In EEP and other trainings, we often use Exercise 2 from the ”action” section of Research In Action Brief #9 – Youth Mentoring: Do Race and Ethnicity Really Matter?. The exercise uses an interactive matching game to help mentor program staff think about their criteria for making matches.
In the first part of the exercise, participants each get a name tag that identifies them as a mentor or mentee, and includes their name, gender and ethnicity. Then they are asked to walk around the training space, silently, and match themselves using the provided information. We then discuss how they made their matches, and emphasize that while gender and race are important, what other information would have been helpful?
In the second part of the exercise, participants receive a short profile of the mentor or mentee, to add to the name, gender and ethnicity information they already have. They can then reconsider their matches, using the new information.
The names, gender/ethnicity info, and profiles are all provided in the Research In Action brief. However, to do the exercise as described, you need at least 12 participants. We are facilitating a training this week for a group with just 6 participants so we came up with an adaptation of the exercise.
With the help of my 6 year old daughter, we created these portraits to go along with the names, gender/ethnicity, and ages of mentors and mentees. On the back of the paper plate portraits, we included an envelope with the extended profile concealed inside. This way, the smaller group can do part 1 & 2 as a group, using the portraits instead of real people with name tages.
We’ll see how it goes “in action” but I think there’s a chance we will start using these permanently!
**Want to take it a step further? For another part of this week’s training, we will assign a Relationship Prototype (see Research In Action Issue #5) to each of the matches that are made. Then the group will discuss how program coordinators can best support that match.
Post author April Riordan is the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota’s Director of Training & Community Partnerships.
Mai-Anh Kapanke
April Riordan
Joellen Gonder Spacek
Polly Roach
