First proclaimed by President George W. Bush in 2002, National Mentoring Month is an annual, high-profile campaign to draw attention to the need for more volunteer mentors to help America’s young people achieve their full potential.

Each January, the Harvard Mentoring Project, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, and the Corporation for National and Community Service spearhead an effort to raise awareness of ways that individuals can lend their support to this important cause.

Mentoring is a central focus area for CNCS. Each of CNCS's main programs have made mentoring and working with youth from disadvantaged circumstances a priority.

CNCS offers an array of materials and resources related to mentoring, including:

• Presidential Proclamation for National Mentoring Month 2012
  
• Mentoring Toolkit (PDF) - a resource designed to help mentors, prospective mentors, and mentoring program coordinators get the most out of mentoring.
  
• Volunteers Mentoring Youth: Implications for Closing the Mentoring Gap - a report that analyzes Census Bureau data to determine which individuals are more likely to become mentors.
  
• National Service and Mentoring (PDF) - an issue brief that details the various ways the Corporation supports mentoring activities.
  
• Mentoring Research Summary (PDF) - a fact sheet that summarizes recent studies on mentoring by the Corporation and the nonprofit group MENTOR.
  

Thank Your Mentor Day™

Thank Your Mentor Day offers a chance for many Americans to reach out to thank or honor those individuals who encouraged and guided them, and had a lasting impact on their lives. Click here for ideas on ways to mark the day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

Martin Luther King, Jr.Day of Service 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 serve together on King Day. Visit www.mlkday.gov for more information.