April 24, 2023, Durham, NC – iRT President and Senior Research Scientist Dr. Janis Kupersmidt will be presenting at the 2023 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) National Research Conference in Arlington, Virginia on May 23. Kupersmidt will present as a panelist in a conference session entitled Promoting Evidence-Based Youth Mentoring: The Benefits of Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations to discuss the results and policy implications from the evaluation of the effectiveness of implementing enhanced mentoring practices in mentoring programs serving children of incarcerated caregivers.

The NIJ National Research Conference brings researchers and practitioners together from across the nation to share, discuss, and learn about the latest research developments in law enforcement, forensic science, juvenile justice, youth mentoring, and more. The conference aims to facilitate discussions about recent research and inform conference participants of ways research findings can be used to promote safety, equity, and justice.

Kupersmidt will present the findings from a large-scale, multi-site, randomized controlled trial evaluation she conducted with iRT’s mentoring experts Drs. Rebecca Stelter and Katie Stump, and Dr. Jean Rhodes from the University of Massachusetts Boston, to examine the effectiveness of enhanced mentoring program practices on youth outcomes for mentees who are children of incarcerated caregivers. The study’s findings are described in a paper recently published in a special issue of the Journal of Community Psychology.

Session attendees will have the opportunity to hear about the implications of the study’s findings for mentoring programs serving children of incarcerated caregivers, learn about effective practices to implement in mentoring programs serving children of incarcerated caregivers, and ask questions regarding the study and its policy implications. Kupersmidt and her fellow panelists will share their perspectives on the importance of tailoring mentoring program practices to meet the needs of special populations of youth and how research findings are being implemented in mentoring programs for improved youth outcomes nationwide.

If you’re interested in learning more about the upcoming presentation, visit the conference website for a full description.