A Home Away From Home
Youth organizations nurture kids with basketball and mentoring.

BY LEANNE STAR

Kids come to the clubs to have fun. From activities, trust is born. Holding a basketball is staff member Jeannie Bell (back row). Photo by Jim Ziv

Northwestern students who work with Barton Hirsch on his current study of mentoring in youth development organizations must adhere to a strict dress code: blue jeans.

"I tell my students, ‘You have to wear blue jeans and spend time playing with the kids to get to know them,’" says Hirsch, professor of human development and social policy. The casual attire goes to the very heart of Hirsch’s study. Successful mentoring relationships, Hirsch believes, spring from an appreciation of youth culture and an emphasis on things that kids are already good at.

"By joining kids in admiring the positive aspects of youth culture, adults can establish their credibility as mentors," says Hirsch. "On the other hand, they can put limits on negative aspects of that culture, like violence. Once they have strong mentoring relationships in place, youth development organizations can go on to provide a wide range of services and learning opportunities. When it’s done well, it’s a very effective approach."

At the School of Education and Social Policy since 1986, Hirsch, who has a PhD in psychology, researches social relations and developmental changes during adolescence, with an emphasis on gender, race and social system influences. These interests, together with his background in program development and evaluation, drew the attention of a regional affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), which engaged him in 1998 to evaluate a gender equity initiative designed to strengthen programming for minority girls. Hirsch and his blue-jeaned team of observers from Northwestern closely followed the activities at six urban clubs over three years and reported their results in "Inner-city youth development organizations: Strengthening programs for adolescent girls," published in the Journal of Early Adolescence.

The article notes some of the distinctive strengths of the Boys & Girls Clubs: "In listening to the voices of youth," the report states, "the ethnographers at the clubs were struck by the use of the language of home and family in describing the clubs. Many girls spontaneously called the club their ‘second home’ or their ‘home away from home.’"

To better understand that attachment, Hirsch secured funding from the William T. Grant Foundation to extend the work begun with the gender equity study. Hirsch and his team have just begun a two-year study that will focus on mentoring relationships in the clubs, which he believes are the most important part of the clubs’ programs.

What Hirsch discovered in his initial study was an undervalued treasure. "The clubs provide an environment that really works," he says, adding that not all youth development programs nurture mentoring relationships. "We want to understand why it works. A long-term goal would be to determine what can be done in other settings. What can be transferred to the school environment? How can we help teachers who would like to serve as mentors for their students?"

What makes the clubs special? "Their strengths go back decades," says Hirsch. The first Boys Clubs began in 1860 and gradually affiliated into a national organization. By the 1980s the clubs had become coed, and in 1990 the name changed to reflect that. "The clubs historically focused on urban youth from low-income families," notes Hirsch. They now serve more than 3 million young people at 2,850 locations in all 50 states.

But despite the widespread presence of BGCA, this kind of broad-based after-school program, with its emphasis on the whole child, has not been studied in depth until now. "There’s a lot of interest in after-school programs right now," says Hirsch, "but most of the ones that have been studied are highly structured, even though they’re often difficult to implement and can have a deficit focus."

By contrast, BGCA and similar types of youth organizations have a positive focus on an area that Hirsch believes is critically important—the role of relationships. The clubs further these relationships through the lure of recreation. "We have found that recreation plays a critical role. The kids come to have fun. That draws them in and then they stay for other programs," says Hirsch.

Recreational activities vary from club to club but usually include basketball — the favorite among boys — volleyball, swimming, dance and games like pool and foosball. Activities like these facilitate relationships not only between young people themselves but also between them and adult staff members.

"The club staff members are unusually skilled at preserving the elements of friendship while maintaining their adult perspective," explains Hirsch. "Most of the staff members have grown up in the community and identify with the kids. They don’t type them as problem kids but see them as normal. And they are dedicated to helping them in any way they can. I’ve even seen staff give their own money for the kids’ college application fees."

The young people Hirsch and his team have focused on are in early adolescence, between the ages of 10 and 15. At the clubs under study the population is mostly minority and low-income, with 80 percent qualifying for free or reduced-cost school lunches. Many of the early adolescents face violence in their neighborhoods and sometimes even at their schools, but the clubs provide a safe haven that allows relationships to flourish.

Successful mentoring relationships have been tied to gains in self-esteem and school grades. They can also open doors to a range of opportunities. Hirsch is looking for ways to highlight the importance of the mentoring relationship and expand its influence. "Mentoring should be a fundamental part of youth programs," he says. "We’re looking for ways to enhance those relationships and studying how staff can use structured programs to extend the range of their mentoring. The goal is to talk with kids about the things that really matter to them and that are important to their growth and success."

Hirsch’s gender equity study cites the importance of such bonds to early adolescents. The study reports an exchange between two 11-year-olds, Celia and Roberta, about a female staff member, Karina.

Celia: You feel at home here. Karina can tell when you are having problems.

Roberta: Yeah, she can see it in your eyes. She just knows. And when you come back after being on vacation or something, Karina looks for you and welcomes you back.

Male mentors have proved equally successful in relating to kids emotionally. Hirsch cites a club staff member in his early 30s who had started as a recreation director, playing basketball and other games with neighborhood kids. "He was concerned about his community, so he started a discussion group. Some thought no one would come, but boys flocked to it, girls too. They talked about violence, sexuality, how to behave beyond their neighborhood. They were hungry to talk about these issues and hear what someone they respected had to say."

Mentoring can be as casual as detecting a girl’s feelings through her eyes or more formally structured in a program like Smart Girls, developed nationally by BGCA for early adolescent girls. In weekly meetings, the girls are encouraged to speak openly about a variety of topics, from body image to drug use. By giving the girls an opportunity to talk openly with each other as well as with the woman who runs the program, Hirsch’s report says, the club provides the girls with a place to be heard within a supportive environment."

That supportive environment gets its strengths from relationships — between peers and between kids and mentors. Indeed, Hirsch sees a direct tie between mentoring and positive peer groups, currently cited as a key influence on adolescent development. "Most kids at these after-school programs attend with their friends," notes Hirsch. "Staff, accordingly, get to know peer friendship groups. They access these peer networks for information — e.g., 'What's going on with Jamaal?' They also interact as much with youth in group contexts as in one-to-one situations. So staff develop skills in interacting with youth peer groups. Much of their mentoring occurs in a group context — indeed, much of what they say is designed to socialize the group as much as any one individual."

Hirsch and his team plan to study mentoring in depth to understand what actually happens in a mentoring relationship, what factors aid the relationship and how parents respond to mentoring relationships between their children and other adults. The team also hopes to make suggestions about ways to make more effective use of existing programs. "Some studies on welfare reform indicate some negative effects on adolescents," says Hirsch. "If that’s the case, then these community organizations become even more important."

Such research, with its blend of theory and real life practices, is especially attractive to Hirsch and his students. "I’ve always had a strong interest in human development and policy," says Hirsch. "This is an ideal way to blend those interests. These are theories that matter."

Although Hirsch’s study is just beginning, he is already sold on the importance of good mentoring relationships. "It’s increasingly difficult to grow up, and the transition from childhood to adolescence is especially critical," says Hirsch. "Kids need information and guidance from wise and caring individuals."

For information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, please go to www.bgca.org.

Leanne Star is a freelance writer.

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