The Ripple Effect of Mentorship: A Cross-Case Analysis of Five Rural, Latine Youth

ABSTRACTThe literature on mentorship centralizes formal mentoring programs with hired and trained staff and volunteers to work with at-promise youth of color at school- or community-based sites such as Big Brothers Big Sisters or smaller localized programs; however, these programs are not always available in rural areas. This multiple case study explores the phenomenon of naturally-occurring mentorships among Latine, gang-affiliated youth to evaluate what mentorship is and how mentoring relationships are cultivated and sustained. The research draws on fieldnotes, 300 hours of observations, eight three-phase semi-structured interviews with mentoring pairs, and written and pictorial evidence of the socio-political climate of the community confirmed through 20 semi-structured interviews with community leaders and elders. The study’s findings apply elements of aspirational, navigational, and resilient cultural wealth according to Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework and were member-checked by mentoring participants. The findings suggest that a mentor can be an individual holding familial space in the mentee’s life; while the act of mentorship entails listening attentively, providing advice based on personal experiences, supporting the mentee in “getting out” of their hometown, and speaking one’s truth even if it is difficult to hear.KEYWORDS: Latine youthgang-affiliated youthmentorshipcase study Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, XX. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions in that they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.Ethical statementIn accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher,Notes1 This article utilizes the community-driven definition of “gang-affiliated” as meaning an individual (youth or adult) who is labeled by points of authority such as police, courts, and schools as being affiliated with gangs due to the location of their home residence and/or their association with friends or family members who are known gang members. Being labeled or self-identifying as “gang-affiliated” does not mean that that individual is an active gang member; however, participants stated that their affiliation with specific sets often led to profiling, bullying, and discrimination from members of their community, but especially by police and school officials.2 This article differentiates the terms of “rural” vs. “urban” and “urban clusters” using the definitions put forth by the U.S. Census Bureau (Citation2022). Accordingly, urban areas consist of 50,000 individuals or more residing in that space, “urban clusters” are spaces of 2,500–50,000 individuals, and “rural” areas are delineated as having fewer than 2,500 people living in that area (Ratcliffe, Citation2015). The participants of this study reside in an agricultural area defined as rural which lies on the outskirts of what would be considered an urban cluster about 30 miles from the nearest metropolitan city. As a result of its population density and proximity to the nearest urban center, the setting of this study is impacted by a lack of educational, occupational, and social resources which directly impacts the opportunities for local Latine communities as a deficit.3 Recognizing a lack of shared acceptance for racialized terminology, the term Latine is used inclusively in this article to honor gender inclusivity using Spanish pronunciation and refer to individuals who identify as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano/a, Latino/a, and Hispanic.4 To support and model positive languaging, this article will use Rios (Citation2011) term “at-promise” to describe all youth and adults who would otherwise be labeled as “at-risk” or “gang-affiliated” (due to their social and/or familial association with known gang members and/or if they are labeled as gang-affiliated due to where they reside) unless otherwise noted in direct quotes from the literature.5 All names and places have been changed to protect the identity of participants.6 Due to maintaining the safety and anonymity of participants, I was not able to ask participants about specific mentees; however, many of the community participants named mentees or their families in their interview which supports the familiarity of local members and cyclical nature of these participant relationships to each other but specifically the study.