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.

Fully realized, these outcomes become gains for the country: improved educational results 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 take place 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

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

To date, more than 100 companies have committed to this challenge. In 2012, roughly 50 corporations participated in the Corporate Leadership Session, where eight companies were recognized for mentoring programs.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, along with major mentoring organizations, continues to work with corporations interested in supporting mentoring.

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 sponsored the National Mentoring Month Summit in Washington, DC.

Presidential Proclamation on National Mentoring Month

How Can You Get Involved?

To become a mentor or find trusted mentoring organizations in your community, please contact the local partner in your state that can help you get started, provide materials, offer opportunities, and share ideas.

CNCS offers an array of materials and resources related to mentoring including posters, bookmarks, "Thank Your Mentor" note cards, and more.