The YESS mentoring program currently operates in three Denver Public High Schools: Abraham Lincoln, North, and West High School. The three components of the YESS mentoring model are peer mentoring, school engagement, and the curriculum/emotional intelligence piece.
Why do we do this?
The YESS Institute believes that youth empowering youth is the most effective way to motivate and engage struggling students. Students are tired of hearing the same rhetoric from parents and teachers; positive and successful youth are the best role models and leaders for youth at-risk. We base our agency on the proven results that …
Peer Mentoring
The YESS Institute youth development and education philosophy focuses on creating leadership from within. We seek to provide student leaders the framework and skills to be positive role models to their peers; hence to empower and serve the community from within. We recruit successful 11th and 12th graders to become the mentors in the YESS …
School Engagement
We engage at-risk mentees by providing them with trained peer mentors who come from similar backgrounds and who share the same “cultural zip code.” Our model includes: Recruiting/matching mentors and mentees: Mentors match similar “cultural zip code” of 9th-grade mentees provides a more inclusive approach of “empowering from within.” Mentor training and supervision: Peer …
Curriculum: Emotional Intelligence
The YESS Institute’s programs have a strong focus on social emotional skills. The EmoSmart Leadership™ curriculum is a YESS Institute curriculum, which has been developed from years of experience working with youth. The curriculum addresses personal and social competencies that are essential to being successful in school and life; such competencies are self-confidence, respect …
Outcomes and Evidence
The YESS program is based on a “developing” level of evidence. Cross-age peer mentoring is relatively new, but research suggests it can positively impact a mentee’s feelings of connectedness to school, future, and parents,[i] and improve academic achievement.[ii] Researchers agree that a quality relationship/emotional bond between the mentee/mentor must develop before the mentee will …
Current Schools
The YESS mentoring program currently operates in three Denver Public High Schools: Abraham Lincoln, North, and West High School. Each of the targeted schools has the lowest graduation rates of any of the district’s traditional schools and the communities surrounding each school are high-need.
