Breaking Barriers: How Mentorship Transforms College Access for Underserved Youth

How Does Mentoring Impact College Access For Underserved Youth?

The transformative power of mentorship stands at the heart of educational equity. When underserved students connect with mentors who share their lived experiences, something remarkable happens – confidence blossoms, academic performance improves, and pathways to higher education become clearer.

Dr. Marcia Sturdivant, President and CEO of NEED, reveals how representation in mentoring creates immediate trust and understanding. "Students who have personalized attention from people that look like them tend to fare better than their peers," she explains. This connection isn't just comfortable – it's foundational. When mentors have navigated similar challenges, they validate students' experiences while simultaneously showing that barriers can be overcome.

Much of NEED's mentorship work focuses on dismantling harmful stereotypes that unconsciously limit how students view their own potential. Through open conversations about the origins and falsehoods of racial stereotyping, mentors help students develop critical thinking skills to reject limiting beliefs. "When you instill that in students, they have a confidence so high," notes Dr. Sturdivant. This confidence directly translates to improved academic outcomes and higher education success.

The organization thoughtfully matches mentors with students based on shared experiences and community connections. For those interested in becoming mentors themselves, Dr. Sturdivant emphasizes key qualities: genuine care for minority students, patience, and a consistently positive outlook. The selection process maintains high standards because, as she puts it, mentors must "treat our kids as if they were your own."

Ready to support educational equity through mentorship? Connect with NEED today to discover how you can help transform a student's educational journey and future possibilities.

To learn more about NEED visit:
https://www.NEEDLD.org
NEED
429 Fourth Avenue, 20th FL, Suite 2000
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412-566-2760

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the NEED Podcast highlighting students,
partners and advocates Presentedby NEED and hosted by Dr Marcia
Sturtevant, president and CEO.
This series highlights theimpact of mentoring,
philanthropy and collaborativepartnerships that empower
students' triumphant entry into,and progression through higher

(00:25):
education.
Whether you're applying forscholarships or supporting the
mission, you'll find insightsthat inform, inspire and empower
.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Behind every college acceptance letter is a story and
often a mentor.
In this episode, dr MarciaSturdivant explores how
mentorship opens doors, buildsconfidence and helps underserved
students navigate the path tohigher education.
Welcome back everyone.
I am Millie M, co-host andproducer in the studio with Dr
Marcia Sturdivant, president andCEO of NEED.

(01:03):
How are you?
I'med, how are you?
I'm great, how are you Doing?
Quite well, excited about thisconversation.
I'm so glad we're talking aboutmentorship today.
It's one of those quiet forcesthat can truly change a
student's life.
So how does mentoring impactcollege access for underserved
youth?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well.
It helps students seethemselves in the future.
Mentoring, particularly forminoritized children, benefits
not just the student but it alsobenefits the mentor.
We have found that students whohave personalized attention

(01:42):
from people that look like themtend to fare better than their
peers.
They tend to have futureoutlooks that are brighter, they
tend to be more confident intheir abilities and overall
their academic performance isenhanced.

(02:03):
They get better academically.
They do better because theyhave more motivation as a result
of that mentoring process,those mentoring activities to
engage with these students, theengagement levels are higher.

(02:24):
And they're higher because whensomeone walks into the room to
help you that looks like you,students have these complex
perceptions, but they'reaccurate perceptions that maybe

(02:45):
not always, but more than likelyyour experience is the same as
my experience and that begins avery warm and engaging kind of
relationship between the mentorand the students.
Students are well aware thatyour experience has been similar
to mine and sometimes ourstudents can't navigate through

(03:11):
some of the difficult challengesof being a minority in a school
setting, and that's no fault oftheir own.
It doesn't happen to everystudent, but many times we
forget that they are childrenyou know they're not adults who
have gone through particularkinds of experiences that

(03:33):
sometimes aren't always positive.
And that's why we're there.
We're there to help them tounderstand, to not dismiss or
negate their experience, butvalidate.
Yes, we understand Because letme tell you what happened to me
when something similar like thathappened.

(03:54):
And that's the real benefit ofmentoring minority students with
people who come from the samecommunities or have lived their
experience.
It helps validate their beliefsand many times our students are

(04:14):
not able to verbalize like,well, I feel a little funny
about this or I don't want to benegative.
Children are just so resilientand positive about things so
sometimes they'll think, well,maybe it's me, what did I do

(04:35):
wrong?
And we're there to reassurethem that you're not out of
pocket by thinking that orhaving that perception.
But, more importantly, it'scritical that we helped them to
say and to believe that thosebarriers aren't there

(04:55):
permanently, they're not goingto stop you from moving forward.
We've all had those challenges.
We've all had those experiences.
But how do you navigate throughthings like racial stereotypes
or the belief that you can'tachieve?
And we are sitting here todaybecause we have achieved?

(05:15):
We've had those similar kindsof conversations or those
similar kinds of reactions byeducators, whether or not.
They know they're doing certainthings, or have you, but we are
standing here today as collegeeducated African-Americans, and
you too can do that that.

