Close to one-half (46.8%) of the respondents were employed full-time or part-time professional interpreters. About one-third (35.5%) were employed as full-time interpreters and 9.7% worked as part-time interpreters. Less than 2% were employed as Interpreter Educators. About 19% were students in Interpreter Education Programs. The remaining one-third were employed either full-time or part-time in a variety of roles working with deaf or hard of hearing persons (i.e., teachers or counselors).

Overall, the respondents were comprised of individuals with several years of experience working in the interpreting profession. Close to one-half (45%) had between 4-10 years of experience. About 11% had 11 or more years of experience. Somewhat over one-third had 3 years or less of experience.

Close to one-fourth (21%) of the respondents had National Certification through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) while about 11% had National Certification through the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). Another one-fourth had state level credentials. The remaining 43% included individuals who were either students or who had yet to obtain National Certification or State Credentials.

Have African-American Interpreters benefited from having mentors?

Approximately two-thirds of the respondents (69.4%) reported they had benefited from having mentors. One-third indicated they did not have opportunities to benefit from mentoring. It is evident that a majority of African-American Interpreters had access to mentors to assist them enter and advance in the interpreting profession. The survey questionnaire did not ask the respondents to identify the characteristics of their mentors (i.e., race/ethnicity, professional role, and hearing status). Thus, it was not possible to determine if the respondents had access mentors who were African-American Interpreters or Deaf consumers.

In what ways have African-American Interpreters benefited from mentoring?

The respondents who reported having access to mentors identified several benefits they received. The benefits included opportunities to receive constructive feedback, guidance, and support to enter and succeed in the interpreting profession. They also reported that mentors provided them with access to positive role models who helped build their self-confidence and facilitate their professional skill development. It is apparent that African-American Interpreters receive considerable benefits from access to mentors. The survey questionnaire was not designed to obtain more detailed information about the nature, frequency, and types of mentoring the respondents received. Such information would have helped to provide more detailed information on ways in which mentoring assisted the respondents build self-confidence and facilitate their professional skill development.

Have African-American Interpreters served as mentors to other African-American Individuals?

Over three-fourths of the respondents (81%) reported that they did not have opportunities to serve as mentors to other African-American individuals. It is unclear what barriers prevented them from opportunities to serve as mentors to other African-American individuals. One possible barrier could be related to the small number of African-American students currently enrolled in Interpreter Education Programs and aspiring for professional careers as interpreters. Another barrier could be related to the unavailability of formal mentoring programs in various communities. A third barrier could be the geographical dispersion of many African-American interpreters thus limiting opportunities for large group gatherings. Evidently there is a need for more information regarding the involvement of African-American interpreters as mentors to other African-American interpreters as well students enrolled in IEP programs.

Respondents' Perceptions of the Most Important Ways Mentors Can Assist African American Undergraduates Enter and Succeed in the Interpreting Profession

In order to determine the respondents' opinions regarding which of the list of 20 aspects of mentoring are most important for assisting African-American undergraduate interpreting students, they were asked to rate each item on a five-point scale. The rating scale ranged from zero (0) not important to four (4) very important. Because a large number of items were rated, only those items in which 80% or more of the respondents rated as very important are summarized (i.e., a (4) on the four-point scale). A total of 14 items were rated as very important by 80% or more of the respondents. The highest rated items are summarized using the same three broad categories included in the survey questionnaire: (1) Role of Mentors; (2) Characteristics of Mentors; and (3) Mentoring Programs.

Role of Mentors. Seven of the nine items related to role of the mentor were rated as very important by 80% or more of the respondents. The highest rated item, chosen by 90% of the respondents, was that the important role of the mentor is to offer mentees guidance and support to succeed in Interpreter Education Programs. Three items were chosen by 88.7% of the respondents as the next important roles of mentors. Two of the three were related to coaching and providing feedback to help mentees prepare for interpreter certification evaluations and to improve their interpreting knowledge/skills. The other mentor role chosen as very important by 88.7% of the respondents was to help build self-confidence. Two roles related to facilitating networking opportunities for mentees within the Black Deaf and Black Interpreting communities were chosen as very important b! y 87% of the respondents. A final mentor role to provide guidance and support to succeed in an Interpreter Education Program was chosen by 83.8% of the respondents.

Characteristics of Mentors. For the six items concerned with characteristics of mentors, three were rated as very important by over 90% of the respondents while significantly less than 80% rated the remaining three as very important. The highest rated item, chosen by 95% of the respondents, was that the most important characteristic of a mentor is a Black Interpreter Education faculty person as a positive role model. The next two items, chosen by 92% of the respondents, were Black Deaf consumers and Black professional interpreters as positive role models. Mentoring Programs. Four of the five items concerned with types of mentoring programs were rated as very important by 80% or more of the respondents. All four items involved access to mentoring through sponsorship either at national conferences or within each state by organizations of Black Interpreters (NAOBI) and Black Deaf consumers (NBDA). Significantly less than 80% of the respondents rated access to mentoring through online services such as chat rooms and forums as very important.

Recommendations

• It will be helpful for future research to obtain information regarding barriers that limit opportunities for African-American Interpreters to serve as mentors to other African-American Individuals, particularly those who are undergraduate s students in IEP programs.
• It will be helpful for future research to obtain information about how mentoring programs should be designed, organized and operated to benefit African-Americans who aspire to enter and advance in the Interpreting Profession.
• Although information was not reported in the survey or found in the literature regarding informal mentoring, it appears to be used by African-American Interpreters and students in IEP programs and should be investigated by future research.