Dr. Dustianne North

California Mentoring Partnership - Mentoring Program Expert

Dustianne North Ph.D, M.S.W. has worked in the fields of youth mentoring, mental health, development, and empowerment since 1995. She created the first mentor program to receive official approval from LA County agencies who govern foster care (Florence Crittenton Center, Los Angeles), and has provided training and technical assistance for a variety of youth programs nationwide. Dr. North specializes in working with youth in highly distressed situations (foster care, probation, homeless, children of prisoners). Her scholarly work in Social Welfare at UCLA allows her to implement effective research to practice efforts, evidence-based services, program evaluation, and qualitative research methodologies. Dr. North is a community organizer, practitioner, and scholar with a commitment to emancipatory youth and family services. Her diverse scope of knowledge covers issues such as communicating with youth, mezzo-level program design, organizational development, interagency partnerships, and community mobilization. She is the co-founder of California Mentoring Partnership and has consulted to Give a Beat on all mentor-related programs since 2018.