This report, by Ernst & Young and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, uses 18 case studies to describe how corporate America is becoming involved in the youth mentoring movement. The authors provide best practices for corporate engagement including the thoughtful development of relationships with partners, investment in evidence-based programming, and targeted employee engagement.

North Carolina A&T State University Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness published a best practices brief focusing on the six standards of mentoring: recruitment, screening, training, matching, monitoring & support, and closure. Recommendations within each of the six standards are based in recent research and are informed by the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (2009). The authors provide guidance on cultural considerations and ethical principles, and provide an overview of current trends in youth mentoring such as youth-initiated mentoring.

This toolkit from the Indiana Youth Institute showcases best practices in mentoring as a strategy to prepare students for career and college success. The toolkit provides step-by-step instructions on designing a successful program, recruiting and supporting mentors, and engaging the surrounding community.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned this independent evaluation to examine the effectiveness of mentoring programs. With a focus on seven mentoring programs in Washington State, the study assessed how benefits accrued by youth varied according to individual and environmental risk. “Individual risks” include behavioral challenges, social and academic functioning, and health; while “environmental risks” include challenges in the youth’s surrounding environment, such as poverty or living in a dangerous neighborhood. The findings indicated that mentored youth experienced fewer depressive symptoms, greater acceptance by their peers, more positive beliefs about their ability to succeed in school, and better grades in school. Although a 13-month follow-up survey showed that almost half of the youth had experienced at least one match closure, it also indicated that mentors faced different types of challenges based on their mentee youth’s risk profile. The authors identified a number of implications for practitioners and funders: 1) Training and support for matches should be tailored to the types and levels of risk experienced by youth. 2) Mentoring should be broadly available, as youth with varying levels and types of risk appear to derive important benefits. 3) Greater emphasis should be placed on the mental health needs of youth and the benefits that mentoring can provide in this area. 4) Efforts should continue to improve the strength and consistency of the benefits that youth derive from mentoring programs.

This study, commissioned by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, shares the findings from a nationally representative survey of young people’s perspectives on mentoring. The report offers young people’s perspectives on mentoring in three areas: mentoring’s connection to outcomes, the value of mentors, and the availability of mentors. Researchers found that youth with mentors were more likely to engage in positive behaviors, such as setting higher education goals, volunteering, or participating in sports and extracurricular activities. Nearly all youth who had mentors believed the mentoring relationship was helpful and many were interested in becoming mentors themselves. However, mentors are not always available for youth. One in three young people do not have a mentor, and high-risk youth are even less likely to have a mentor. The report, guided by the voices of young people, offers recommendations to ensure that young people most in need have access to a quality mentor relationship and receive the adult supports they need to succeed in school, work, and life.

This report from Portland State University summarizes the discussion that took place at the 2011 Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring, a gathering of over 50 mentoring researchers, practitioners, service providers, and policymakers that focused on mentoring youth in the juvenile justice, child welfare, public welfare, mental health, and drug and alcohol treatment systems. For multi-service programs using mentoring, the key takeaways from this gathering include the importance of understanding how mentoring fits into an organization’s theory of change, having high expectations of mentors, researching and testing the mentoring model, and ensuring that the mentoring program is sustainable.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice commissioned a study to examine the referral stage of the mentoring process across six juvenile justice system settings. The research questions focused on best practices in identifying and referring youth to mentoring programs, the capacity of the mentoring community to support these youth, and the intermediate outcomes of mentoring in various juvenile justice settings. Key findings indicate that intake and assessment of youth should precede referral, there is a shortage of qualified mentors, more youth were referred than were ultimately matched with a mentor, and programs embedded in juvenile justice systems were able to more readily facilitate matching.

This Brookings Institution policy memo reviews the evidence of success from past and current mentoring programs and recommends best practices that can make a difference in the lives of young people. The author looks at programs in school-based and community-based settings and identifies the program components that work best. He concludes that community-based mentoring programs are most likely to boost earnings for disadvantaged youth, and advocates for private sector and non-governmental organizations to help expand those programs. He also recommends best practices for implementing mentoring programs, such as thoroughly screening potential mentors and mentees and providing training and supervision.

The Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor released a mentoring guidebook to be used within local workforce programs and agencies. The authors indicate that youth are more likely to achieve positive outcomes in academics, social settings, career development, health, and safety if they have supportive relationships with older adults. The guidebook is intended to assist in development and implementation of mentorship programs to improve employment, education, and training outcomes among youth.