Berea College Parent Partnership

This solicitation invites eligible applicants to propose research and evidence-based enhancements to mentoring programs based on three strategies: (1) involving the parents and family in activities and services, (2) delivering structured activities and programs for the mentoring matches, and (3) developing training and support for mentors. Research studies and evaluations of best practices have indicated that mentoring programs that provide multiple modes of treatment addressing both individual and environmental characteristics tend to be the most effective. This initiative is authorized by the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-8.

Berea College will enhance their current mentoring program in this initiative's Focus Area 1 - involving the parents and families of mentoring participants in mentoring activities and providing or coordinating services for them. Berea College will implement the Parent Partnership, a strategic enhancement to the Rural Scholars Mentoring Program (RSMP), which will provide intensive services to parents and families of RSMP youth participants. RSMP provides mentoring and academic interventions to 160 at-risk youth in economically depressed Appalachian Kentucky. Youth are selected for RSMP based on risk criteria including the likelihood they would come into contact with the juvenile justice system, the likelihood for educational failure and the absence of an involved parent. The objectives include: (1) Contacts with families of RSMP youth participants will be increased by 100% as a result of Parent Partnership, which incorporates proven, research-based strategies for family engagement; (2) 70% of RSMP youth whose families are engaged in Parent Partnership will acquire knowledge and demonstrate capacity to make healthy and developmentally sound decisions regarding their behaviors and associations; (3) 70% of the youth whose families are engaged in Parent Partnership will exhibit a commitment to learning and education, leading to strong academic effort and performance, school attendance, and completion; and (4) 70% of the youth whose families are engaged in Parent Partnership will report having improved communication within the families. CA/NCF