Mentoring Youth for Leadership Initiative: Evaluating Impact, Program Practices, and Implementation on High-Risk Youth, United States, 2015-2018

The aim of this study was to conduct an outcome and process evaluation of the Mentoring Youth for Leadership (MYL) project, which was spearheaded by Leadership Foundations (LF), and utilized an Elements of Effective Practice in Mentoring framework. LF's initiative was designed to reduce youth violence and delinquency, as they strengthen program practices over time. The MYL project served over 3,000 at-risk, high-risk, or underserved youth, their families, and communities, through 26 LF affiliates in 22 states. There were two main objectives: to assess the relations between program practice implementation and youth and match outcomes among mentoring programs in a national network, and to understand the experiences that programs had while embarking on a quality improvement initiative that was focused on improving program practices. Variables include program benchmarks achieved, mentee's school records, relationships with their parents, and staff member's feelings towards their program. Additionally, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 MYL program representatives. Mentee's age, gender, race, and ethnicity were also recorded.

本研究旨在对由领导力基金会（Leadership Foundations, LF）牵头实施、采用《有效辅导实践要素》（Elements of Effective Practice in Mentoring）框架的“青年领导力辅导（Mentoring Youth for Leadership, MYL）”项目开展结果与过程评估。该基金会发起的项目旨在通过持续强化项目实践，降低青少年暴力与少年违法犯罪问题。MYL项目通过分布于22个州的26家LF分支机构，为超过3000名处于风险、高风险或服务不足群体的青少年及其家庭与社区提供服务。本研究设有两大核心目标：其一，评估全国性辅导项目网络中，项目实践落实情况与青少年个体及辅导结对的干预效果之间的关联；其二，了解各项目在推进以优化项目实践为核心的质量提升举措时的实施体验。研究采集的变量包括：已达成的项目基准、被辅导者的在校学业记录、与父母的亲子关系，以及项目工作人员对所在项目的主观感受。此外，研究对17名MYL项目代表开展了16次半结构化访谈，并记录了被辅导者的年龄、性别、种族与族裔信息。