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Home > BE A MENTOR > National Mentoring Month > State Activities >

National Mentoring Month 2008 State Mentoring Partnerships Take the Lead in Spotlighting Mentoring

With National Mentoring Month as the backdrop, state Mentoring Partnerships use the month of January to focus national attention on youth mentoring—how it benefits young people, adults, and society as a whole. Spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, National Mentoring Month (NMM) has the attention and support of President George W. Bush, the US Congress, governors, mayors, the media, corporations, government agencies, and others.

Selected State Activities During for NMM 2008:

Arizona Mentoring Initiative
National Mentoring Month in the State of Arizona kicked off at the State Capitol during the week of January 14th. An official proclamation was released in support of the National movement and in support of the Governor's Mentoring Initiative, allowing state employees to take one hour of flex time per week to mentor in the community. Mentoring organizations across the state highlighted their programs through a recruitment event, and mentors were honored through a recognition event hosted by the Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism. Each mentor received a certificate of appreciation.

California: Bay Area Mentoring
Bay Area Mentoring, a local collaboration of mentoring programs within the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, focused on promoting mentoring through the local mentor/mentee pair, Jennifer and Iliana, selected as the featured pair in one of the two "ReelPeople" 2008 PSAs. Friends for Youth's 9th Annual Northern California Mentoring Conference, "Mentoring Youth: Defining the Difference It Makes," attracted mentoring professional staff from around the country and the world, including Michael Karcher, Ph.D. and Mervlyn Kitashima as keynote speakers. The conference took place January 31 to February 1st, 2008. The conference includes an evening Fishbowl Forum of local youth, dignitaries, and the community. Local programs will be hosted their own celebratory and recruitment-focused events throughout January.

Delaware Mentoring Council
A celebratory event to honor businesses that support mentoring took place on January 29, 2008 in the evening on the campus of the University of Delaware. The Delaware Mentoring Council instituted a Governor's Award for Youth Mentoring, and presented it to Barclays for its outstanding mentoring model of adopting a local charter school and being instrumental in providing mentors for over 100 children. The Council also recognized businesses that took part in The Great Delaware Mentoring Challenge during September and October. Five companies recruited over 50 mentors for children in Delaware Schools. They were competing for prizes that included a first place award of lunch in the U.S. Senate Dining Room in Washington, D.C. with Delaware Senator Tom Carper, one of the most steadfast champions of mentoring. Senator Carper donated the lunch, and one of his aides provided a tour of the U.S. Capitol for four people. The first place winners were Nationwide Financial Network and Cash Connect. Other businesses who competed and won prizes supplied by local companies were: Aetna, Inc.; Croda, Inc.; and WSFS Bank. Additional supportive businesses will be acknowledged, and all will receive Tributes from Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner. National Mentoring Month promotional materials were sent in mid-December to all in-school mentoring programs in the state in addition to community mentoring programs.

Florida: Mentor Center of Palm Beach County (PBC)
Local businesses (banks, restaurants) promoted mentoring every Monday in January by wearing mentoring t-shirts, displaying mentoring print materials, and distributing promotional and recruitment materials that encouraged community members to become mentors. Additionally, the Mentor Center of Palm Beach County's television partner filmed the businesses during Mentoring Mondays, and aired the footage on the evening news.

Florida: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami
Big Brothers Big Sister of Greater Miami ran 50 king-sized bus ads throughout the month of January. In addition, radio PSAs aired on Clear Channel stations (610 AM, 940 AM, 100.7, 103.5, 93.9, 105.9, 93.1, 94.9). There were alsoComcast TV ads, two half-page ads and four calendar listings in the Miami Herald, and an Internet/web campaign during the month of January. Additional activities included an event at the Miami Seaquarium intended to raise awareness about the need for mentors, and a volunteer reception/mentoring collaboration at a South Beach location to recruit mentors for the 40 agencies and to wrap up the month-long campaign.

Indiana: Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives held a Mentor Advisory Council for the State of Indiana as well as maintained a "Give.Receive.Mentor" Web site. The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives also hosted a "Celebrate the Power of Mentoring Luncheon and Expo" and produce a "31 Days of Mentoring Booklet" to be distributed throughout Indiana. Finally, Indiana Governor Mitchell Daniels issued a proclamation.

