Mentoring on Rural Terms: A Framework for Supporting Community College Learners

• In Event: Rooted Futures: Learner-Centered Postsecondary Models for Rural Learners

Abstract

Objectives: Mentorship plays a critical role in supporting student success at rural-serving community colleges. However, the unique challenges faced by rural learners require approaches that extend beyond traditional models. This study investigates how mentorship is experienced by rural learners, identifies the types of mentorship most critical to their success, and examines the supports and barriers that influence its effectiveness in rural contexts.

Framing: The study is guided by a conceptual framework informed by critical mentorship principles (Weiston-Serdan, 2017) and Rural Cultural Wealth (Crumb et al., 2023). These frameworks emphasize the importance of culturally responsive, identity-affirming relationships and the value of rural learners’ lived experiences. Mentorship in rural settings is not only a support mechanism but also a form of resistance and empowerment, fostering belonging and sustaining community ties.

Methods and Data Sources: This national exploratory sequential mixed-methods study includes analysis of 587 mentorship program website descriptions from 444 institutions, 24 interviews with student mentees, and 37 interviews with staff, faculty, and community mentors across 15 rural-serving community colleges. Insights from these qualitative interviews informed the design of a national survey aimed at capturing broader mentorship patterns among rural community college learners. To date, 114 student survey responses have been collected, with a target of approximately 300 to ensure geographic and programmatic diversity. Qualitative data were analyzed using the aforementioned conceptual frameworks. The survey, still in progress, is designed to validate and expand upon themes identified in the interviews and institutional analyses.

Results: Preliminary findings indicate that effective mentorship in rural contexts is deeply relational, place-based, and culturally responsive. It provides wraparound support that helps students navigate fragmented systems involving childcare, transportation, financial aid, and work-life balance. Rural learners often describe mentorship in kinship terms, emphasizing trust, empathy, and mutual accountability. Mentors serve as cultural navigators, helping students remain connected to both their education and their communities. A proposed rural mentorship framework includes four layers: structural (institutional policies and resources), relational (trust and cultural responsiveness), spatial (local context and rural identity), and sociopolitical (systems of power and representation).

Significance: At a time of increasing resource constraints and shifting political landscapes, this framework positions mentorship as both a support strategy and a tool for equity. It highlights the potential of mentorship to help rural learners envision and pursue futures rooted in their identities and communities. The session invites participants to reflect on their own relationships to rural spaces and mentorship, share strategies from their contexts, and collaboratively shape a framework that supports rural learners through culturally grounded mentorship.

Authors

• Mayra Nuñez Martinez, University of California - Davis

• Jordan Reed, University of Washington

• Lia Wetzstein, University of Washington

• Susannah Davis, University of Washington

• Katherine M. Kovacich, University of Washington - Seattle