App-based Mentoring for First-generation Latino Youth to be Successful and Well

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Positivity Outward created an app that connects high school youth with mentors for success and well-being. Youth are guided to achieve their goals in relationships, habits, mental health, and career exploration. Mentors choose the topics they support, while mentees choose the mentors and topics needed for their goals.

What students will I be mentoring?

Our mentees are low-income, first-generation, Latino high school students in Los Angeles. Most of them have never even talked to someone who went to college, and they are eager to learn from you.

Mentor Role

Your role is to guide students to be successful and well by helping them to reflect through mindful questioning and act through goal setting, while drawing on your personal experiences. Mentees choose their mentors using the information in your profile, which includes tags to represent your strengths and experiences.

Benefits of Mentoring

• positive impact on student mental health, career clarity, and academic success
• connection to a community of mentors
• development of communication, active listening, and conflict resolution skills
• QPR certification
• letter of recommendation after 1 semester of mentoring
• verification of volunteer hours

Mentor Qualifications

• motivation to share what you've learned from navigating your own challenges (you need to be self-aware and mentor from the heart)
• understanding of the importance of mental health for academic and career success
• commitment to personal development and growth (you set an example of progress in your own life while maintaining humility)
• alignment between volunteering and professional goals (i.e. seeking a letter of recommendation for medical school applications)

Training Requirements

All mentors complete an interview, a background check, Question Persuade Refer (QPR) training for suicide prevention, and a self-paced orientation that covers topics like building your profile and how to guide reflection and action. PO covers all mentor training costs.

Responsibilities

• commit to mentoring for at least 6 months
• respond to mentee messages within 48 hours unless you communicate otherwise with your mentees
• check-in every two weeks with Positivity Outward either by sending an in-app reflection or attending our Mentor Matters Zoom calls every other week