Program Resources

National Mentoring Month

National Mentoring Month (NMM) highlights mentoring and the positive impact it can have on young lives. Spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the first NMM was January 2002; 2011 marks NMM’s 10th anniversary. This month-long outreach campaign focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how each of us—individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits—can work together to increase the number of mentors and assure brighter futures for our young people.

With the 2011 theme “Help Them Get There —Be a Mentor,” NMM conveys the messages that:

  • Too many young people do not have a caring adult mentor to provide encouragement and support;
  • Mentoring programs can provide the link to this support; but
  • Programs need volunteers to close the gap.
     

"Thank Your Mentor Day™"– January 25, 2011, marks the seventh annual "Thank Your Mentor Day™" —an outreach of the Harvard Mentoring Project, which many mentoring programs select as a day of volunteer recognition.


How Your Interest Creates Positive Change

We encourage you to think of the mentors in your life—a team coach, teacher, concerned neighbor or another caring adult—and take a few minutes to thank them.  Then, consider becoming a mentor yourself. With MENTOR's ZIP code search tool, you can find profiles of local mentoring programs—one-to-one, group or e-mentoring—and choose the program that works best for you.


Being a Corporate Leader in Your Community

Organizations, too, can have a tremendous impact on young lives by sponsoring mentoring programs. For instance, your employer can partner with a local school and recruit employees to mentor students. A workplace-based mentoring program not only benefits the kids, but also your co-workers. As James S. Turley, chairman of Ernst & Young LLP, said, "If other companies are considering starting mentoring programs, I would simply say, 'Just do it.' The benefit to the community is great, and very importantly, the benefit to your own people is just as great." Workplace mentoring programs create employee loyalty, increase productivity and build stronger ties between your organization and the community where you work.

Your organization also can support mentoring throughout 2011 by:

  • Donating in-kind gifts (space for events, office equipment, advertising and other communications vehicles, such as employee newsletters, within your organization);
  • Using the double omega icon (the universal symbol for mentoring) in your corporate communications and on your Web site;
  • Sponsoring a mentoring event; or
  • Providing key leadership for local mentoring programs.
     

For more information about how your organization can make a positive impact in the lives of young people, contact MENTOR’s Tonya Wiley.

Find out more at www.nationalmentoringmonth.org.
 

National Mentoring Month Partners