On Monday, September 5th, our mentors, work-study students, and interns kicked off mentoring activities for the fall semester with a retreat. Mentors, work-study students, and interns participated in a variety of activities and workshops.
Project MALES mentors, work-study students, and interns participated in a activities, that introduced the curriculum and themes for the school year, focusing on brotherhood, leadership, and career development. In addition, Project MALES mentors, work-study students, and interns participated in a workshop lead by our gust speaker Leticia Urieta, from Barrio Writers. The workshop focused on confronting stereotype threats. This workshop provided our students with the opportunity to talk about stereotypes associated with labels such as (youth, young men, and young men of color), how they can limit young men of color, and what we can do to empower ourselves and our communities to reject them/move beyond them. 
The workshop concluded with a small group activity-communal “I am” statements/poems that responding to the discussion (flipping the script on stereotypes) and sharing their “I am” poems to the whole group. The retreat finalized by mentors and work-study students going over mentoring expectations and being placed at their respective school sites.
Our 2016 Project MALES Fall retreat was a great success thanks to our mentors, work-study students, and mentoring staff. Stay tuned, as we will be profiling our mentoring sites, mentoring events, and activities throughout the semester.
