As the group was making its way back to the Rose Hill campus across the street for a mentoring session, Turner noticed that one of the girls who was walking alongside her had a temporary tattoo with the word “Pink” on her cheek.

“I said, “Hey, what’s that about?” Turner recalled. “She was very shy and hesitant at first and then she told me that it was in memory of her grandmother, who had recently died and loved the color pink.”

The young Latina would go on to share some of her personal worries—from the absence of her father who was incarcerated to a younger sister living in another country who she longed to see.

“She just kept talking,” said Turner. “All of these things had been bottled up inside of her. It made be realize how much young people need someone to show interest in their lives, whether it’s someone my age or a mentor who is closer in age to them.”

Founded in 2003 by Ellen S. Silber, Ph.D., Mentoring Latinas provides support and mentorship to Latinas in middle school and high school at the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, the New York City borough with the largest Hispanic majority.

The program was created to address the educational challenges that young Latinas face. Graduation rates for Latinas have decreased over the last decade, and Latinas hold 7.4 percent of the degrees earned by women—even though they constituted 16 percent of the female population in 2012, according to the Center for American Progress.

Over the years, Mentoring Latinas has attracted generous support from corporate and private foundations and the state and federal government, including the Colgate-Palmolive Inner-City Fund, AT&T, Walmart Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

With the help of AT&T, which has contributed over $350,000 to-date to the program, Mentoring Latinas is positioning Bronx adolescents for success inside and outside of the classroom. To boost educational achievement and social growth among high school Latinas, the program pairs each student from local schools in the community with a Latina college student from Fordham University. The goal is to build relationships, promote a healthy bicultural identity in mentees, and prepare them for high school and college, said Miriam Quilan, ACSW, who took over as director after Silber retired in 2015.

Most recently, the Mentoring Latinas program was chosen to participate in a state-of-the-art survey with AT&T, Travelers and several leading practitioner organizations to create the College and Career Readiness Genome, an evidence base of research literature to identify best practices in programming that can increase high school graduation rates, college and career access and readiness, along with college persistence and completion.

According to Quilan, Latina adolescents face many barriers to education. She noted that many of the mentees are daughters of non-English-speaking immigrants who often struggle to navigate the American educational system. It’s something that rings true for Mexican-born mentor Roberta Munoz, a Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) junior.

“I have an older sister who graduated with a master’s in engineering from an Ivy League school,” said Munoz. “No one helped her with the college application process but she helped me so much. She inspired me to do the same for another Latina.”

For Graduate School of Social Service student Marisol Chaparro, Mentoring Latinas allows her to share the mistakes she made as a teenager and the lessons she learned along the way.

“When I was young, I didn’t have someone to mentor me,” said Chaparro, who dropped out of high school but went back to school and received her bachelor’s in sociology before enrolling in Fordham’s graduate program for social work. “I took different routes that weren’t the best and eventually had to find my own path.”

“The more I worked with Hispanic families in the field of education, the more I realized my community needed support. So I looked into more ways of getting involved, ” said Davila.

Mentors said that, like their mentees, they’re gaining knowledge and developing a sense of belonging through the program, which has served more than 400 adolescent Latinas since it was established.

“It may sound cliché, but it’s really a sisterhood,” said Fordham College at Rose Hill senior Kathryn Madigan, a Guatemalan who hails from Wisconsin, where she said her interactions with Latinas were limited. “We’re empowering students in a way I wish I [had been]. ‘If they can do it, I can too’— that’s the kind of community we’re building and the results are amazing.”

Madigan said that two years ago, one of her mentees was struggling in global history and was nervous about an upcoming test, but her anxieties subsided once Madigan gave her a pep talk.

“I think just having me there helped,” said Madigan. “I told her to get a good night’s sleep and eat breakfast the next morning. I also told her about my love of history. I said, ‘sometimes when you’re studying history, you have to think of it as stories and not just facts.’ She embraced this mindset and she actually did really well on her test.”

