This paper describes a social justice informed, formative evaluation of a community-based intervention program in our community that paired marginalized Latinx youth and Holocaust survivor mentors. This program is a unique effort to address the issues facing this youth population through difficult dialogues and mentorship from a group who has clearly suffered oppression. Using a qualitative, community-based approach, eight program participants were interviewed to explore the aspects of the program that were helpful or challenging among youth mentees and survivor mentors. We reflect on the success of mentorship interventions in promoting bridges of understanding between populations with different combinations of power and privilege. Emergent themes from the evaluation suggest that this community-based mentorship program led to several positive outcomes, including increased openness to diversity, increased empathy, and increased potential meaning-making for mentor survivors, as well as some challenges such as clearer program expectations and program planning issues. Using a lens of Positive Youth Development and social justice, we detail the lessons learned from this mentoring program for future counselors and psychologists interested in program development and evaluation. We also provide reflections on the formative program evaluation process for future community-based researchers and the personal impact of the experience on the students in training. Finally, we reflect on impact validity and the systems level transformative change that can be promoted through community-based programs such as this one.
The experiences of coping with adversities among nine Latinx adult participants (six females, three males) who self-identified as ethnically mixed were explored through semi-structured, individual interviews. Participants identified a range of challenges related to their mixed identity status, including experiences of discrimination and instances of identity conflict. Participants specified methods of overcoming challenges they faced as mixed individuals including seeking cultural commonalities, finding strength and pride within their cultures, exercising acceptance, and emphasizing aspects of oneself depending on contexts and circumstances. Finally, participants discussed resilience related growth experiences related to their mixed identity characterized by improved relationships and self-esteem. The findings provide detailed information about resilience for these mixed Latinx individuals that may be helpful in better understanding and serving others who identify similarly.
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