For Her Incorporated (nonprofit)

The purpose and the expected result of these specific experiences, and the entire mentorship experience, is to develop a positive mindset that says to each young woman “I can and I will.” Studies of the results of other mentoring programs for girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds have shown that a progression of successes results in a decrease in the number of youths who drop out of school in 9th grade, in a much higher rate of high school completion, an increase in college enrollment, or in the movement to higher levels of responsibility in the companies where these girls are hired.   

For Her anticipates results connected to the “attachment theory” birthing relationships that individuals form as they are part of a group. One may experience one increased feeling of self-esteem and self-worth,  knowing that there are support individuals available to them. We expect an increase in social consciousness, through an introduction to the arts, cultural arenas, financial literacy, health, and government. We will also work with the girl's parents and other family members to insure more support at home. Objectively, we seek to increase the percentage of middle school students to successfully enter high school with a stronger support foundation at home and school. We aim to surpass the current graduation percentage of 71.17% (as of 2020) through academic preparation, to decrease the ninth-grade dropout rate to 7.40%, and to increase college entry percentages from its status of 85.80% through life-long mentoring relationships.

Though there are many mentoring programs for boys and young men, there are fewer such programs for girls and young women. If girls are to rise to their full potential and become substantial contributors to society in places of influence, they must be allowed to see and realize their potential. 

As organizations evolve globally, one critical organizational challenge of the 21st century is developing future leaders who can continue the organization's vision. Attracting, developing, and retaining future leaders lends organizations a competitive advantage, whereas the inability to create future leaders hinders growth. Technological advancements of many global organizations are virtual platforms. With swift technological change, organizational volatility, and a complex global environment mentoring functions as a critical career development tool crucial for developing future leaders and individual career advancement. A recent study examined the difference in the number of promotions and the number of times persons were assigned additional opportunities as a result of either the face-to-face or virtual mentoring models. The study found that thirty-three (53.2%) of mentoring  participants were involved in a virtual mentoring relationship, and 29 (46.8%) were engaged in a  face-to-face mentoring relationship. 

The outcome promoted positivity from both platforms, but with higher yields for participants with face-face mentoring. At the same time, there were no significant differences in the opportunities a mentee received with either mentoring models–virtual or face-to-face. While both forms of mentoring continue to evolve and progress, the internet is an essential component of business interactions, making virtual mentoring attractive for individuals and multinational organizations. For Her is prepared to engage in virtual as well as face to face mentoring.

Girls and young women from Prince George's County have low achievement levels because they often lack family support and many forms of counseling from the educational system and community. For Her provides all forms of support through ongoing mentorships that bridge these gaps and recruit family members, teachers, school counselors, and local employers to assist girls in overcoming barriers and developing the confidence and skills needed to create meaningful careers. Our alignment with the needs of our mentees comes from the fact that we, the mentors, have come from very similar circumstances and have overcome those circumstances in part from encountering informal mentors and role models in our lives. For Her mentoring consists of a diverse set of mentors with a cadre of backgrounds and skillsets required to support the needs of the targeted population's collective goals. 

Our mentors have relationships and will make other relationships with County and private schools, social agencies, and local employers. These relationships have enabled us and will further enables us to recruit young women within our target population who express a desire to succeed and are willing to use the mentoring experiences to meet and exceed their personal goals. We have examined the composition and success rates of several mentoring programs elsewhere and learned from them. We expect to improve upon their successes with a mentoring program designed explicitly for Prince Georges County.   

The targeted population is middle school girls and up. African American adolescent girls face varying intersecting challenges that influence their academic success and impact their self-concept and self-esteem. These challenges, which include over-policing in schools, bullying, sexual violence, and racial exclusion in integrated educational spaces, also impact their future outcomes (Crenshaw et al., 2015; Morris, 2016a, 2016b; Ruck et al., 2011; Scott et al., 2017; Tonnesen, 2013; Wun, 2016, 2018). After-school opportunities such as mentorship programs serve as mechanisms to empower African American adolescent girls when the programs employ both a critical and culturally diverse framework that makes spaces for the uniqueness of African American girlhood.

Adolescents of color face the reality of institutionalized oppression, which includes institutional racism—and its impact on fair and equitable access to wealth, quality health care, employment, justice, safe and affordable housing, political power, and education. This facet of oppression has existed since the onset of colonization in the United States (Seaton & Yip, 2009). At its core, institutionalized oppression is the act of allocating resources in ways that privilege one group over another (Giroux & Aronowitz, 1985; Seaton & Yip, 2009). Black school-age children face numerous challenges throughout their lifetimes, such as living in poverty (33%) or living with a head of household who did not finish high school (12%; Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2019). These children are more likely to attend Title I schools—i.e., schools with a majority population of students from low-income families (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2018). Furthermore, 7% of Black children between the ages of 16 and 24 are in high school dropout status (McFarland et al., 2018). 

The For Her mentoring program will target these students and provide the ongoing and varied forms of support they need to overcome these many barriers to their personal achievement.

We have structured a pilot mentoring program in the State of Maryland to facilitate middle school girls within Prince George's County.  

