Racial Justice and Cultural Responsiveness Resources

A Note to Our Program Partners

There are no perfect words to capture grief and anger, but there are simple ones we must use as our guide: Be there for and with our young people. Tragedies and realities of racism, violence, and injustice for Black people and communities of color are not new or isolated. They are systemic and impact young people every day.

We must acknowledge and provide space for the trauma and emotions young people are processing.

MENTOR’s commitment continues to be toward creating a movement that is inclusive of and supports all young people. We strive to help create an America where all young people can thrive through meaningful relationships – and that happens when they are safe and their lives are valued. We continue the work to rewire systems to center supportive, meaningful, and responsive relationships with our young people.

This page contains a collection of resources that may be helpful for program staff, stakeholders, mentors, and families to address racial inequities, bias, and violence. Our team will update this page as new resources become available. Thanks for your continued dedication to Virginia’s young people.

Sincerely,

The MENTOR Virginia Team

Opportunities

Community Coffee & Conversations: Racial Equity in the Mentoring Field

The elevation of the Black Lives Matter movement in communities across the country brings the promise of systemic changes that will lead to a more equitable and just world for our young people. To fulfill this promise of change, there’s a part that each of us in the mentoring field must play.

 

Please join us Thursday, August 6th from 9:00 am to 10:00 am on Zoom as we gather over morning coffee with mentoring programs around Virginia to start a new conversation about racial equity in the mentoring field. We are eager to hear how programs across the state have been answering the call to action for racial equity and justice and to share elements of our action plan with you. The conversation will be informal and dynamic, but we hope to discuss:

 

  • Racial demographics in mentor/mentee pairs
  • What mentors need to know about racial equity and how we can prepare them
  • How mentors can support mentees in building social capital within their own communities
  • Resources your program needs or already has to advance racial equity at your agency

Register here.

Conversations with Young People on Race and Racism

George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. What do we tell our children? (USA Today)

Talking to Your Kids About Racism (Unicef)

Teaching about Race, Racism and Police Violence (Teaching Tolerance)

Talking to Children About Racial Bias (American Academy of Pediatrics)

Talking to Kids About Discrimination (American Psychological Association)

Talking About Race (National Museum of African American History & Culture)

‘Teaching for Black Lives’ – A Handbook to Fight America’s Ferocious Racism in (virtual or face-to-face) Classrooms (The Washington Post)

Educating our Children: Talking to Kids About Racism & Police Brutality (Achievement First)

Afterschool Webinar: Difficult Dialogues: Engaging Youth in Tough Conversations (Afterschool Alliance)

Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism – a town hall for kids and families (CNN/Sesame Street)

‘I’m going to be a black man one day and I’m scared:’ Why it’s important for kids to talk about racism (Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)

How to Talk to Kids about Racism, Explained by a Psychologist (Vox)

Conversations with Young People About Media Surrounding Racial Injustice

Helping Students Make Sense of News Stories about Bias and Injustice (Anti-Defamation League)

Explaining the News to Our Kids (Common Sense Media)

Talking to Children After Racial Incidents (Anti-Defamation League)

Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News (Child Mind Institute)

How White People Can Work With Youth in Support of Racial Justice

A Call to Action for White Educators Who Seek to Be Anti-Racist (PBS Education)

How White Parents Can Talk to Their Kids about Race (NPR)

How White Parents Can Use Media to Raise Anti-Racist Kids (Common Sense Media)

How White People Can Talk to Their Kids About Racism (Unicef)

Understanding and Dismantling Racism: A Booklist for White Readers (Charis Books & More)

Talking to White Kids about Race & Racism (Safe Space Radio)

How Mentors and Mentoring Programs Can Support Mentee's Ethnic/Racial Identity

Racial equity & anti-bias tools for OST programs & youth workers (Afterschool Alliance)

Teaching Tolerance (a website with classroom resources)

Mentoring Youth of Color (National Mentoring Resource Center)

Will I Be Able to Understand My Mentee? Examining the potential risk of the dominant culture mentoring marginalized youth. 

Mentoring for Black Male Youth (National Mentoring Resource Center)

Mentor Training for Cultural Competence (National Mentoring Resource Center)

How Mentors and Mentoring Programs Can Support Mentee’s Ethnic/Racial Identity (The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring)

Mentoring in Trump’s America (The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring)

Support, Solidarity, and Action

Additional Resources

Before You Call the Cops

What’s Lost When Black Children are Socialized into a White World (The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring)

Books

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson

This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work by Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by Aurelia Durand

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Books to Teach White Children and Teens How to Undo Racism and White Supremecy (Charis Books & More)

Not finding the resource you’re looking for? Contact Sarah at sarah@mentorva.org for assistance.