Richland One
Team members: Salandra Bowman, Ashley Brown, Aditi Bussells, Claire Gibbons, Nancy Lee, Kevin Lindler, Jason Sloan, Nick Washington
Mentor programs within school and district environments have a long and proven history. According to the Child Trends Research Brief, mentoring is so effective it should be considered a major strategy for youth development. Mentoring is one of the 15 strategies identified by the National Dropout Prevention Network/Center. It may occur in a variety of
settings, and structured mentoring programs provide mentors with the opportunity to offer mentees a variety of helpful experiences designed to improve their attitudes, behaviors, and soft skills.
Located in Columbia, S.C., and surrounding areas, Richland School District One (R1) serves just over 22,000 students. Demographics for the district show that 69% of students are Black, 18% are white, and 13% identify as “other.” Sixty-nine percent of students in the school district live in poverty. In 2023, 30% of students experienced chronic absenteeism, a 13.5%
increase since 2019.
The R1 Mentoring Initiative is a district-based program designed to provide mentoring services to male students enrolled in R1 Schools. The program is structured to empower, inspire, and encourage young men to achieve their full potential and dreams.
The goals of the R1 Mentoring Initiative are to:
- improve academic performance,
- teach problem solving techniques,
- strengthen perceptions of self and school,
- reduce disciplinary referrals and absenteeism, and
- build a resilient, competent, and confident youth.
In fulfillment of the capstone project for the Spring 2023 Riley Diversity Leadership Initiative, a curriculum toolkit has been developed to include program content and community resources to support this initiative. The toolkit contains an overview of individual curriculum content, timeline for implementation, resource recommendations, and tags referencing program goals, themes, and skills. Content developed as part of the Riley DLI capstone project includes financial literacy, career readiness skills, and media literacy, with the capacity to expand to other topics.
The R1 Mentoring Initiative, led by Mr. Kerry Abel, dropout prevention coordinator, is specifically geared toward male students and is currently implemented in two high schools. In the past year of the program, students have worked closely with local mentors and have attended statewide conferences. Students meet weekly during the school day, ensuring attendance isn’t hampered by transportation. With the help of this toolkit, the program will expand to all R1 high schools in the 2023-24 school year.
The toolkit was developed by participants in the spring 2023 Riley DLI cohort, representing nonprofits, public corporations, state agencies, and private businesses. Each member of the team contributed to project selection, content development, and final product implementation. The structure of the toolkit is replicable and will easily to be updated as content and curriculum expands.