Since 2000, our research team has been working on understanding a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention that will allow us to expand our cross-age peer mentoring project. The overall goal of this project titled Saving Lives, Inspiring Youth (S.L.I.Y) is to evaluate the effectiveness of community based cross-age mentoring to reduce negative outcomes related to violence exposure/engagement and promote positive development among African-American and Latino youth from four low-income, high violence urban neighborhoods (Englewood, Bronzeville, North Lawndale, and South Lawndale) engaging youth mentors from the same high-risk environment. In collaboration with several community organizations such as Bright Star Community Outreach, Sue Duncan Children's Center, Telpochcalli Community Fine Arts School, After School Matters, and more, a prospective approach has been implemented to follow cross-age mentor/mentee pairs for one year of mentoring. We have concluded the mentoring intervention at all sites and data have been collected pre, post and at a 12 month follow-up. Qualitative data collected throughout the intervention has allowed us to investigate what occurred in the mentoring process that helped produce positive outcomes from the cross-age peer mentoring relationships.  Data are currently in the process of being analyzed in order to evaluate the intervention and disseminate our findings.

​Collaborations

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Bright Star Community Outreach, Inc. (BSCO), a 501C3 nonprofit organization,  is committed to strengthening vulnerable families and communities through community service and activism. Presently located in the Bronzeville neighborhood, BSCO serve some of the needs of more than 5,000 residents on an annual basis, from Out-of-School Hours Activities to the annual Bronzeville Family Fest. Its community partnership approach starts from the premise that no single factor is responsible for violence against women and children, poor economic conditions and stability, homelessness, child safety, or drug abuse.  Family safety and strength depend on connection with a broad range of people, organizations, and community institutions. Their goal is to ensure all vulnerable families have access and the necessary training to be self-sufficient.
One of our mentoring sites currently takes place at Bright Star Church using youth enrolled in their after school program.
http://www.brightstarcommunityoutreach.com
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Telpochcalli (Nahuatl for "house of youth") is a small school dedicated to integrating the Mexican arts and culture into an innovative academic and social experience and development of fully bilingual/biliterate students in English and Spanish.  The school is comprised of students, teachers, parents and artists who aspire to nurture an understanding and appreciation of the self, family, community and world.
​We currently run one of our South Lawndale mentoring sites at this school.
http://telpochcallies.weebly.com
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Sue Duncan Children’s Center serves as an after-school program that strives to advance inner-city children academically and socially. ​The Center services children in grades pre-K through 12, predominantly African American, at two locations on Chicago’s south side.  The Center rents classrooms inside elementary schools which means significantly lower overhead and more funding going directly toward programming.  Although the schools are separate entities, they serve as convenient locations where students, parents and educators can easily access services. This creates a functional triangle of communication between teachers, parents and Center staff regarding individual student progress as part of the “village” approach.  
​One of our mentoring sites operates out of Jackie Robinson Elementary School, a Sue Duncan location.
​​http://www.sueduncanchildrenscenter.org
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Several CPS schools have agreed to participate in the mentoring project, either as control or intervention sites.
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After School Matters is a non-profit organization that provides after-school and summer program opportunities to more than 15,000 Chicago high school teens each year. They provide chances to explore and develop talents, while gaining critical skills for work, college and beyond. They achieve this by designing and delivering high quality, hands-on, project-based apprenticeship programs in a variety of content areas, including the arts, communications, science, sports and technology.
Some of our staff members have served as ASM instructors and we have utilized ASM for recruiting at our Englewood mentoring sites.
http://www.afterschoolmatters.org