Preliminary Evaluation of the Cities Mentor Project

• In Event: 3-042 - Examining the Effectiveness of Three Research-Based Mentoring Programs for At-Risk Youth

Integrative Statement

There are substantial disparities in academic achievement between youth residing in low-income urban communities and those residing elsewhere (Ceballo, McLoyd, & Teru 2004). Underlying the academic problems of many low-income, urban students are socio-emotional, behavioral, and health problems that impede engagement and learning (Cunningham et al., 2002). At the root of these inter-related problems are increased exposure to stress and reduced support at individual, interpersonal, and systems levels (Cherniss, & Adler, 2000; Gutman, McLoyd, & Tokoyawa, 2005; Sánchez, Colón, Feuer, Roundfield, & Berardi, 2014). The Cities Mentor Project (CMP) is a culturally grounded intervention program for urban youth residing in low-income communities with exposure to chronic stress to address deficits in supports at the individual, interpersonal and systemic levels. In the CMP youth are paired with college-age mentors, receive weekly trauma-informed coping training alongside mentors, and are connected with prosocial after school activities. As part of a pilot randomized-control trial, 35 6th grade youth across three elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive the intervention (n = 16) or to receive usual care (n=19). All youth identified as low-income and Black. This evaluation explored psychological, behavioral and academic outcomes after 15 months of program implementation and 12 months of optional monthly booster sessions. At each time point, teachers, parents and youth completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children – 2nd Edition questionnaires to report on psychological, behavioral and adaptive functioning and received gift cards as compensation for their time. Additionally, final academic grades in mathematics and reading were collected directly from the school district. Youth in both conditions were compared along these outcomes post-intervention and at one year follow-up. Additionally, within group differences were explored for youth within the intervention based on the amount of intervention received (i.e. dosage effects). It was predicted that intervention group, and those who received the highest dosage of the intervention, would report lower psychological and behavioral symptoms, higher adaptive functioning, and higher academic grades. Results showed that intervention youth exhibited higher teacher-reported adaptive skills, lower teacher and youth-reported internalizing symptoms, and higher reading achievement as compared to the matched control group. Further, dosage effects illustrated lower youth-reported internalizing problems, parent and youth-reported behavioral problems, higher parent-reported adaptive functioning, lower youth-reported school problems, and higher mathematics grades for youth who received larger amounts of the intervention. These findings suggests preliminary evidence that the Cities Mentor Project is an effective program in reducing the negative outcomes associated with the lack of support at the individual, interpersonal and systems level caused by chronic poverty and stress.

Author

• Sophia Duffy, Dominican University
  Presenting Author