PRESS RELEASE - Nation’s Leaders Come Together to Promote Critical Investment in the Future

at 2nd Annual National Mentoring Summit

January 17, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  National youth mentoring organizations, Administration officials, civic leaders, corporate executives and the country’s foremost mentoring researchers will join together in Washington next week at the second annual National Mentoring Summit to promote a pathway for ensuring our nation’s youth receive quality mentoring and guidance that will enable them to have a promising future.
 
MENTOR, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the U.S. Department of Justice – Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Harvard School of Public Health and United Way Worldwide comprise the Host Committee for the Summit, which will be held at The Fairmont in Washington, D.C., January 24 and 25, 2012.  In addition to the committee, twenty youth-serving partner organizations are working to support the event.
 
The theme for this year’s Summit is, “Invest in the Future: Mentor a Child.”  The Summit will include a Corporate Leadership Session where many of the nation’s corporate leaders will discuss examples and strategies for deepening private sector investment and volunteerism directed toward expanding quality youth mentoring.  The session is a follow-up to First Lady Michelle Obama’s original “Corporate Mentoring Challenge” call to action at the inaugural 2011 Summit.
 
The Corporate Leadership Session will be moderated by two members of the current Obama administration: Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Joshua DuBois and Chief of Staff of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Michael Strautmanis. Already, this National Mentoring Month, several corporations were recognized at The White House by the President of the United States with the MLK Drum Majors of Service Awards for their commitment to mentoring. Several more companies will join them in receiving this recognition at the Summit.  
 
The two-day Summit will also bring together approximately 500 key mentoring stakeholders to enhance the quality and impact of the field, chart the mentoring field’s future and expand its circle of influence to focus the power of mentoring on measurable outcomes.  The conference will offer robust workshops and information sharing, including sessions on: Expanding and Sustaining Mentoring Programs Through Strategic Partnerships; Service and Mentoring; Men in Mentoring; Former Mentees: Building the Next Generation of Mentors; Recruiting Mentors and Donors; and many additional relevant and meaningful workshops to enhance the quality and growth of the mentoring sector.
 
In addition, the event will provide the culminating moment for the 11th anniversary of National Mentoring Month, which is the national media campaign to raise awareness about mentoring produced by the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Thousands of programs in all 50 states participate in National Mentoring Month events.
 
“More than 20 years ago, MENTOR was created as a catalyst to grow the mentoring movement in the United States, and today, mentoring is a large and vital field with more than 5,000 programs serving three million young people,” said MENTOR’s Chairman Willem Kooyker. “This National Mentoring Summit will give mentoring stakeholders the opportunity to come together so we can continue our combined effort to invest, through quality mentoring, in the 15 million children who are still waiting for a caring adult in their lives.”
 
Summit participants will include representatives invited from MENTOR’s network of affiliated Mentoring Partnerships and from Host Committee and Summit Partner networks, as well as National Mentoring Month local partners. 

WHAT: National Mentoring Summit -- "Invest in the Future: Mentor a Child"

WHEN: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Keynote Address
               Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Mentor/Mentee Panel

WHERE:  The Fairmont Hotel, 2401 M Street NW, Washington, D.C.

RSVP: Ellen Christman,  echristman@mentoring.org, 703-224-2255

 

About MENTOR

MENTOR is the lead champion for youth mentoring in the United States.  MENTOR’s goal is to help children by providing a public voice, developing and delivering resources to mentoring programs nationwide and promoting quality for mentoring through standards, cutting-edge research and state of the art tools.  MENTOR works closely with State Mentoring Partnerships and volunteer centers throughout the country, serving more than 3 million children in all 50 states.  There are currently 18 million children in the US who want and need a mentor but only three million have one.  MENTOR’s mission is to close that gap so that every one of those 15 million children has a caring adult in their life.  Founded in 1990, MENTOR is headquartered in Boston, MA.

 

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.

Partnering with parents/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children (“Littles”) with screened volunteer mentors (“Bigs”) and monitors and supports them in one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course. The organization holds itself accountable for children in the program to achieve measurable outcomes, such as higher aspirations; greater confidence and better relationships; educational success; and avoidance of delinquency and other risky behaviors. Most children served by Big Brothers Big Sisters are in single-parent and low-income families or households where a parent is incarcerated. Headquartered in Philadelphia with a network of about 370 agencies across the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves nearly 250,000 children.

 

About CNCS

The Corporation for National and Community Service created the spots as part of its mission to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. Last year, the agency engaged more than 5.5 million Americans in results-driven service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

 

About The Harvard Mentoring Project

The Harvard Mentoring Project (HMP) of the Harvard School of Public Health was launched in 1997 to mobilize the national media and leading Hollywood studios to promote the growth of the mentoring as a public health intervention of proven effectiveness for positive youth development. HMP is an initiative of the School’s Center for Health Communication, which is dedicated to promoting the adoption of healthy behaviors through mass communication. The Harvard Mentoring Project and MENTOR created and spearheaded the first-ever National Mentoring Month in January 2002. For more information, visit WhoMentoredYou.org.

 

About the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP supports states and communities in their efforts to develop and implement effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs and to improve the juvenile justice system so that it protects public safety, holds offenders accountable, and provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of juveniles and their families.  For more information about OJJDP, visit www.ojjdp.gov

 

About United Way USA

United Way USA is comprised of more than 1,200 community-based United Ways in the U.S., and it is part of a worldwide network of nearly 1,800 United Ways in 40 countries and territories. It advances the common good, creating opportunities for a better life for all, by focusing on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good quality of life. United Way recruits the people and organizations from all across the community who bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done. LIVE UNITED is a call to action for everyone to become part of the change. For more information, please visit: LIVEUNITED.org.

 

About National Mentoring Month

National Mentoring Month is a national campaign to recruit volunteer mentors, spearheaded by The Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR and the Corporation for National and Community Service.  Held each January, the campaign highlights the crucial role played by mentors in helping young people achieve their potential. The campaign’s goals are to mobilize larger numbers of community volunteers to serve as mentors to young people and to promote awareness of the power of mentoring to enhance a young person’s prospects for leading a healthy and productive life. Research shows that mentoring programs have beneficial and long-term effects, increasing the rate of high school graduation and college attendance and decreasing the likelihood of substance abuse and other risky behaviors. For more information about National Mentoring Month, visit www.nationalmentoringmonth.org.