Since January 2012, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) has been implementing a mentoring program funded by the City’s Young Men’s Initiative (YMI). Launched in New York City in 2011, YMI is a cross-agency initiative aimed at relieving the disparities in outcomes between young Black and Latino men and their peers in areas related to education, health, employment, and criminal justice. The DYCD YMI Cornerstone Mentoring Program targets youth in fifth through ninth grade who are at risk of dropping out of school. The mentoring program operates in 25 Cornerstone Community Centers located in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) facilities and operated by nonprofit provider organizations. Each Cornerstone center receives $32,000 in YMI funding to serve 12 mentees. The mentoring program is overseen by a mentor coordinator in each center and delivered in a group format, with up to four youth working with an individual mentor for at least one and a half hours each week.

At the request of DYCD and of the New York City Center of Economic Opportunity, which oversees the implementation, performance monitoring and evaluation of the majority of YMI programs, Policy Studies Associates, Inc.(PSA) conducted an evaluation of the YMI Cornerstone Mentoring Program during the 2013-14 school year. The purpose of the evaluation was to examine the youth experience in the mentoring program and assess ways in which the program helps participating youth develop skills that will enhance their social-emotional wellbeing and educational and career outcomes. The evaluation examined patterns of mentoring program participation, program practices that promote participant growth in three main outcome areas—attitudes toward school, engagement in learning and social-emotional development—and the successes and challenges of the mentoring program. Key findings and related recommendations are summarized below.