Iowa Mentoring Partnership
The Iowa Mentoring Partnership issued a proclamation by the Governor, and sent out a press releases and letters to the editor. In addition, there was a "Mentoring Day celebration on the Hill" at the state capitol for program participants to meet their legislators and speak about the importance of mentoring. Affiliated mentoring programs were encouraged to send out thank you letters, business cards, PSAs, and e-cards. Finally, programs were encouraged to host recognition events for mentors.

Missouri: YouthFriends
YouthFiends scheduled local radio and television interviews as well as air television and radio PSAs. There were two pro bono print ads in the major daily, The Kansas City Star and promotional bookmarks were distributed to local libraries.

Nebraska: TeamMates Mentoring Program
The TeamMates Mentoring Program sponsored a leadership in mentoring teleconference on January 24th in addition to running PSAs on local television and radio networks. TeamMates supports 96 commmunities across Nebraska and Iowa and over 3200 volunteers.

Mentoring Center of Central Ohio
The Mentoring Center of Central Ohio hosted a Statehouse Mentoring Celebration on Thursday, January 24, 2008. State Congressional Minority Leader Joyce Beatty gave Outstanding Mentor and Mentee Awards during the event. As part of Thank Your Mentor Day, the keynote was given by Angela Pace, a popular former local TV anchor (now Public Affairs Director) with a marvelous mentoring story. Columbus City Councilman Kevin L. Boyce, co-developer of a new African-American Male Initiative, provided the welcome. Partner agencies of the Mentoring Center showcased and businesses involved in mentoring were honored. One major initiative is Project Mentor, a collaboration among Columbus City Schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Mentoring Center. This transformative project has recruited nearly 1,000 new mentors who have been trained by the Mentoring Center and matched with 6th-8th graders at 27 middle school programs. As part of Project 2012, this major initiative seeks to raise the graduation rate to 90% by the year 2012. The partnership also planned its seventh annual Mentor-Mentee FunDay at the Ohio State University's state-of-the-art recreation center.

The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania
The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania launched a rigorous mentoring campaign that included radio, television, print, outdoor and indoor display advertising, and several special events. They hosted a recruitment event on Thank Your Mentor Day (January 24) which included local mentoring agencies. Mentoring was the theme of the local Corporate Volunteer Council meeting where several mentoring agencies were highlighted. Comcast Cable company, a media partner, aired PSAs as well as an interview with staff from The Mentoring Partnership. County Executive, Dan Onorato announced a proclamation designating January as Mentoring Month.

Vermont: Mobius, The Mentoring Movement of Chittenden County
In celebration of National Mentoring Month, Mobius hosted two large-scale events: one to recognize the mentors themselves, and another to honor the youth involved. The first event was a "Thank Your Mentor Breakfast." Over 700 mentors from 18 different programs that fall underneath the Mobius umbrella were invited to this event. Each of the programs were given the opportunity to honor one outstanding mentor. These 18 mentors were recognized by Mobius and their host program, and were given an award during an appreciation ceremony. The second event was for mentor matches, allowing the youth of Chittenden County to celebrate National Mentoring Month in a fun and playful way. Mobius held a celebration on Saturday, January 19th at the Memorial Building Annex on Main Street in Burlington. There were hip hop dance classes by Beth Canti, a performance by Brent McCoy, Clown: Under Construction, a magician show, face painting, storytelling, arts and crafts, live music, and food. Each of the mentors and mentees received a goody bag filled with products from local vendors.

Washington State Mentors
Washington State Mentors held its third annual National Mentoring Month Celebration in the Capital Rotunda in Olympia, Washington on January 24th. Lt. Governor Brad Owen hosted and proclaimed January 24, 2008 Thank Your Mentor Day. Following the mentoring celebration in the Rotunda, 100 volunteers disbanded for meetings with legislators to advocate for the support of mentoring.

Related Information:

• Explore information on mentoring in your state.
• Previous Mentoring Month activities.