One of the things that makes the program a success is that the mentors recognize the importance of leading by example.

“I always emphasize that education is a priority in my own life, and I encourage them to do the same,” said FCLC senior Magdalena Valenti, who mentors middle school students in the program. “I think when they see a person who is older than them succeeding at a school that is close by and reputable, it breaks the ice. They say, ‘well if my mentors come to Fordham, there is obviously a place for me there.’”

At a holiday party in December, the mentees seemed right at home. In one room, middle school mentees and their mentors each spoke about special talents they possess.

One mentee, described by mentors as shy and quiet, unveiled a plaque she had just received for being the best debater on the school team. Another girl read a statement about how she used to be bullied in school but has learned to stand up for herself with help from her mentor.

Two rooms away, a group of high school mentees and their mentors sat in a circle and took turns sharing what they were thankful for as they prepared for a new year.

When it was one mentee’s turn to express gratitude, she looked around the room and paused.

“I’m thankful for everybody in this room at this time,” she said. “You guys have all taught me something in your own way, whether you know it or not.”

(Mary Awad contributed to this article.)

Aditi Bagchi,

associate professor of law, LAW,

“ESPN Accused in Dish Case of Giving Comcast Better Terms,” Bloomberg, February 11

Tom Beaudoin, Ph.D.,

associate professor of practical theology, GRE,

“Woodford and the Quest for Meaning,” ABC Radio, February 16

Mary Bly, Ph.D.,

professor of English, A&S,

“How do Bestselling Novelists Court Cupid on Valentine’s Day?,” Washington Post, February 14

James Brudney,

professor of law, LAW,

“Nutter Seeks High Court’s OK to Impose His Terms on City Workers,” Philly.com, March 1

Charles C. Camosy, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of theology, A&S,

“Drone Warfare Faces Barrage of Moral Questions,” Catholic San Francisco, February 20

Colin M. Cathcart, M.F.A.,

associate professor of architecture, A&S,

“New York City Traffic Ranked the Worst Among the Nation: Study,” AM New York, February 6

Saul Cornell, Ph.D.,

The Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History, A&S,

“After Newtown: Guns in America,” WNET-TV, February 19

Carole Cox, Ph.D.,

professor of social service, GSS,

“Boomer Stress,” Norwich Bulletin, February 19

George Demacopoulos, Ph.D.,

associate professor of theology, A&S,

“Pope Resignation,” ABC, World News Now, February 28

Christopher Dietrich, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of history, A&S,

“Bad Precedent: Obama’s Drone Doctrine is Nixon’s Cambodia Doctrine (Dietrich),” Informed Comment, February 11

John Entelis, Ph.D.,

professor of political science, A&S,

“John Brennan,” BBC Radio, February 9

Howard Erichson,

professor of law, LAW,

“High-Stakes Trial Begins for 2010 Gulf Oil Spill,” Amarillo Globe-News, February 25

Laura Gonzalez, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of finance, BUS,

“Recortes al Presupuesto Podrían Afectar el Seguro Social y Medicare,” Mundo Fox, February 8

Albert Greco, Ph.D.,

professor of marketing, BUS,

“Why Would Anyone Want to Buy a Bookstore?,” Marketplace, February 25

Karen J. Greenberg, Ph.D.,

director of the Center on National Security, LAW,

“Alleged Sept. 11 Plotters in Court, but Lawyers Do the Talking,” National Public Radio, February 11

Stephen R. Grimm, Ph.D.,

associate professor of philosophy, A&S,

“Grants from Foundations and Corporations of More Than $100,000 in 2013,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 28

Tanya Hernandez, Ph.D.,
professor of law, LAW,

“Brazil’s Affirmative Action Law Offers a Huge Hand Up,” Christian Science Monitor, February 12

J. Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of theology, A&S,

“Vatican Conclave,” Huffington Post, March 4

Robert Hume, Ph.D.,

associate professor of political science, A&S,

“USA: Supreme Court Case Update – DOMA/Prop 8 Briefs Streaming In,” Gay Marriage Watch, February 28

Clare Huntington,

associate professor of law, LAW,

“Sunday Dialogue: How to Give Families a Path Out of Poverty,” The New York Times, February 9

Nicholas Johnson,

professor of law, LAW,

“Neil Heslin, Father of Newtown Victim, Testifies at Senate Assault Weapons Ban Hearing,”Huffington Post, February 27

Michael E. Lee, Ph.D.,

associate professor of theology, A&S,

“Tiempo: Watch this Week’s Show,” WABC 7, February 17

Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.,

professor of theology, A&S,

“Remembering Benedict — the Teacher, the Traditionalist,” The Saratogian, March 1

Dawn B. Lerman, Ph.D.,

director of the Center for Positive Marketing, marketing area chair, and professor of marketing, BUS,

“Study: Google, Facebook, Walmart Fill Consumer Needs,” Tech Investor News, February 12

Paul Levinson, Ph.D.,

professor of communication and media studies, A&S,

“Will Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane Be Asked Back? Probably Not,” Yahoo! News via Christian Science Monitor, February 26

Hector Lindo-Fuentes, Ph.D.,

professor of history and director of Latin American and Latino Studies, A&S,

“Escaping Gang Violence, Growing Number of Teens Cross Border,” WNYC, December 28

Timothy Malefyt, Ph.D.,

visiting associate professor of marketing, BUS,

“On TV, an Everyday Muslim as Everyday American,” The New York Times, February 8

Elizabeth Maresca,

clinical associate professor of law, LAW,

“Poll: 87 Percent Say Never OK to Cheat on Taxes,” KWQC, February 26

Carlos McCray, Ed.D.,

associate professor of education leadership, GRE,

“Cops Nab 5-Year-Old for Wearing Wrong Color Shoes to School,” Take Part, January 18

Micki McGee, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of sociology, A&S,

“Do Self-Help Books Work?,” Chicago Sun Times, February 21

Mark Naison, Ph.D.,

professor of African and African American Studies and history, and principal investigator of the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP), A&S,

“Professor: Why Teach For America Can’t Recruit in my Classroom,” Washington Post, February 18

Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D.,

associate professor of political science, A&S,

“Analysis: Obama to Republicans – Can We Just Move On?,” WHTC 1450, February 13

Kimani Paul-Emile,

associate professor of law, LAW,

“Some Patients Won’t See Nurses of Different Race,” Cleveland Plain Dealer via AP, February 22

Michael Peppard, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of theology, A&S,

“Big Man on Campus isn’t on Campus,” Commonweal, February 20

Francis Petit, Ed.D.,

associate dean and director of Executive Programs, BUS,

“Marissa Mayer Takes Flak for Gathering Her Troops,” E-Commerce Times, March 1

Rose Perez, Ph.D.,

assistant professor of social work, GSS,

“Education Segment,” Mundo Fox, January 21

Wullianallur “R.P.” Raghupathi, Ph.D.,

professor of information systems, BUS,

“¿Qué Tiene Silicon Valley para Producir ‘Frutos’ Como Steve Jobs?,” CNN, February 24

Joel Reidenberg, Ph.D.,

Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Chair and professor of law and founding academic director of the Center on Law and Information Policy, LAW,

“Google App Store Policy Raises Privacy Concerns,” Reuters, February 14

Erick Rengifo-Minaya, Ph.D.,

associate professor of economics, BUS,

“Noticias MundoFOX 10PM Parte II,” Mundo Fox Noticias, February 8

Patrick J. Ryan, S.J.,

The Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, A&S,

“Pope Resignation,” WNBC, Sunday “Today in NY,” March 13

Susan Scafidi,

professor of law, LAW,

“Diamonds: How $60B Industry Thrives on Symbolism,” CBS This Morning, February 21

