How do partnerships between
nonprofits and volunteers effect at-risk
youth?
By: Emily Ramos
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect at-risk
youth?
Subclaim 1: Volunteers can directly impact the students emotional health and help improve
their outlooks on life.
Quotations
1) “ The volunteers helped build selfesteem through several different types
of service activities, including
mentoring, tutoring, coaching,
teaching, or providing guided
supervision for the children” ( Vernon,
Andrea, and Foster 212).
2) “...mentors can provide at-risk
youth with both access to resources
otherwise not available to them, and
psychological and emotional support
to foster behavioral and attitudinal
changes” (de Anda 98).
Interpretations/comments
•
Overall volunteers are beneficial to at
risk youths emotional well being and
development when they do activities.
•
Mentors help students with their
emotional well being and help them
challenge previous attitudes they may
how towards themselves and other
people.
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect at-risk
youth?
Subclaim 1: Volunteers can directly impact the students emotional health and help improve
their outlooks on life.
Quotations
3) “...by serving as a sounding board and
providing a model of effective adult
communication, mentors may help youth to
better understand, express, and regulate their
emotions” ( DuBois, David et al. 62)
4) “A happy person is likely to have low
levels of fear, hostility, tension, anxiety, guilt
and anger; high degrees of energy, vitality
and activity; a high level of self-esteem and
an emotionally stable personality; a strong
social orientation; healthy, satisfying, warm
love and social relationships; an active
lifestyle with meaningful work; and to be
relatively optimistic, worry-free, presentoriented and well-directed” (Michalos 351).
Interpretations/comments
•
Mentors may help mentees better
regulate their communication skills and
emotions
•
If someone is happy this may help
further boost their self esteem and
outlook on life.
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect
at-risk youth?
Subclaim 2: Volunteers mainly have a positive effect on their communities and the
youths they serve according to the nonprofits and mentees they serve.
Quotations
1) “Many schools engage parents and community
partners by offering workshop sessions on
reading, by organizing reading volunteers, and by
helping parents strengthen students' reading skills
and encourage reading for pleasure at home”
(Epstein, Joyce et al 15)
2) “general community perceptions of the
service provided by students were typically very
supportive and positive. All of the agencies in the
study pointed out positive benefits the
community receives as a result of college
students volunteering with youth” ( Vernon,
Andrea, and Foster 226)
Interpretations/comments
•
Volunteers help engage parents and
collaborate with the community to bring
programs to students.
•
Communities believe that volunteers are
beneficial to the community overall. They
find volunteers useful and as a good
component to the environment.
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect
at-risk youth?
Subclaim 2: Volunteers mainly have a positive effect on their communities and the
youths they serve
Quotations
3) “ All but one of the mentees related positive
changes they had experienced as a result of
the program. Some indicated changes in prior
negative or violent behavior” (De Ande 103)
Interpretations/comments
•
The students who work with mentors all
mostly think of the volunteers in a
positive manner. They may even feel as if
the mentors helped them lessen bad
behaviors they may have previously had.
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect at-risk
youth?
Subclaim 3: Mentors are role models and help reduce at risk behaviors
Quotations
1) “…reported positive results in the areas
of decreasing alcohol and drug use,
improving peer relationships, and
improving parent/child relationships”
(Thompson, Kelly-Vance 230)
2) “ littles (mentees) who met with their
"bigs" (mentors) regularly for about a year
were 46% less likely than the control
group to start using illegal drugs, 27% less
likely to start drinking, 52% less likely to
skip a day of school, and 37% less likely to
skip a class” (Keating,Lisa et al 719).
3) “Significant changes in values, goals,
and perspectives were hinted at by a
number of the mentees, who found that the
relationship helped them change their
attitudes and behavior in a more pro-social
and achievement-oriented direction” (De
Anda 105)
Interpretations/comments
•
Many benefits such as reduced use of
substances and better relationships
followed once students got mentors
•
Statistically many bad behaviors
decreased when students met with a
mentor for over a year
•
Students with mentors sometimes found
changes in their beliefs. They
sometimes said they were even more
social and determined because of their
mentor.
Research question: How do partnerships between nonprofits and volunteers effect at-risk
youth?
Subclaim 4: At risk youth want an adult that they can talk to and trust
Quotations
1) “Most developed a valued relationship
with their mentor that offered them
someone with whom they could
communicate” (De Anda 105)
2) “...mentoring may be especially wellpositioned to serve as a “corrective”
experience that helps the young person to
establish a more adaptive and realistic
perspective toward relationships with
adults in caretaking roles”
(Dubois,David et al. 63)
3) “...the best impact on the kids is
seeing that there are adults who can run
and order their lives without drugs and
alcohol, and in a manner that is ethical”
(Vernon, Andrea, and Foster 222)
Interpretations/comments
•
Many mentees found their mentors as
someone they could form a relationship
with and talk to.
•
Mentors can help mentees understand
that there are adults that want to listen to
them. This can help mentees change
previous attitudes towards adults and
authority figures.
•
Mentors are a role model and show that
there are adults who can function
properly without any substance.
What’s next?
I believe the rest of my research should be focused on what
organizations do to obtain a relationship with mentors. I also believe I
should find more specific examples of nonprofits and volunteers
working together. This could include things such as activities they
implement.
• Negative effects volunteers may have on their mentees?
• What specific volunteer organizations are out there to support at
risk youth?
• What is the process of becoming a volunteer?
Works cited
De Anda, Diane. "A Qualitative Evaluation of a Mentor Program for At-risk Youth: The Participants' Perspective." Child & Adolescent
Social Work Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 97-117, doi:10.1023/A:1007646711937
DuBois, David L, Nelson Portillo, Jean E Rhodes, Naida Silverthorn, and Jeffrey C Valentine. "How Effective Are Mentoring Programs
for Youth? A Systematic Assessment of the Evidence." Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 57-91,
doi:10.1177/1529100611414806.
Epstein, L. Joyce and Salinas, Karen Clark. “Partnering with Families and Communities.” Education Leadership, vol. 61, no. 8, pp. 1218, doi:10.1.1.494.2020.
Keating, Lisa M., Tomishima, Michelle A., Foster, Sharon, and Alessandri, Michael. "The Effects of a Mentoring Program on At-Risk
Youth." Adolescence, vol. 37, no. 148, pp. 717-737,
Michalos, Alex C. “Education, Happiness and Wellbeing.” Social Indicators Research, vol. 87, no. 3, 2008, pp. 347-366, doi:
10.1007/s11205-007-9144-0
Thompson, Lynn A, and Lisa Kelly-Vance. "The Impact of Mentoring on Academic Achievement of At-risk Youth." Children and Youth
Services Review,vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 227-242, doi:10.1016/S0190-7409(01)00134-7.
Vernon, Andrea, and Lenoar Foster. "Nonprofit Agency Perspectives of Higher Education Service Learning and Volunteerism." Journal of
Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing,vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 207-230 , 10.1300/J054v10n02_12