Make a Difference

1/20/2016 (Permalink)

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.

These are simple ways you can thank your mentor:

Contact your mentor directly to express your appreciation;

Express your gratitude on social media.

Pass on what you received by becoming a mentor to a young person in your community;

Make a financial contribution to a local mentoring program in your mentor’s honor

*Thank Your Mentor Day™ is an initiative of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Contents Credit: www.nationalmentoringmonth.org and www.wikipedia.com