St. Louis Job Corps: Trainee Led Mentor Program
Leonard Taylor, Judith A. Tindall, Ph.D., Lois Williams
Overview:
The Job Corps’ current emphasis on student trainees being successful and getting through the program led to the development of the Trainee Led Mentoring program “Students Helping Students”. Career Development Service System is ideal to make a mentoring program successful. St. Louis Job Corps initiated a Trainee led Mentor Program, April 2001. The planning of the mentoring program started in December of 2000. St. Louis Job Corps staff helped plan the program, facilitated by Dr. Judith A. Tindall, Mental Health Consultant. The program follows the National Peer Helpers Association Programmatic Standards and Ethics.
The Job Corps is a Department of Labor program help at-risk, low-income youth gain job skills. The average age of the students is 18, 60% are male and 40% female. About 49% are African American, 27% White, 18% Hispanic and the rest Native American and Asian Pacific. The average reading level is 7.4 grade and 79% are H.S. drop-outs, 61% never employed. The primary goals of the Job Corps students are to get their GED/HS Diploma, Vocational Certification and Driver’s License. The secondary goals are to learn employability skills and appropriate behavior. Some of the challenges affecting success of Job Corps students is academic failure ( illiteracy, learning disability, ADD/ADHD), lack of resources (basic needs and educational opportunities), social pressures ( violence, trauma, ETOH/Substance abuse, culture of hopelessness), social skills deficits (social propriety, anger management, conflict resolution, external locus of control. (Eschbach, 2002)
The St. Louis Job Corps is an intercity center that services intercity at-risk youth from around St. Louis, E. St. Louis and urban, suburban and rural youth from across the county. The St. Louis center provides 12 trades, High School Diploma and GED programs.
The initial reason for starting the program was to reduce the drop out rate in the first 60 days of 16, 17 and 18 year olds. In other words, we wanted the center to increase the average length of stay of 16 year old students, therefore decreasing the number of uncommitted students. The Center Mental Health Consultant along with the Leadership Manager, Ms. Carld Rosborough, established the first training. The training was planned with two counselors that coordinate the program, Leonard Taylor and Lois Williams. The mentor program has had nine trainings, weekly supervision and training meetings, and two retreats. The Mentors to date (11/28/02) have had over 300 mentees on campus. Only four of the 16, 17, 18 year old mentees have dropped out of St. Louis Job Corps. The mentors have also served as Big Brothers and Big Sisters to children at Koch Elementary School twice a month. They currently provide tutoring in the library in the men’s dorm on Thurs. evening and mediate disputes in the dorm. Plans are to expand into dorm presentations on health topics and violence prevention topics, mediation and conduct presentations at a middle school.
The skills learned as mentors have taught employability skills and assist the younger mentees stay in the program. All mentors have completed the St. Louis Job Corps. Adult Mentoring program is planned to work with the trainees in the trade section of the program.
Rational for the Program:
Trainees have long been viewed as deficits rather than seeing them as resources to each other. Trainees often talk to other trainees first and adult professionals next. Trainees are natural leaders and if trained can be a wonderful asset to other trainees on campus. Youth are successful if they feel connected and committed. They can also expand the counselor and teacher role, by providing help to others in a cost effective manner.
At St. Louis Job Corps, in November of 1999, the center director requested ideas to help reduce dropouts. At that time 1/3 of all new St. Louis Job Corps trainees were 16 and 17. Developmentally, they were not as able to complete the program as well as older youth. Approximately 79% of the 16 and 17 year olds and 50% of 18 year olds did not persist to completion of the program. The costs of recruitment and retention of these youth are high. Most young trainees do not complete the program due to behavior problems.
Programs that follow the National Peer Helpers Association Programmatic Standards can be effective in:
· Reducing the incidence of violence on campus
· Mentors learn life skills of listening and responding, brainstorming, problem solving
· Building self-esteem
· Mentors have a positive influence with other students
· Reducing tension on campus
· Improving overall school climate through better student/staff relationships
· Learning leadership skills; defuse gang activities by providing positive peer pressure, reduce student expulsions
· Easing the workload of staff
· Cost effectiveness
· Providing positive role models
· Helping provide a supportive environment for the younger trainees
· Representing an important resource for Job Corps and present a positive image to the community.
Goals of the Program:
· To set up a peer to peer-mentoring program for the St. Louis Job Corps that meets the National Peer Helpers Association Programmatic Standards
· To create a pool of trained mentors from older Job Corps Trainees that are healthy role models
· To develop and provide training to the mentors
· To build on the current Leadership Program at St. Louis Job Corps
· To primarily focus the mentoring efforts on 16, 17 and 18 year olds
· To provide a Big Brother, Big Sister program at Elementary and Middle Schools.
· To provide other services needed at St. Louis Job Corps such as supporting the orientation program, supporting the TEAP program, presenting lessons to dorm meetings, tutoring, helping set up a PEACE week with a focus on anti-gang activities, resolving student conflict I the dorm.
· To supervise the mentors
· To evaluate the program
· To meet quarterly with an advisory committee made up of center adult leadership
Steps in Setting up the Program:
· A planning team made up adult leaders on campus helped to set the framework and develop the logistics. The planning team included the Center Director, Assistant Center Director, Leadership Manager, Counselor Manager, R.A. Manager, and Discipline Manager. The planning team met for over five months to plan the program and two counselor volunteered to work with the program. The planning team helped design the initial selection process for mentors, advised how to utilize the mentors, and had input into the training. After setting up the first training, the mentors were assigned to orientation to provide an ongoing connection with the mentors and mentees for at least 60 days. They worked with residential and non-residential students. The planning team was facilitated by the Center Mental Health Consultant.
