The Power of Mentorship: Adult Friends for Youth makes a difference in redirecting youths’ lives

This blog post was adapted from a program highlight featured in Fight Crime, Invest in Kids’ report, “From Risk to Opportunity: Afterschool Programs Keep Kids Safe.” Read the full report here. This is the first in a series of blog posts that will highlight the different ways that afterschool programs are keeping kids safe and helping them make smart choices.

According to an updated report from Fight Crime, Invest in Kids, juvenile crime peaks between the hours of 2 and 6 p.m.—the hours immediately after school. During this time, youth are more likely to be unsupervised and may engage in risky behaviors. The report also emphasizes the ways that afterschool programs can be partners with communities to keep kids safe, not only in providing supervision, but also in creating the space for building protective factors that can help youth make smart choices.

In our Afterschool & Law Enforcement blog series, we have elevated the value of collaboration between programs and local law enforcement agencies as partners in keeping kids and communities safe. From these kinds of partnerships to mentorship opportunities, to access to academic and emotional supports, there are many ways that afterschool programs are at the forefront of efforts in communities around the country to provide support and services to at-risk youth, which we will be showcasing through this blog series.

One such program focused on this effort is Adult Friends for Youth (AFY), a mentorship program based in Hawaii dedicated to redirecting youth away from destructive behaviors through positive support and community outreach.

Program History

Adult Friends for Youth (AFY) first began in 1984 as the “Hawaii Youth Services Volunteer Project,” a mentorship afterschool program aimed at high-risk youth, specifically youth who had behavioral issues in school or involved in the juvenile justice system, through a two-year federal grant to the University of Hawaii. The organization, recognizing the need for a longer-term and holistic intervention to adequately support high-risk youth, reestablished itself as Adult Friends for Youth in 1986, with the mission of stopping community violence, strengthening community safety, and supporting local kids and families to help all youth reach their full potential.

The Approach

AFY currently works with more than 300 youth on a weekly basis. One of the central aspects of their programming is Redirectional Therapy (RT)—a counseling approach that directly addresses the behaviors of high-risk youth by managing disruptive and impulsive behaviors and building competencies around coping, academic, and social and emotional skills. With programming customized to different age groups, at its core AFY is about building trust, mutual respect, and connection.

Focused on advocacy and empowerment, AFY’s approach to working with youth through RT includes six program areas:

• Education, providing supports such as tutoring, design thinking workshops, and college preparation and exploration;
• Social activities, with the goal of introducing students to new experiences, like having a meal at a nice restaurant;
• Employment and careers, where students have the opportunity to explore different job pathways;
• Culture and religion, using food, music, and art to examine students’ cultures, appreciate differences, and identify commonalities;
• Recreation and sports, to promote active lifestyles and build community on common ground; and
• Community service, with activities including neighborhood clean ups and Christmas caroling.

Impact

Since their inception, AFY has positively impacted the lives of over 5,000 youth. Sharing the impact that the program has had on his life, one alumnus of the program said, “Prior to AFY I was getting into fights, and not going to school. Since meeting AFY, I have been doing my work and going to school every day. Now I am [a] sophomore at Farrington High School, getting a 3.0 GPA and participating in extracurricular activities such as rugby, AFY’s Social Entrepreneurship Program, and Olelo. AFY saved my life.”

Current and former principals of high schools served by AFY believe in the value of the program, with one principal stating that with AFY’s intervention, “…campus and community violence has lessened” and another that, “AFY services are invaluable and definitely needed.”

Through its programming and community-oriented approach, AFY has helped support youth in building protective factors, resiliency skills, and connections with adult mentors, which ultimately helps to deter youth from engaging in risky behaviors.