(05:37):
You just have to understand howto address those challenges.
We don't accept any kind ofexcuses or give up attitude.
While we're also acknowledgingand validating their experiences
, we're also training andteaching our students how to

(05:57):
best handle those situations totheir benefit.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Such empowering work that you do in shaping those
young minds and letting themknow that they can overcome
anything.
You touched on so many points.
I don't prefer the term, youknow, when we tell kids, wait
until you get into the realworld, because their world is
very real to them.
Things that they're goingthrough are very real to them,
and a lot of the situations thatthey find themselves in are not

(06:25):
due to any choice that theymade, but the choices that the
adults in their lives have made.
So I love that you are meetingthem where they are and
validating their feelings, whileletting them know that they can
overcome those situations.
So how do you all match, Iguess, your students and your
mentors?

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, we all have our own set of skills.
You know our skill sets, andwhile mentoring boosters the
skills of the professionals, soto speak, we have to recognize
that some of us are just alittle bit better with certain
populations, age groups, genderorientations and so on and

(07:05):
experiences.
So, as much as we can, we willmatch a mentor, one of our staff
, with a student who may havesimilar challenges, for instance
, students who might havephysical barriers that influence

(07:26):
how they learn or where theylearn and what kind of
environment they learn, and wehelp those students navigate
through that by attaching themto someone on our staff that has
, you know, had that similarproblem.
The fact that we are a prettysmall community, that many times

(07:55):
our mentors live in the sameneighborhoods or go to the same
schools as these students, andthat is a big bonus for us
because they can talk to thestudent about oh yes, I had, or
I had, that teacher or I, thatteacher or I belong to that

(08:16):
group.
Immediate common bonds,immediate common bond, yeah, and
, like you said, I think it's soimportant for us not to negate
the student's experiences.
Now they may have a perceptionthat isn't as mature as someone

(08:36):
who is, you know a little bitolder and so on, but their
reality, their perception, isthe reality because they're
living in it day to day.
And oftentimes it can be veryheartbreaking to see a student
give up because they internalizeit, thinking that it's me and

(08:58):
you know that's from adultstelling them well, don't let
anything stop you, don't.
You know those are very nicewords and we say that, but you
have to tell them how do you getthrough those experiences?
What did I do in that particulartime?
And I think we do a pretty goodjob with that, because there is

(09:20):
a close-knit community herethat can enable students to
match with someone thatunderstands their plight.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I bet it develops and blossoms into this beautiful
relationship.
So you started off bymentioning confidence.
How does that confidencebuilding translate into real
college outcomes?

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Right, we do a lot of work.
Much of our work is researchbased and it came out of a
professor from the University ofPittsburgh that looks at, has
looked at over the years, howminoritized students perceive
themselves, their abilities,because of social forces outside

(10:04):
of them that impact like theirviewpoint, their perceptions,
that impact like their viewpoint, their perceptions.
We do a lot of work onstereotyping, eradicating
stereotypes, because it sounds,you know, very simplistic but it
can be very complex when thestudent begins to believe those

(10:25):
stereotypes and that, of course,has a negative impact on their
perceptions of what's possiblefor them, what they can do,
their achievement and so on.
And when we just have thesereally raw, honest and open
conversations about racialstereotyping, the light bulb

(10:46):
comes on that you know,stereotypes are always false,
whether or not they're said in apositive way.
Oh, you're really good atathletics.
You're just so giftedphysically.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
That's a stereotype.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, it's a stereotype, and stereotypes are
always wrong because it's You'retaking a cookie cutter approach
to defining someone just upontheir physical appearance.
Our students grow up in thesame world that everyone else
has, so it's not like it justrolls off their back.

(11:22):
When you hear or see it so manytimes, you start to believe it.
It.
And what we do is we go througha series of lessons that what
are the origins of some of thesestereotypes about
African-Americans?
How do you know?
How did they come about and whythey're all false and what is

(11:43):
the real truth and the realreality?
And when you instill that instudents, they have a confidence
so high because they know.
No, that doesn't explaineveryone.
When they build that confidence, they're unstoppable.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
And that's a skill that can follow them into the
working world and personalrelationships in some of these
corporate settings for sure.
Quickly, for our listeners whowant to become mentors, what's
the first step?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, the first step is to contact us, and you can
contact us at the number below.
I think it's on your screen.
Yeah, contact us.
And of course, it's a rigorousprocess because we don't just
let anyone have access to ourkids, and that's part of our

(12:35):
role as adults, as the mentorswe have to protect the children
in our community.
So we want people who one likeBlack kids okay, like all kids,
because we provide services toeveryone but particularly
understand African-Americanchildren, like African-American

(12:56):
children, are patient, lovingand treat our kids as if they
were your own.
What would you want for yourown child?
We want motivated individuals,people who are going to have a
stick-to-it-ness, are going tohave a positive outlook about
these children.
Everyone has something negativeto say all the time about

(13:20):
minority children.
We don't want to hear that.
We want to hear what do youthink?
Positive, because it's positivethings that change behaviors,
not negative.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Because it's positive things that change behaviors,
not negative, absolutely.
Thank you, dr Sturdivant.
Mentorship isn't just guidance,it's transformation.
Grateful for your insights andwe'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Thank you so much and have a great day.
Thank you for listening to theNeed Podcast.
To apply for scholarships,access support or learn how you
or your organization can getinvolved, visit wwwneedldorg,
email needpgh at gmailcom orcall 412-566-2760.

(14:10):
Need unlocking the power ofeducation for students, families
and the future of our region.