National Mentoring Month is a campaign

Civil society campaign

A civil society campaign is one that is intended to mobilize public support and use democratic tools such as lobbying in order to instigate social change. Civil society campaigns can seek local, national or international objectives...

 held each January to promote youth mentoring

Youth mentoring

Youth mentoring is the process of matching mentors with young people who need or want a caring, responsible adult in their lives. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the child or teen and work as volunteers through a community-, school-, or church-based social service program.Although informal...

 in the United States. It was inaugurated in 2002, and is spearheaded by the Harvard School of Public Health

Harvard School of Public Health

The Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...

, MENTOR

MENTOR

MENTOR / The National Mentoring Partnership is an advocate and resource for mentoring in the United States. It is a 501 nonprofit organization, with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia....

, and the Corporation for National and Community Service

Corporation For National and Community Service

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and other national service initiatives...

.

Each year since 2002, President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 has endorsed the campaign by proclaiming January as National Mentoring Month. The declaration has been endorsed by both chambers of the Congress. The campaign's media partners have included: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC; Comcast; 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 Alliance, 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.
General Colin Powell

Colin Powell

Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...

 is the lead spokesperson for National Mentoring Month 2009.

As President-elect, Barack Obama agreed to be featured in a print ad in support of National Mentoring Month 2009.

External links

• Official National Mentoring Month web site
• National Mentoring Month page at MENTOR
  MENTOR
  MENTOR / The National Mentoring Partnership is an advocate and resource for mentoring in the United States. It is a 501 nonprofit organization, with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia....
  
  
• National Mentoring Month page at Corporation for National & Community Service Web site
• Who Mentored You? - National Mentoring Month page by the Harvard Mentoring Project