2013 National Mentoring Summit

January 24 - 25, 2013

For a complete schedule: view the program for the 2013 National Mentoring Summit

• Presentation of the 2013 Excellence in Mentoring in America awards at a reception at the Library of Congress, hosted by MENTOR's board of directors. Nominated by Mentoring Partnerships in MENTOR's network and other national partners, award recipients were U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Orrin Hatch (civic leadership); 3M (corporate leadership); and Peter Koch and Dr. Raymund Paredes (individual leadership). Speakers included Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Librarian of Congress Dr. James Billington; Chairman of MENTOR Willem Kooyker; and Co-Founder of MENTOR Geoff Boisi.

• An inspiring open to the Summit featuring mentor David Cunningham and his mentee Chad from Concerned Black Men and an opening video that showed clips from one of the 2013 National Mentoring Month television PSAs in which they are featured.

• A Corporate and Philanthropic Leadership Exchange co-hosted and co-developed by Summit Presenting Sponsor Bank of America and MENTOR, where leaders from corporations and philanthropic organizations engaged in an interactive discussion aimed at identifying action steps to advance the research-proven impact of mentoring in helping young people find success at school, home and the workforce. Speakers included Kristy Teskey, senior vice president, Bank of America Charitable Foundation; Elizabeth Clay Roy, deputy director of Opportunity Nation; and youth mentoring research experts Jean Rhodes, U Mass Boston Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring; Michael Karcher, University of Texas, San Antonio; Tim Cavell, University of Arkansas; and Renee Spencer, Boston University.

• Remarks from the Director of the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy Dr. Elaine Swafford, representing Summit sponsor Mustang Leadership Partners, LLC. Swafford began by showing a clip from Untamed Legacy: America's Wild Mustang that featured the academy's integration of these beautiful horses into their youth mentoring program. The film was produced by WTCI-PBS and was narrated by Jack Perkins, best known for his work with NBC News and as host of AE's Biography. The multiple Emmy-award winning production team included Peter G. DeLynn, Executive Producer, and Jen Noble, Producer and Writer. The full documentary can be viewed online at www.wtciTV.org.

• A powerful and informative panel discussion with the featured participants in FRONTLINE's groundbreaking documentary titled Middle School Moment, part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's American Graduate: Let's Make it Happen community engagement campaign, a public media initiative to help local communities across America identify and implement solutions to address the dropout crisis. Included in the discussion were Omarina, the teenager whose mentoring journey is examined in the film, as well as Dr. Robert Balfanz, a leading researcher at Johns Hopkins University's Everyone Graduates Center, who uncovered a series of indicators that predict how likely a student is to drop out of school as early as seventh grade and empower schools and community partners to create systemic responses, such as mentoring.

• An equally inspirational panel discussion focused on mentoring young people who have learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD/ADHD) with Eye to Eye Co-Founder and Chief Empowerment Officer David Flink, as well as mentors and "Think Different Diplomats" Matt Barnett, Chelsea Guild and Isaiah Walker. Eye to Eye is a national mentoring program that pairs kids with LD/ADHD with similarly labeled college students, encouraging labeled children to become their own best advocates and using partnerships with parents, communities, schools and universities to create a network of advocates surrounding the child.

• The announcement from Eric Dawson, president and co-founder of Peace First, of the Peace First Prize. This prize, which Dawson referred to as the "Nobel Peace Prize for Young People," will recognize meaningful peacemaking work that creates lasting good in a community, neighborhood or school with $50,000 fellowships to five recipients to continue their peacemaking work. MENTOR is one of 20 national sponsors and partners for this initiative. Click to view the presentation.

• Stirring remarks in support of expanded quality youth mentoring from U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings; Michigan's Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley; and U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah.

• A networking reception for all Summit attendees, hosted by Ernst & Young. The company's East Central Assurance Partner and Community Engagement Champion Rene Salas spoke about Ernst & Young'sdedication to youth mentoring and introduced his colleague John Tierney, who is a mentor and the executive sponsor for the company's Philadelphia College MAP (Mentoring for Access and Persistence) program at Frankford High School.

• A meeting with 20 leaders of national youth-serving organizations engaged in mentoring, as well as OJJDP's Acting Administrator Melodee Hanes, U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and MENTOR's President and Chief Executive Officer David Shapiro.

• More than 70 content-diverse workshops, including a panel with the leading national researchers in mentoring.

Honorary Host Committee

The Honorable Congressman David N. Cicilline

The Honorable Congressman Hansen Clarke

The Honorable Congressman John Conyers

The Honorable Congressman Elijah Cummings

The Honorable Congresswoman Susan Davis

The Honorable Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

The Honorable Congressman Chaka Fattah

The Honorable Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

The Honorable Congresswoman Kay Granger

The Honorable Senator Johnny Isakson

The Honorable Senator John Kerry

The Honorable Senator Mary Landrieu

The Honorable Congressman Jim Langevin

The Honorable Senator Patrick Leahy

The Honorable Congresswoman Betty McCollum

The Honorable Senator Lisa Murkowski

The Honorable Congressman Mike Rogers

The Honorable Congressman Adam Schiff

The Honorable Senator Chuck Schumer

The Honorable Congresswoman Frederica Wilson

The Honorable Congressman Frank Wolf