ABSTRACT
Centering youth voice, power, and choice is not detached from addressing issues of marginalization and minoritization. The work of organizations such as the Campaign for Black Male Achievement have compelled the mentoring and youth development fields to take note and engage in the discourse. A central body of work for mentoring and youth development organizations to consider is culturally relevant pedagogy. The concept of cultural competence is one of the most important aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy for mentoring and youth development. Culturally relevant pedagogy offers significant insight into authors' work as mentoring and youth development practitioners. Critical mentoring requires that people dive deeper into the critical consciousness aspect of culturally relevant practice. Mentoring and youth development professionals who wish to do work in this field must rid themselves of the notion that adults, especially those who are more privileged, have been given the responsibility of rescuing “wayward” youth.
