. Real Connections utilizes a youth-initiated strategy as one of the core components to help identify potential mentor matches. Youth in foster care often feel they have little to no control over decisions made. This approach helps to empower them and honor their voice.
About MMP’s Research Corner
MMP’s Research Corners are a series of events that provide a critical link between the research and practice of fostering positive relationships between youth and adults. We work with our partners in academia to share innovative research and findings with MMP’s powerful network of individuals and organizations to build the capacity of high quality programs to better serve youth and families in communities across the Commonwealth.
**Light refreshments will be served
MMP Contact:
Janeen Smith
Senior Manager of Program Services
[email protected]