National CARES Mentoring Movement

Program Overview and Background

The overall goal of The Rising is to transform the lives of young people by encircling them with caring adults trained to deliver a transformational healing curriculum that challenges, affirms, encourages, and inspires. The curriculum is rooted in prevention and teaches principles, practices, and other support efforts that provide coping and other mechanisms to mitigate the impact of the disparities and dysfunction ruining young lives. Integral to the program is the cultivation of cultural pride and high self-esteem, the development of critical thinking and literacy skills, workforce development and soft “power” skills, and a love for learning and high achievement among our young who are losing social, emotional, and academic ground. In addition to working directly with students, the program works to indirectly change the landscape of the schools they are embedded in by improving the overall school culture and relationships between students and the school staff.

Program Services

• At the school
• After-school
• In detention centers
• In community centers

The program follows a culturally anchored and healing-centered curriculum that unfolds in weekly Wellness Mentoring Circles (WMCs). WMCs are small-group mentoring circles that are facilitated by a CARES-trained facilitator who is a social worker or psychologist.

Target Population

We aim to provide mentoring under this grant to young people with any one or more of the following:

• Single Parent Household
• Academic Challenges
• Facing Discrimination based on Race, Ethnicity, and/or Gender
• Juvenile Justice Involvement
• Victimization
• Substance Impact or Misuse

Mentor Recruitment and Training

• 3,541 youth to be served under this grant
• 598 mentors recruited under this grant
• 590 matches under this grant
• For mentor recruitment, we target College Students and Adult Volunteers
• Duration of program services: 24 weeks
• Expected intensity of match contact: 24 hours total, 1 hour per week
• Expected length of a match: 24 weeks
• Expected frequency of match contact: 1 time per week
• Number of training hours required before a mentor is matched with a youth: 20 hours