January is National Mentoring Month
With January 2012 marking its 11th year, National Mentoring Month is the time each year when our nation officially shines a spotlight on the importance of mentors and the need for every child to have a caring adult in his or her life. Mentoring is a proven method for ensuring that students complete their educations. Youth who have a mentor are more likely to attend, engage in, and finish high school, and to continue on to college. It’s a “win-win” situation both for the youth who reach these milestones and for our country, as these improved educational outcomes lead to reduced juvenile delinquency (United We Serve—Mentoring: An Investment Worth Making, Corporation for National and Community Service).
The goals of National Mentoring Month include the following:
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has provided more than $500 million since 1994 to support juvenile and youth mentoring programs. OJJDP’s efforts focus on strengthening, expanding, and implementing youth mentoring activities and youth development programs throughout the country through grants to national and local organizations. Many of the initiatives focus on reaching at-risk youth and working with underserved populations including foster children, tribal communities, and juvenile offenders who are reentering their communities (Mentoring, Office of Justice Programs). To learn more about mentoring, please visit NCJRS’s Mentoring Resources Special Feature. This resource contains links to publications and related organizations, agencies, funding resources, and Web sites that focus on mentoring activities. |
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Publications
Building Relationships: A Guide for New Mentors
OJP Fact Sheet: Mentoring
Training New Mentors |