· An advisory committee was set up to continue to guide the program. The advisory committee was made up of the Center Director, Assistant Director, Leadership Manager, R.A. Manager, Director of Training, Safety Manager, Academic Manager, Orientation Manager, Disciplinarian, Center Mental Health Consultant, and two counselors that facilitate the program.
· Mentor requirements and applications were developed. The mentor role is to help the new trainee feel connected to the Job Corps, be successful at the Job Corps, and be a positive role model. Mentors will create an ongoing relationship with the mentees and will help provide information, skills and assistance.
The requirements are to have a Red Card Holder (or higher) and be willing to serve as a mentor, complete mentoring and Leadership 2 training, be recommended by four staff members at the Job Corps, adhere to Job Corps Rules, represent Job Corps in a positive manner and be a healthy role model, complete an application, and sign an ethics statement. The St. Louis Job Corps is on a Card system. The Red Card indicates that the trainee has been progressing in their academics and trade and have not been a discipline problem. There are two color cards before the Red Card.
· The training was held in March for Leadership 2 and mentoring training. The training was designed by the Mental Health Consultant, Dr. Tindall, and the two counselor sponsors, Mr. Taylor, and Ms. Williams. The initial training included understanding the role of the mentor, confidentiality and referral skills, listening and responding skills, “I” messages, meeting a new person, presentation skills, understanding the card system, signing a contract, and tracking system. The training was based on Peer Power I (1994), Peer Power II (1989) and other resources.
The first retreat provided additional skills in reviewing basic listening and responding skills, learning tutoring, conflict management, classroom presentation and small group skills, discussing ethics of Job Corps Mentoring, managing stress, building a strong team, and action planning. The second retreat focused on Mediation skills, classroom presentation skills, stress management and building a strong team and action planning. The training materials came from Peer Power, Book I and Peer Power, Book 2.
Training of new mentees takes place about every 45 days to make sure there are always 15-20 mentors.
· The mentors applied their skills through working with new Job Corps mentees as a friend, tutor, and role model. They served as a Big Brother or Big Sister in Koch Elementary School. They are tutoring, providing presentations to the dorms, mediating and assisting with the TEAP program. The TEAP program is the Trainee Employability Program that focuses on working with students with drug and alcohol issues. They are also assisting the admission staff with orientation.
· To help build ownership of the program, the initial trainees worked on an Ethics and referral system. They also developed a mission statement: “It is our goal to help the 16 year old students complete the Career Development Service System. We strive for the betterment of our student population and for the center as a whole. We will lend a hand to those students that are at the proverbial crossroads. We will help students turn away gangs; we will help students turn away from drugs and alcohol. In addition, we plan to help students through the Career Prep Phase of the program and further if needed. All mentors are dedicated to the preservation of education through the success of each student that we help. We do this in the hope that each one will teach one and positive employable members of society will emerge and shine like beacons of light in the community”.
· The Mentors are expected to complete forms for each of their activities and reflections papers. They are also getting paid for their service and will receive a certificate for their mentoring service.
· The program is always being evaluated. As a result, new forms have been designed and additional training has been designed. The program has a name called SHS (Students Helping Students) and has developed some T-shirts and other advertising items.
Activities to Date:
The main focus of the program is to reduce the drop out rate of 16, 17 and 18 year olds. Therefore, the mentors meet these trainees at orientation and are assigned to those students. They spend time with them, showing them around the center and just being supportive. They have also done tutoring and help in Introduction to Center Life. Their role at Koch Elementary is to be a Big Brother or Big Sister to the younger students by helping tutor and talking with them. They have presented at an educational summit that represented the Job Corps. The mentors are also assisting the TEAP program by meeting at the regular meetings and working with the TEAP specialist, they are also tutoring in the dorm and solving conflicts between the students in the dorm.
Future Plans:
The mentors are trained to conduct mediation sessions and will set up a referral system with those in charge of discipline. They will also provide presentations on HIV/AIDS, violence prevention, and other important topics to the dorms. They are conducting tutoring in the dorms in the library on Thurs. night for tutoring and to assist trainees to pass the TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education) test. They are also trying to assist the Outreach and Admission Counselors with talking with applicants. On-going follow-up and weekly supervision is part of the program.
Results to Date:
The results indicate an impact on the mentors, the mentees and the center. At first, the mentors did not know what to expect and now they know they can affect others; the mentors feel a sense of accomplishment by helping others, building confidence, learning interpersonal skills, learning employability skills, learning application of skills, improving language and communication skills, and changing behavior to that of a positive role model.
All adults that have observed the mentors have given great praise to them and their ability to help new students orient to the program. It is a testament to the dedication of the students participating and the success of the program.
In 1999, during the months of September through December, there was an uncommitted student rate of 28.05%. During the same time in 2000, it was 45.45%. However, after the Mentoring program (SHS) was implemented and used to its full potential, the percentage lowered to 17.1%; marking a difference of 28.2% for overall improvement of 62.6%. In addition, during the same time period, the percentage of uncommitted students under the age of 18 was 63.6%. In 2000, the rate was 45.5% and in 2001, 17.18%. The total students under 18 separation rates were 50% in 1999, 63.64% in 2000, and 38.83% in 2001.