Club Amigas: a promising response to the needs of adolescent Latinas

The Latino population in the USA is growing faster than any other group. Latinas are at risk for mental health and substance-abuse problems and school dropout. Research has shown that the ability to adapt to life in the USA while retaining one's cultural heritage is essential for successful acculturation and may increase the chances for success in school. There is strong evidence that mentoring relationships can enhance teens' social and emotional competence. This paper describes Club Amigas , a mentoring project that paired Latina college students with Latina middle-school girls. Initial quantitative and qualitative evaluations of programme effectiveness found that, as predicted, mentees' self-esteem was related to a positive commitment to their Latina identity, and that self-esteem and positive commitment to Latina identity increased over the programme year.