Connecting young people to caring adults is crucial to successfully transitioning them from youth to adulthood. However, many young people from single-parent homes or in foster care find it difficult, if not impossible to develop sustainable caring connections to adults. One strategy to address this potential gap is youth mentoring.

Mentoring is a proven method to ensure students complete their education. Youth who have a mentor are more likely to:

• Attend and engage in school.
• Finish high-school.
• Continue onto college.

Brought to scale, these become gains for the country: improved educational outcomes and thus reduced juvenile delinquency.

One of the most effective mentoring models is a site-based approach where mentor pairs meet at a school, community center, or place of business, such as a corporate office. Research has shown that the relationship doesn’t need to be over a long period of time, it simply needs to be consistent. Corporations are ideal partners as they can provide an appropriate setting and/or effective participants.

Corporate Mentoring Challenge

The First Lady helped launch the Corporate Mentoring Challenge in January of 2011 through the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community Service, six major mentoring organizations and CBOs collaborated on the creation and outreach of the challenge: MENTOR, United Way Worldwide, Big Brothers Big Sisters, National Care Mentoring Network, National Alliance for Faith and Justice and Mentoring USA.

At the launch, 17 corporations announced their commitment to expand or launch an employee-based mentoring program.  To date, more than 100 companies have committed to this challenge.  Many corporations went beyond their simple commitment to create an employee program and have supported the mentoring sector in various ways. For example some corporations are providing pro bono services to mentoring organizations while others actively engage senior leadership of their companies to support the cause.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) along with major mentoring organizations are available to provide technical assistance to organizations that are launching or piloting a Corporate Mentoring Program. For questions and assistance with the Corporate Mentoring Challenge, email corporatementoringchallenge@cns.gov.

National Mentoring Month

National Mentoring Month (NMM), held each year in January, raises awareness about the important role mentoring can play in academic engagement. NMM annually draws a spotlight on mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives. Its goals are to:

• Raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms.
• Recruit individuals to mentor, especially in programs that have waiting lists of young people.
• Promote the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting organizations to engage their constituents in mentoring.

Together, the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service are working to focus national attention on the need for mentors. In January these partners are sponsoring the National Mentoring Month Summit.

Presidential Proclamation on National Mentoring Month

How Can You Get Involved?

To get involved in National Mentoring Month activities and to mentor please contact the local partner in your state who can help you get started, provide materials, offer opportunities, and share ideas.

The Corporation offers an array of materials and resources related to mentoring. To order National Mentoring Month 2012 marketing materials including posters, bookmarks, "Thank Your Mentor" note cards, and more.

View and Order Publications

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, January 16, 2012, is an ideal opportunity to highlight the importance of mentoring. Use the day to honor mentors in your community, recruit new mentors, provide training to mentoring programs, or encourage mentor pairs to serve together on King Day. Visit the MLK Day of Service website for more information.