Christine Janssen-Selvadurai, Ph.D.,director of the entrepreneurship program at the Gabelli School of Business and co-director of both Fordham’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the Fordham Foundry, BUS,

“NYC Embraces Silicon Valley’s Appetite for Risk,” Crain’s New York Business, February 6

Ellen Silber, Ph.D.,

director of Mentoring Latinas, GSS,

“Mentoring Program Serves Young Latinas Aiming Higher in New York City,” Fox News Latino, February 25

Janet Sternberg, Ph.D.,assistant professor of communication and media studies, A&S,

“What are You Supposed to Do When You Have, Like, 106,926 Unread Emails?,” Huffington Post, February 25

Maureen A. Tilley, Ph.D.,professor of theology, A&S,

“Pope Resignation: Interview with Maureen Tilley of Fordham University,” WPIX, February 17

Terrence W. Tilley, Ph.D.,

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology and chair of the department, A&S,

“As Conclave to Select New Pope Begins, English-Speaking Cardinals Lead Charge to Reform Vatican,” Daily News, March 4

Peter Vaughan, Ph.D.,dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, GSS,

“Ceremony Held for NASW Foundation Award Recipients,” Social Work Blog, February 28

More features in this issue:

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In Focus: Faculty and Research

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Copyright © 2013, Fordham University.

So said a special adviser to UNICEF who spoke on March 9 at the Sixth Annual Women’s Symposium at Fordham.

“Those of us working in the international community have learned how best to respect the rights of women and girls,” said Kimberly Gamble-Payne, child rights special adviser to UNICEF. “But we have not yet figured out how to reach girls who are on the edges of society.”

Reaching this marginalized population means facing the realities of inequality and institutionalized patterns of discrimination, said Gamble-Payne, the keynote speaker at the symposium, hosted by the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service Institute for Women and Girls.

“It means being prepared to abandon harmful practices that affect these marginalized adolescents, and to recognize that some of the worst forms of abuse have nothing to do with cultural values and everything to do with economic behavior,” she added.

The heads of six United Nations agencies signed an agreement on March 3, pledging to bolster the human rights of adolescent girls. Over the next five years, agencies such as UNICEF and UNESCO will increase support to developing countries to better empower the hardest-to-reach adolescent girls, particularly those aged 10 to 14.

Many of the 600 million adolescent girls living in developing countries are cut off from national policies and programs. Millions live in poverty, are burdened by inequality and are subject to violence, abuse and exploitation, such as child labor, child marriage and other harmful practices.

“It’s very difficult to advocate for something that you cannot measure,” Gamble-Payne said. “We have to find a better way to count them.”

The six U.N. agencies will work with government, civil society and communities to:

• educate adolescent girls by ensuring they have access to quality education and complete schooling;
• improve adolescent girls’ health;
• keep adolescent girls free from violence;
• promote adolescent girl leaders; and
• count adolescent girls.

The intra-agency agreement comes 15 years after the Beijing Platform for Action, which was adopted in Beijing, China, at the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women.

The internationally agreed upon plan for achieving equality for women across 12 critical areas remains a focus for the U.N. agencies, Gamble-Payne said. Those areas include:

• poverty,
• education and training,
• health,
• violence,
• armed conflict,
• economics,
• power and decision-making,
• advancement of women,
• human rights,
• media,
• environment, and
• the girl child

“Reaching marginalized girls and helping them get educated and healthy means they will stay in school, marry later, delay childbearing, have healthier children and earn better incomes that will benefit themselves, their families, communities and nations,” she said.

The symposium also included a panel discussion with Ellen Silber, Ph.D., the director of the Mentoring Latinas program; Elizabeth Thomas, a program coordinator with the Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective; and Cynthia Martinez, an outreach worker with the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS).

Ellen S. Silber, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in French literature, but it was statistics that steered her toward her current work—running a mentoring program for young Latinas.

