YouthCARE 1974-2008 Celebrating 34 Years of Service to Youth in the Twin Cities

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Young Women's Mentoring Program Information

Mission & Description — Demographic Information — Specific Activities — Program Strategies — Partners

Mission and Description

The Young Women's Mentoring Program, established in 1990, is a year-round youth development program focused on building the employment and leadership skills of young women and the self-esteem of girls. Annually, the Young Women's Mentoring Program provides a 12-month employment and leadership experience for 12 youth, 14-18 years old, and positive social, recreational, and educational activities for 140-160 girls, 7-13 years old.

Program services include work experience, leadership training, mentoring, intercultural exchanges, counselling, support and after school, weekend and summer activities. The program brings girls together in small and large groups, and one-to-one, to promote intercultural cooperation and cultural appreciation. On April 24, 2002 the Young Women's Mentoring Program received the prestigious Ann Bancroft Award for Support and Encouragement by an Organization!

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Demographic Information
Youth Involved:
The Young Women's Mentoring Program serves girls, 7-18 years, who face social or economic barriers and have limited access to positive enrichment opportunities. During the 2005-06 program year, 146 girls participated in the program.

Geographic Area Served:
The Young Women's Mentoring Program serves girls who live in three low-income, publicly subsidized housing communities - the Little Earth and Luxton Park/Glendale Apartments communities in Minneapolis and the McDonough Homes community in St. Paul.

Ethnic & Cultural Diversity:
100% of the 146 girls involved in the 2005-06 Young Women's Mentoring Program were youth of color:

African	13	9%
African American	45	31%
Chicana/Latina	5	3%
European American	0	0%
Native American	45	31%
Southeast Asian	38	26%
Total	146	100%

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Specific Activities

Youth Mentor Training Program: The Youth Mentor Training Program is a comprehensive 12 month long program designed to develop the leadership, employment and self-sufficiency skills and abilities 9 young women, 14-18 years old. The Youth Mentor Training Program has three primary components:

- Leadership Development
- Employment Skills & Career Development
- Healthy Living & Personal Development

Girls Group: Girls Group activities are conducted once a week, throughout the year, in each of the three communities served (Little Earth, Glendale Apartments and McDonough) for girls, 7-10 years old. Girls Group activities include physical activities such as swimming and roller-skating, educational activities such as field trips to the Science Museum and the Library and cultural activities such as Pow Wows and Cinco de Mayo.

Adventure Girls: Adventure Girls activities are conducted once a week, throughout the year, in each of the three communities served (Little Earth, Glendale Apartments and McDonough) for girls, 10-13 years old. Adventure Girls activities include outdoor adventure activities such as camping, canoeing and rock climbing, teambuilding and leadership development and discussions and workshops on pre-adolescent issues such as body image and healthy relationships.

Individuals: Individuals are opportunities for girls, 7-13 years old, to receive individual attention, support and guidance through one-to-one interaction with youth mentors. Activities include helping with homework, taking a walk, or going out to eat. In addition, YouthCARE's adult program staff provides one-to-one counselling, support and guidance to each of the youth mentors and to Girls Group participants and Adventure Girls as possible.

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Program Strategies

- The Young Women's Mentoring Program seeks to work in partnership with communities where youth are under-served and where the community wants and needs services provided by the program.
- A key strategy of the Young Women's Mentoring Program is to empower young women, 14-18 years old, to be mentors, leaders and positive role models to younger girls, 7-13 years old. A distinguishing characteristic of YouthCARE's mentoring program is the two levels of mentoring that take place within the program. Adult women (program staff and volunteers) mentor youth/teenagers, and in turn, the youth mentors mentor the younger girls.
- The Young Women's Mentoring Program recruits youth mentors who live in or near the three communities served by the program and reflect the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the younger girls who participate. We believe it is important that the girls, 7-13 years old, see teenagers from their same backgrounds and cultures in positions of leadership.
We seek to provide programs and services on a regular and consistent basis such that girls and their parents can count on YouthCARE to be there. YouthCARE has worked with the Little Earth and McDonough communities since the program was established in 1990 and with the Glendale community since the program was expanded in 1996.
- The Young Women's Mentoring Program uses an experiential, hands-on, "learning by doing" approach to train the young women employed in the program as Youth Mentors. The Youth Mentors work closely with program staff to develop, build and use leadership skills such as program planning and implementation, mentoring and public speaking.

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Key Program Partners

- Little Earth Community Partnership
- McDonough Community Center
- St. Paul Public Housing
- Luxton Park (Glendale Apartments Community)
- Macalester College
- Minneapolis Community & Technical College
- University of Minnesota

girlsBEST Fund

In the spring of 2007, a group of passionate alumni Youth Mentors (17-20 years old) and program staff met to brainstorm how to better prepare young women and girls for economic success. Through their discussions, it became clear that the Young Women's Mentoring Program's most significant untapped resource is its alumni Youth Mentors. They bring a unique insight into program management, opportunities for program growth and enhancement and the most pressing needs of their peers and the girls they serve. As a result, the Young Women's Mentoring Program was granted a $10,000 grant for program expansion from the Women's Foundation of Minnesota girlsBEST Fund. With this grant the program staff and alumni Youth Mentors are working to expand the program to: * Add a higher level of leadership and involvement by re-hiring alumni Youth Mentors (15-18 years old) as Junior Program Staff. * Integrate economic readiness as a purpose and link for all programming. * Create a comprehensive girl-led Youth Mentor Training Program in which girls learn to develop and teach leadership, employment, and cultural competency skills. Thank you Women's Foundation of Minnesota!

Alumni Youth Mentor leads training for 2007-08 Youth Mentors

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