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6. Practice Culturally Appropriate Mentoring

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8. Set Clear Expectations and Next Steps

7. Cultivate Support Networks

Young adults thrive when they’re connected. Cultivating support networks means helping participants strengthen ties to peers, family or trusted adults, mentors, and community resources. The aim is a durable web of relationships that outlasts your program and sustains progress through setbacks.

Helping participants cultivate connections is essential to setting them up for success when they graduate from your program.

Jump to: Takeaways

Who is this play for?

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Organizational Leaders

Direct-support Staff

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Marketing and communication Staff

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Young Adult Employers

Why this
matters:

Connection is protective.

Strong ties buffer stress and prevent dropout.

Community links widen opportunity.

Access to resources and social capital expands.

Peers motivate peers.

Cohorts normalize challenges and celebrate wins.

Networks build community resilience.

Today’s participants become tomorrow’s mentors.

Family and trusted adults are key allies.

Inclusion reduces mixed messages.

What this means for your participants

Support networks for Opportunity Youth usually involve linking people, practical supports, and career connections so they feel like one coordinated team, not a scavenger hunt. While these can start as informal relationships, the goal is to strengthen those connections as someone moves through a program and beyond.

Some of the most important aspects of a support network are:

Developing strong, consistent relationships (not just referrals).

A good network includes adults and peers who express care, challenge growth, provide support, share power, and expand possibilities—the five core elements of relationships that can help youth and young adults build self-confidence nd confidence in their abilities.

Practicing asking
for help.

Challenges will happen, and everyone needs help at times. The more comfortable participants are reaching out for help early, the more likely it is to keep small challenges from growing into crisis that can destabilize the lives of both participants, alumni, and staff.

Finding peers and “safe space” communities

Our research team found that isolation and feeling judged can lead to disengagement or dropping out.. Creating spaces where OY can talk with others who share similar challenges can make participation safer and more sustaining. Peer support is especially important.

Staying in touch after programs finish.

One of the biggest challenges for OY is that sometimes a program ends and they feel like they lose momentum and structure. Mindfully finding ways to check in with program alumni and involve them in activities is essential to helping them stay connected and moving forward.

Put it into action

Start with making network maps

Ask participants to sketch or write out who’s in their corner—family, friends, neighbors, coaches, faith communities, former teachers or employers. Have them take time to think about who or where they would reach out to for assistance with:

practical help (rides, childcare, paperwork),
emotional support (encouragement, accountability),
life guidance (career navigation, dealing with interpersonal challenges and questions),
and finding opportunities (introductions to jobs, training, and mentors)

To prevent this from becoming too focused on challenges or concerns about deficiencies, it’s also helpful to think about having participants think about who they enjoy spending time with or turn to when they want to share successes.

Once the initial map is done, use it to identify missing supports (e.g., childcare backup or transportation buddy). Also be sure to take time to help participants see the assets they have in their lives.

Set up network and relationship goals

The network map helps your participants think through how they want to cultivate and develop their network. This can include:

People they want to improve their relationships with,
Connections they want to make (for example: potential mentors or employers),
Areas they want to explore (for example: learning about a new field or finding a group with shared interests).

You can then help them develop plans to accomplish those goals. It can be as simple as making sure they are routinely checking in with people. Those plans can also include going out to get referrals to talk to people or attending events to help create connections

You can also create goals like adding 2 new people to a map over the course of a month.

Engage families and trusted adults by offering choices.

Not every young adult wants family involvement—and some do. In our research in Shelby County, 21% of the young adults who took our survey listed “friends and family” as the first place they turn to when looking for help (two thirds of people included “friends and family” in their top three choices).

Offer opt-in options: a family orientation, a monthly “how to support your young adult” text, or an open house. Equip trusted adults with simple tools (conversation prompts, dates to remember) so they can be helpful without taking over.

The Search Institute’s family relationships resources provide short, practical activities for building supportive conversations at home: https://www.searchinstitute.org/family-relationships-matter.

Practice networking and interpersonal skill

In the same way that everyone needs practice learning to apologize or guidance when first engaging in active learning activities or talking about things from an asset based perspective, people need to practice learning how to reach out to and communicate with others.

Provide participants with starter scripts and have them practice using them with peers through role playing. We suggest starting with the following basic scripts and building out from here:

Self-introduction: “Hi, I’m ________ and I’m in a program right now working on _______ .”
Asking for help: “Can you help me with _________ by _________ ? You help will ensure I can __________________”
Offering help: “I can help with _________ / or I can sit with you while you do it. Would you like that?”
Introducing someone else: “I’m introducing you to __________ because they want help with __________ . I think they should talk to you because __________ .”
Boundary-setting: “I appreciate you. I’m not ready/able to talk about/help with __________ , but I can do __________ / or I could use help with __________ .”

Build intentional peer cohorts and alumni loops.

Structure regular cohort time for peer support and shared help accountability, and resource sharing. Light facilitation plus clear norms (confidentiality, non-judgment, “step up/step back”) keep groups safe. Between sessions, maintain a moderated group chat for quick questions and encouragement.

After participants complete your program, help sustain their momentum with quarterly alumni meet-ups, short “ask/give” circles, and a simple newsletter that spotlights job leads, housing tips, and alumni wins. Over time, invite alumni to serve as near-peer mentors or panelists, creating a continuous cycle of support

Sometimes it’s as simple as encouraging participants to start WhatsApp groups or group texts. In fact, encouraging alumni from a cohort to take on some of these networking activities can be a great skill development opportunity.

If your program can support it, encourage alumni to reach out in times of need

OY face a lot of disruptive challenges in their lives. One of the obstacles they face is that it’s often easier to find immediate help when they are already involved in a program. After graduating, alumni can feel like they have lost that safety net.

Reminding alumni that they can proactively reach out at the start of a potential crisis is a powerful way of reinforcing for them how much you and your program value them. Helping alumni through a crisis provides them with opportunities to practice the skills they have been working on. In many cases, your staff can act more as a support (providing emotional support, advice, and if possible a warm hand off) than a case manager.

We also understand that not every program has the luxury of doing this. If you are not in that position, we recommend taking time to create some type of resource that can be shared with alumni and others who reach out.

Maintain a living map of community resources—and a warm handoff practice.

Keep a current referral list for housing, food, legal aid, mental health, transportation, and benefits navigation. Start with United Way 211 to identify options (https://www.211.org) and then curate a local short list with direct contacts. In Memphis/Shelby County, include Driving the Dream for multi-need coordination: https://dtd.uwmidsouth.org.

Whenever possible, do a warm handoff: text the partner while the participant is present, introduce them by name, and confirm next steps together. This small step dramatically increases follow-through because it replaces an abstract referral with a known human.

Takeaways:

Helping participants cultivate support networks helps set them up for success when they leave your program.
Network mapping helps participants understand the resources they already have, what they are missing, and gets them thinking about how to grow their networks.
Your program should look for opportunities to help participants develop and practice networking skills that will help them when it’s time to reach out to others, ask for help, and set healthy boundaries.
Finding ways to make alumni feel connected and supported after graduation can help them keep their momentum going.
Organizations should maintain resource maps to help both participants and alumni find services in times of crisis.

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