In 2002, Silber was working on a leadership program for girls when she stumbled across some troubling statistics on young Latinas.

“I started reading the statistics and it convinced me that this is a population that deserves my efforts,” Silber said, referring to numbers like these more recent ones:

• One in five Latinas graduates from high school in four years, according to the National Center on Education in 2007.

• The school dropout rate for Latinas is among the highest in the nation at 26 percent, according to CNET Networks in 2008.

• The attempted suicide rate for Latinas is 17 percent—higher than that of any other group of girls in the United States, according to a U.S. congressional briefing in 2007.

“Latinos are the fastest growing population in the country,” Silber said, “yet Latina girls are an invisible population. You don’t read about Latinas in The New York Times or on television news. They struck me as much more needy of mentoring than girls at large.”

So Silber got to work, launching a project in the fall of 2003 called “Mentoring Latinas.” The program provides ongoing mentoring for middle and high school Latinas by Latina college students. It has received more than $300,000 in grants since its inception. Thanks to a recent $50,000 grant from AT&T, secured with the assistance of AT&T senior vice president Leonard J. Cali (FCRH ’82), “Mentoring Latinas” will serve its first group of high school Latinas this fall.

“In ninth and tenth grade, graduation is closer and the future is closer, so it’s quite urgent,” said Silber, who serves as director for the program, which operates out of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service (GSS).

Since its inception, Fordham students who serve as mentors for the program have met with their mentees once a week during the academic year. They introduce the girls to Fordham, familiarizing them with dorm rooms, libraries and college life in general. They open up a new world to the girls, who hail from two Bronx schools—the Thomas Giordano School and, now, New World High School.

“They may live in the same borough that Fordham’s Rose Hill campus calls home, but most have never been inside the gates,” Silber said. “It’s so important to see and experience life on a college campus. People don’t cross these boundaries unless they are invited.”

A key member of the Mentoring Latinas staff, Silber said, is its bilingual project administrator, Miriam Quilan, a licensed clinical social worker, who’s charged with supervising the mentors and engaging parents in dialogues about raising bicultural daughters, understanding the school system and helping their daughters apply to college.

Silber and her co-authors expounded on the extra challenges biculturalism poses for young Latinas in a recent journal article titled “Club Amigas: A Promising Response to the Needs of Adolescent Latinas,” which she wrote with GSS colleagues Carol P. Kaplan, Ph.D., Sandra Turner, Ph.D. and Chaya Piotrkowski, Ph.D.

“At the same time that the adolescent Latina is developing her own identity as a young woman, she is also constructing her cultural identity as a Latina growing up in the U.S.A.,” according to the article, which appeared in Child & Family Social Work. “She may feel torn about becoming an American while at the same time maintaining her Hispanic heritage. Some Latino families emphasize traditional female social roles involving obedience and submission, which can cause conflict between the girls and their parents.”

Mentoring Latinas has been successful, although Silber admits it has been tough to keep up with the adolescent participants after they leave the program. At a focus group held in 2008, however, feedback was encouraging, with girls reporting positive thoughts about their futures, including aspirations to attend college and mentor other young Latinas themselves.

There is strong evidence that mentoring relationships can enhance these teens’ social skills and emotional security, Silber said.

“They are terrific girls,” she said. “They have the potential to be leaders, but the environment is not always a particularly healthy one for them. Imagine if a college-aged Latina took a 13-year-old Latina girl under her wing, visited with her once a week so that the young girl could trust her, look up to her and see that they had a lot in common. She’d have a good chance of being empowered.”

Silber continues to research the population as well as raise funds for the program. In addition, she and her staff are working on a handbook so that the program can be replicated at colleges and universities across the country.

“For Mentoring Latinas to be replicated elsewhere, they wouldn’t need me,” Silber said. “It’s a simple design. Other colleges would need a staff, Latina girls at a middle or high school and Latina college students. It can be successful, and certainly useful, everywhere.”