According to a report, in business schools the drop-out rate among ethnic minorities is around 60 percent. In 1996 Hillerød International Youth School was started by Martin Jespersen and Per Lynge with the purpose of preparing immigrants and refugees professionally, socially and culturally for their youth education. The target group is person aged 15-20 who have arrived in their adolescence and hence lacking a Danish social network which can serve as in inspiration in their educational choice. Experience shows that this group needs extra guidance and support in connection with starting a youth education.

Mentor partnerships are a way to combat the large degree of school drop-outs among young people from ethnic minorities. A mentor partner is a person with knowledge about the Danish educational system and with a well-established network. This person should be able to support the other person in a partnership guiding him/her through the youth education.

The overall goal of the project is to maintain the bilingual adolescents in their youth education through a mentor partnership. The idea of organising the project as partnerships is that both partners feel an obligation towards achieving the jointly agreed goals. Partnerships are more motivating than contracts or agreements. It is also a process which can be discussed and eventually revised. In order to personalize the partnerships the project works with 3 kinds of mentees:

The project has not yet ended.

Hillerød International Youth School
Denmark
Per Lynge, tel. 0045 4820 7740

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case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Community development