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Mentoring at Youth Justice Institute

The goal of YJI’s mentoring program is to stabilize youth in crisis by providing positive adult relationships that promote personal growth and development. Additionally, the mentors are better trained and experienced to work with youth in their future professions.

YJI Mentoring Programs

Inside Mentoring Program (IMP)

Since 2001, this program has paired culturally appropriate volunteers with detained youth who are not otherwise receiving visits during visiting hours. These volunteers are most often university students interested in a career in a related field or community members passionate about helping these youths. The mentors are bright, motivated future leaders who voluntarily participate for a variety of reasons. They receive 18 hours of training prior to their participation, as well as ongoing supervision after the program begins. They use the program curriculum to help the youth gain new life skills, learn how to set and achieve goals, and gain more insight into their current life situations.

Long Distance Mentoring (LDM)

LDM was created in September 2004 to assist the youths being sent to California Youth Authority or out-of-home placements far away from their family and community. This program offers the opportunity for youth to stay connected with their mentor via letter correspondence. The mentor is available to support the youth and encourage their success by connecting them with resources and preparing them for their transition home. All communication between mentors and the youth are screened with letters passing through the program in order to maintain security for both parties involved. Youths in the program often report that the mentor is the only person that writes to them consistently and that they appreciate the help in setting meaningful goals.

Transitional Mentoring Program (TMP)

This program began in 2007 to serve youth who are 18-24 and seeking assistance to successfully transition out of the juvenile justice system and into a healthy and independent adulthood. Identified by the other two mentoring programs, a large number of youth will either graduate out of the juvenile justice system, or they will return to their communities after long-term placements. These youth are at high risk for chronic system involvement. As they maneuver through the different systems, consistency has been a key ingredient in helping them reach their personal goals. If you are interested in participating in this program, email mentoring@yjinstitute.org.

Through the Walls: Mentoring Children with Incarcerated Parents

Through the Walls is a comprehensive year-long mentoring program developed to meet the unique needs of young men and women in this population. Parental incarceration can have a devastating effect on families, especially children, who often face stigma, guilt, shame, isolation, anger and incarceration themselves.
Mentoring for us includes but is more than the fun social events. We encourage youth to see college as an attainable goal because we believe education truly is the key to preventing youth from entering the adult criminal justice system. Our mentors are trained and well supervised to provide support to the youth during these difficult periods and help them build healthy relationships that support them to reach their goals. Our mentors come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, languages, cities and neighborhoods.

Our program is gender responsive and culturally aware. We specialize in the different needs that girls and boys have during this age group and part of the gender responsiveness is that we pair them up with someone of the same gender.

Requirements for Through the Walls:

-Youth must commit to our program for one year.
-Youth must be between 11-18 years old when they begin the program.