PHOENIX — Early results from a mentoring program that pairs university students with incarcerated girls have been mixed, but officials say such programs could be a key to keeping girls from getting into trouble again.
About half of the 18 girls who took part in the program that uses Arizona State University students as mentors have returned to custody, a success rate that's only marginally better than that of juvenile offenders who don't go through a mentoring program.
However, more than half of the girls who took part in the mentoring program re-enrolled in an educational program, and eight found jobs. Seven of the girls have stayed sober. Some maintained contact with their mentors.
"You're developing relationships that are, hopefully, long-lasting — somebody who will be there to ride out the storm," said Katie Barclay Penkoff, who coordinates the mentoring program for ASU.
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The Youth in Transition program is a collaborative mentoring program that began in 2003, when the Girl Scouts' Arizona Cactus-Pine Council partnered with Dignity Services, a prostitution diversion program, to provide a 16-week life-skills class for girls in the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.
ASU came on board in 2004, and the mentoring program has evolved into a comprehensive effort to connect with girls while they are in detention. The program also gets mentors to stick with the girls as they transition back to their communities.
Mentors, who come from a variety of disciplines, are recruited for the program and undergo extensive background checks.
They first work with incarcerated girls to build a relationship, develop a transitional plan and set goals.
When a girl is released, the mentor helps her connect to community services, find a job, re-enroll in school and find better ways to spend recreational time.
The mentors become role models, advocates and friends in the process.
Lina, a 17-year-old participant in the program, said she probably would have given up by now if it wasn't for her mentor, Daisy Garcia, 24.
Lina spent a year at the juvenile corrections department's Black Canyon School after she caused a car accident that killed a friend. She was released in May. Garcia brought flowers and watched her walk out.
Now, instead of drinking, smoking marijuana and partying, Lina works at a pizza place and is planning to start a vocational rehabilitation program. She wants to be an interior designer or maybe a corrections officer.
"To keep going sometimes is hard. Sometimes, I get frustrated," Lina said. "To go from no responsibility to having your plate full is hard. It's a big change.
"Her (being) there makes me want to push harder."
