Culturally Smart Relationships Study

The aim of this study is to examine whether and how the provision of a cultural humility and social justice training and support program to volunteer mentors can change their interactions with youth, improve the effectiveness of programs and foster positive outcomes for low-income youth of color. Mentor-youth dyads (N=240) will be randomly assigned either to an intervention that includes cultural humility and social justice training and enhanced support or to a control group. Survey and interview data will be collected from a variety of sources, including mentors, youth, parents and case managers. Case records about mentor-youth dyads will also be collected.

Inclusion Criteria: * youth is between 9 and 17 years of age * youth is eligible for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring (CBM) program as determined by initial assessment of program staff * youth is a member of a racial/ethnic minority group, such as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American/Native Alaskan/Native Hawaiian, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern/North African or Arab American * Parents of the above youth who are able to complete study measures in English or Spanish * Mentors are eligible for the study if they are applying and accepted to the CBM program and are eventually matched with a youth who meet the study criteria above or currently in an existing match with a youth who meet eligibility criteria. Exclusion Criteria: * anyone who doesn't meet the above inclusion criteria