National Mentoring Month celebrated JAN 2014

National Mentoring Month is a campaign held each January to promote youth mentoring in the United States. It was inaugurated in 2002, and is spearheaded by the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Each year since 2002, President George W. Bush has endorsed the campaign by proclaiming January as National Mentoring Month. The declaration has been endorsed by both chambers of the United States Congress. The campaign’s media partners have included ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC; Comcast; the National Association of Broadcasters; Time Warner; and Viacom.

Participants in the National Mentoring Month campaign include leading nonprofit organizations and numerous governors and mayors. Designated nonprofit and governmental agencies are responsible for coordinating local campaign activities in communities across the country, including media outreach and volunteer recruitment. Local lead partners include state and local affiliates of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, Corporation for National and Community Service, Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network, America’s Promise, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Communities in Schools, and United Way of America.

A highlight of the campaign is Thank Your Mentor Day, in which Americans thank and honor their mentors. People are encouraged to contact their mentors directly to express appreciation, become a mentor in their own community, make a financial contribution to a local mentoring program, or post a tribute on WhoMentoredYou.org.

Colin Powell was the lead spokesperson for National Mentoring Month 2009.

As President, Barack Obama agreed to be featured in a print ad in support of National Mentoring Month 2009.

10 THINGS TO DO IN JANUARY

1.  Learn more about mentoring andbecome a mentor in your community.
2.  Join “I Am a Mentor” Day on January 9 and share your experience on social media using #SomeoneWhoMatters.
3.  Partner with a mentoring organization to expand quality mentoring opportunities for young people in your community.
4.  Share stories about mentoring in your community on social media using #MentoringWorks!
5.  Thank your mentor on January 16, during “Thank Your Mentor Day!” Think about the mentors in your life, send them a thank you cardand tell them thank you on social media using #SomeoneWhoMatters.
6. Read the latest research and find resources on mentoring.
7.  Serve your community on MLK Day of Service, January 20, , by looking for a mentoring opportunity in your area.
8.  Make a donation to a mentoring organization in your community.
9.  Download and use all of the National Mentoring Month marketing and video materials to raise awareness and recruit volunteers.
10.  Explore ways to help children succeed academically through mentoring.

Become a Mentor

To be a mentor, you don’t need special skills, just an ability to listen and to offer friendship, guidance and encouragement to a young person. And you’ll be amazed by how much you’ll get out of the experience.

Mentoring happens in a number of settings:

• The community.
• Schools.
• The faith-based community.
• Business.
• Through the Internet.

For more information about these settings, as well as additional mentoring resources, visit mentoring.org.

Benefits of Mentoring

A mentor is a caring, adult friend who devotes time to a young person. Although mentors can fill any number of different roles, all mentors have the same goal in common: to help young people achieve their potential and discover their strengths.

Mentors should understand they are not meant to replace a parent, guardian or teacher. A mentor is not a disciplinarian or decision maker for a child. Instead, a mentor echoes the positive values and cultural heritage parents and guardians are teaching. A mentor is part of a team of caring adults.

A mentor’s main purpose is to help a young person define individual goals and find ways to achieve them. Since the expectations of each child will vary, the mentor’s job is to encourage the development of a flexible relationship that responds to both the mentor’s and the young person’s needs.

By sharing fun activities and exposing a youth to new experiences, a mentor encourages positive choices, promotes high self-esteem, supports academic achievement, and introduces the young person to new ideas.

• A mentor may help a young person:
• Plan a project for school;
• Set career goals and start taking steps to realize them;
• Make healthy choices about day-to-day life, from food to exercise and beyond; and
• Think through a problem at home or school.

If you think you’d make a good mentor, great. We have lots of information about the many opportunities that are available. But you should be aware that it may take a while to be matched with a youth. Mentoring programs are concerned with the well being and safety of both youth and the volunteer mentors.

In joining a formal mentoring program, you will probably be asked to go through an application process. As part of that process, you will need to supply personal and professional references, perhaps have a background check performed, and complete a personal interview. Also, remember that the role of a mentor comes with substantial responsibilities so you will be required to take part in an orientation and training. Throughout the duration of your mentoring relationship, be sure to seek support from the program coordinator.

Mentoring Settings
Each mentoring program is different. So are the locations and settings within which a mentoring relationship can develop.

Mentors and young people may find that their relationship begins by participating in a variety of activities. Depending on the type of mentoring program — and the program’s rules and regulations — a mentoring pair may go to the park or a museum, participate in sports or do some other activity where they can get to know each other better. Mentors and mentees might also meet at the child’s school once a week where they could talk, play games or work on school assignments together. Take a look at some of the different settings where mentoring occurs.

In the community
Community-based mentoring offers young people the chance to develop a relationship with one or more adults.
Takes place outside of specific sites: going to the movies, going to a park, etc.
Can include tutoring, career exploration, life skills development, game playing and going to sports, entertainment or cultural events.
Typically asks the mentor for a commitment of at least one year.

In schools

• Mentoring in schools can have a significant impact on the dropout rate among high school students.
• Offers young people the chance to develop a relationship with one or more adults.
• Takes place at school, either during or immediately after school hours.
• Can include tutoring, game playing and sports.
• Typically asks the mentor for a commitment of at least one school year.

In the faith-based community

• Faith-based mentoring has a long tradition of instilling spiritual values and moral strength, putting faith into practice.
• Offers young people the chance to develop a relationship with one or more adults.

Takes place in a house of worship and reflects the values and beliefs of that religion. Typically occurs after school hours and/or on weekends.

• Can include career exploration, life skills development, game playing and going to sports, entertainment or cultural events.
• Can serve young people from the congregation and/or from the local community.

In businesses
Today, more and more companies are starting mentoring programs to help the young people who live in the communities where the companies do business.

• Offers young people the chance to develop a relationship with one or more adults.
• Takes place at the work site.

Can include tutoring, job shadowing, career exploration and role playing.

Typically asks the mentor for a commitment of at least one school year.

• E-mentoring
• E-mentoring takes place via the Internet and allows mentors and mentees to develop their relationship by exchanging messages online.
• Makes mentoring available to mentors and young people who otherwise might not be able to meet easily because of time or travel constraints.
• Helps young people learn more about high-tech communications and improve their writing skills.
• Offers young people the chance to develop a relationship with one or more adults. (Some programs have a group of adults who mentor a group of young people. For instance, a group of engineers might advise an entire classroom of students.)
• Offers young people a great way to find out about potential careers.
• Enables young people to work with mentors on special projects.

Register for the Summit and Select Your Workshops Today!

The fourth annual National Mentoring Summit will be January 30 and 31, 2014, in Arlington, VA, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.

Registration is filling up and the special hotel rate of $179 (plus tax) is only available until January 10. You don’t want to miss featured speakers legendary baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and NBC Meet the Press moderator David Gregory – register today!

 

Celebration House™ – “building better lives, one brick at a time”

Toronto, Canada is offering our MARCH BREAK [March 10-14] Mentoring Program 2014. We will be pairing off seniors with tweens/teens in our community. If you are interested in working with us to expand our ‘Mentoring Program‘ – EMAIL US TODAY !