Our organization has successfully promoted and continues to promote launching small businesses as an entrepreneurial endeavor with our mentee base and adults. Our organization has relationships with several small businesses and has already placed some mentees with them. Other businesses have expressed interest in receiving some of our mentees as new employees or trainees.  Providing our mentees with financial literacy, business acumen, and confidence has inspired their innovative and creative spirit as self sustaining adults and leaders, and this has been evident to the employers who have hired those we have mentored. 

It is essential to recognize the role culture plays in determining how one sees and interprets the world and acquires and assesses information. In each of these actions, culture shapes and informs an individual’s worldview. Culturally responsive mentoring promotes flexibility and adaptability. Instead of approaching a peer mentoring relationship with a singular worldview, culturally responsive mentoring encourages mentoring participants to consider the multiple cultural contexts and value systems that each individual brings to the relationship and leverage this information to connect and empower one another. A healthy body of literature supports and promotes mentoring as a viable way to encourage racially and ethnically minoritized girls. The conceptual framework is the cognitive diversity theory that brings a myriad of differences in beliefs to minority girls to elevate their academic abilities and career development.

We are currently piloting the program.  We aim to populate Mt Calvery Catholic parish, partnering with Bishop McNamara High School and Prince George's County northeast region (4 middle schools).

The community is a mix of  African American, Hispanic, and Latino students.  The school board supports the program with the CEO's endorsement and buy-in from the parents.   In some cases, the parents are essential to buy in as they are part of the program solution.

Our organizational strategy relates to the targeted populations' backgrounds and areas of concern.  The mentoring team develops mentoring plan specifically for the mentee. We do not engage in cookie-cutter mentoring as each mentee is different; thus, the strategy is specific to their needs.

The school system and parish identify potential girls marginally succeeding in academics, single-parent households, low income, system assistance, and other variables.  The program consists of an overview of academic concerns and a questionnaire of general and specific questions related to school, social settings, home, likes and dislikes, and aspirations.  The data identify areas of alignment from the child's perspective vs. the parent's.  Additionally, the data extracted gives insight into the parent's influence on the child's mindset.  We then structure mentoring based on the output design to educate and empower students in the identified areas.  Simultaneously, we provide we mentor the parent based on their data output. The parent's participation is essential to the student's success.  If the parent's mindset appears linear and constricted to the circumstances of their environment, then the child's mind will not widen to possibilities and opportunities beyond what their environment presents.  Our stance offers African American women from various walks and life challenges who wanted more than their environment offered and succeeded in achieving goals and beyond.  We are posture to change the mindset of marginalized minority girls to open the door of opportunity by achieving academic success through higher educational institutions.

Our mentoring team has unique relateable growth experiences mirroring the norm of many minority girls.  Some of the mentor's journey mimics current students.  Our walk to where we are is a template customizable for children and parents to succeed. We provide resources and networks for learning and exposure.  This method serves best because the mirror reflection of the mentees is the US. 

Our three to five-year impact goals consist of expanding our mentoring team with individuals who once were mentees to continue the relatable outreach for girls and women to embrace.  Additionally, we identified partnerships with larger African American entities such as banks, technology firms, and advocacies.  Each provides an essential component of exposure and potential internship, first jobs, and societal exposure to culture and arts, financial literacy, and politics. Furthermore, we aim to offer mentoring in government, minority businesses, and Entrepreneurship markets.

The program consists of various professionals from different walks of life coming together to close the gap of educational disparity among African Americans to attain professional success. Each team member's life journey correlates with the targeted population we serve.  One member or most of the team identifies with experience being in a single-parent household, financial struggles, limited education, teen pregnancy, lack of educational resources, limited outlets for advice and direction, and peer pressure.  Each team member has successfully crafted their life journey as a sustainable educated adult in society with doctorates, MBA, MPH, BA, and BS degrees.

Partnering with Truist Foundation and MIT  provides for a lifelong relationship of evolving resources to widen the exposure of small businesses through connecting key investors, policymakers, and mentors. One key element in mentoring is advocating equitable education and professional elevation for African American women and girls. For HER mentors and empowers African American children, emphasizing female children to break the psychological chains that often impair their ability to create generational wealth. We work closely with parents and children to broaden their vision that all things are possible through creative exposures of a diversified perspective of reshaping their mindset to develop a “can do, will do” character of integrity and perseverance. By expanding their environment with cognitive diversity, we impart cultural enhancements through creative arts, integrated ideas, and objectives set collectively with the children and the team. Inviting the children to develop their foundation is the beginning of the ownership of their life journey. The Foundation and MIT provide resources in connecting small businesses to a plethora of resources. Significantly, advocating for and shaping policy, which often is absent in the resource pool for small businesses, is a warranted factor for small business success and growth. Additionally, the two entities serve as mentors offering development and directing operational growth and success.

The ultimate partnership is the one(s) driven by diversity, equity, and inclusion of African American girls and women by changing the fabric of marginalized communities. With that understanding, the partnership goes beyond the support of For Her mission. Partnering provides opportunities for our mentees as interns, first job placement, career changes, and support for higher education. The partnership is a lifetime commitment through direct connections within the partnering organization or extended networks.

We seek partnerships in the business of technology, finance, government, arts and culture, and organizations to champion DEI and promote change.  Partnering with African American-owned businesses potentially could enhance our mission.