BBBSC's STARS Peer Mentoring Program

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado (BBBSC) will expand its STARS (Students Teaching About Relationships and Success) peer mentoring program to 14 schools in 6 states (Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, and New York). The purpose is to deliver this evidence-informed program to historically minoritized or underserved youth ages 11 to 18 over the 36-month grant period, e.g., students of color, immigrants, migrants, and students living in families with low incomes. The STARS curriculum follows the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring and was developed with youth and family input. STARS is continuously improved after each cohort. The program benefits both peer mentors and mentees. High school mentors, trained and supervised by an adult program coordinator, provide mentorship to peers at least two grades below them. Project activities include pairing older youth mentors with up to four mentees who share similar backgrounds and are at least two grade levels younger. Over the course of the 23-week program each year, peers develop a trusting mentoring relationship and complete the program together. Youth mentors lead all sessions with their mentees, under the supervision of an adult program coordinator, who also offers mentorship to the older youth.

In addition, youth mentors receive two in-depth training opportunities to develop leadership skills: the one-day STARS MentorLife Summit and the four-day STARS Leadership and Mentor Training. During the project period, BBBSC will hire a program expansion manager who will be responsible for developing Parent Away programming to meet the needs of families/youth with incarcerated parents. Furthermore, BBBSC takes a holistic approach to serving youth and provides wraparound services, e.g., parent education, additional resources, and community training events focused on cyberbullying/bullying prevention. The expected outcomes, intended to benefit STARS youth, are to maintain or improve mentors' and mentees' mental health, their understanding and use of healthy coping skills, their self-esteem, their social competencies, their growth mindset, their leadership skills, their relationship with their parents/guardians, and their avoidance of risky behaviors. For this project, BBBSC will have five sub awardees: BBBS of Southern Nevada; BBBS of South Texas; Detroit Cares Mentoring Movement; State University of New York Schenectady Community College, Liberty Partnerships Program; and BBBS of Southeast Ohio. Subrecipient activities will include hiring program coordinators who will oversee the delivery of STARS in their respective school(s).