Mentoring as a Family Strengthening Strategy

Hi all... In the process of doing some research for a client of ours, I came across this Policy Brief from 2004 on the concept of mentoring as a family strengthening strategy. I have to admit that I had not seen this before, so I thought I'd post if here in case it had slipped under anyone else's radar:
http://www.nydic.org/fspc/practice/documents/Brief4.pdf

The Brief is from National Assembly's Family Strengthening Policy Center. From the intro: "Mentoring programs are based on the idea that all children need caring adults in their lives, and that it’s possible to create a relationship based on trust between a youth and an adult who were previously strangers. Research shows that these relationships can promote positive youth development and offer support similar to the kind of support a youth receives from parents or caregivers. This brief examines the following two questions: Can greater family engagement in traditional youth mentoring programs lead to better outcomes for mentored youth? Can mentoring principles be applied to help connect isolated families to valuable resources and supports to achieve stability and self-sufficiency?"

If you are into family strengthening concepts, there are many more policy briefs that can be downloaded on their site at http://www.nydic.org/fspc/practice/practices.html.