MENTOR Minutes

Current Mentor Minutes

March - 2010

MENTOR CEO Named to College Success Foundation Board
March 9, 2010: MENTOR President and CEO Dr. Larry Wright has become a board member of the College Success Foundation (CSF), which provides college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students.   More...

President Obama Signs SafetyNET Extension
March 2, 2010: President Obama has signed into law the bill to extend the Child Safety Pilot, SafetyNET — the program that allows mentoring organizations to conduct fingerprint-based criminal background checks on potential mentors through the FBI's master criminal record database in a cost-effective and timely way.   More...

February - 2010

Mentor Interest Grows After NMM Activities
February 18, 2010: Preliminary evaluations from local National Mentoring Month partners show that calls from people interested in becoming mentors increased as much as 45 percent during January, the month each year when America spotlights the importance of mentors and the need for every child to have a caring adult in his or her life.   More...

Archived News

MENTOR Applauds Funding in Obama’s Budget Proposal
February 9, 2010: Funding opportunities for mentoring programs are included in President Obama's recently-released $3.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. More...

Mentor Michigan Kit Helps Recruit Male Mentors
February 2, 2010: Mentor Michigan, a MENTOR affiliate, has posted a downloadable, research-based Men in Mentoring Recruitment Toolkit. More...

January - 2010

MENTOR Needs Push to Make Child Safety Pilot Permanent
January 26, 2010: Legislation to make the goals and ideals of the Child Safety Pilot, SafetyNET, permanent has bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and MENTOR is working to realize passage of the corresponding bills as soon as possible. More...

President Obama Notes MENTOR/Viacom Partnership
January 20, 2010: MENTOR Chairman Willem Kooyker and MENTOR President and CEO Dr. Larry Wright, along with numerous mentors and their mentees, were among those who attended today's White House event where President Obama celebrated National Mentoring Month by emphasizing the importance of being a caring adult in the life of a child. More...

NMM Events Energize American Communities
January 12, 2010: In communities across the country, designated nonprofit and governmental agencies are promoting the positive effects of mentoring young people — and the need for more mentors — with exciting National Mentoring Month (NMM) events and activities. More...

President Obama Proclaims January National Mentoring Month
January 6, 2010: The White House has released President Obama's proclamation stating that January is officially National Mentoring Month in America. More...

December - 2009

U.S. Senate Passes NMM Resolution
December 29, 2009: The U.S.Senate has officially recognized January as National Mentoring Month 2010 with a resolution introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and John Kerry (D-MA). More...

President Enacts Federal Funding for Mentoring
December 23, 2009: President Obama recently signed the FY10 Omnibus Appropriations measure into law, including nearly $50 million for the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program, as well as a down payment on expanding initiatives at the Corporation for National and Community Service made possible through the landmark Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. More...

MENTOR Receives MetLife Foundation Grant for Webinar Series
December 15, 2009: MENTOR is pleased to announce that the MetLife Foundation is supporting the development and delivery of a series of Web-based trainings on the newly-released third edition of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™. More...

MENTOR Participates in Ready by 21 Call to Action
December 8, 2009: MENTOR is participating with many organizations in the Forum for Youth Investment's Ready by 21 call to action. We are calling for leaders across all sectors to think about the big picture in helping America's young people be prepared to succeed in college, work and life. More...

30 Days and Counting to National Mentoring Month
December 1, 2009: With exactly one month to kickoff, National Mentoring Month 2010 promises to be filled with exciting events around the country, all promoting mentoring and the need for mentors in young people's lives. More...

November - 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from MENTOR
November 24, 2009: In this season of giving thanks, we celebrate the generosity of partners and supporters like you, who have made so much possible for MENTOR. More...

Mentoring Partnerships Reenergize Legislative Campaign
November 18, 2009: MENTOR and Mentoring Partnerships coast to coast are rallying once again to encourage Congress to move on the Child Protection Improvements Act before the end of this year. More...

Mass Mentoring Provides Video Pair for NMM
November 12, 2009: Mass Mentoring Partnership in Boston — an affiliate of MENTOR — submitted the mentor/mentee pair that was chosen for the National Mentoring Month 2010 ReelPeople video. More...

Register Today for Michigan Mentoring Conference
November 3, 2009: A few spots are still available for Mentor Michigan's 4^th Annual Premiere Mentoring Conference November 18 at Michigan State University's East Lansing campus. More...

October - 2009

MENTOR Announces Dr. Larry Wright as New CEO
October 29, 2009: Willem Kooyker, MENTOR's chairman of the board and chairman and chief executive officer of Blenheim Capital Management LLC, announced today that Dr. Larry Wright has been appointed the new chief executive officer of MENTOR, the nation's lead champion for youth mentoring. More...

Georgia Mentoring Partnership Hosting November Conference
October 27, 2009: Register today for the November 16 – 18 Youth Success Strategies Conference sponsored by the Georgia Mentoring Partnership, the Georgia Parental Information and Resource Center and the Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Project in partnership with Communities In Schools of Georgia. More...

Six New Local Partners Join National Mentoring Month 2010
October 20, 2009: January 2010 will be the ninth annual National Mentoring Month (NMM) — a concentrated burst of national and local media activity combined with White House and Congressional involvement and extensive community outreach to institutionalize the nation's commitment to long-term mentoring. More...

MENTOR Releases New Standards for Mentoring
October 14, 2009: MENTOR's keystone publication on mentoring standards has been updated and released to include the latest research and practice wisdom available to help mentoring relationships thrive and endure. More...

MENTOR Celebrates SafetyNET During Crime Prevention Month
October 7, 2009: With October being National Crime Prevention Month, MENTOR applauds the National Crime Prevention Council for promoting awareness of important issues, such as victimization, especially in the mentoring community where it is critical to prevent the wrong people from connecting with America's children. More...

September - 2009

Television Shows Promote Volunteering
September 29, 2009: Television viewers will notice the week of October 19 – 25 that their favorite characters and actors are promoting volunteerism to a level never before seen in the entertainment industry. More...

Conference Focuses on Quality Mentoring
September 15, 2009: National speakers and presenters, quality workshops and creative networking opportunities are the major elements that make the annual Minnesota Mentoring Conference well-attended by mentoring professionals from the upper Midwest and across the country. More...

Register Now for Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference
September 9, 2009: Registration remains open for the first-ever Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference: United Hands for Mentoring October 15 and 16 in Providence, RI. More...

Minnesota Man Rollerblades to D.C. for Mentoring
September 1, 2009: These are the words Gary Walters wrote on his blog August 8, the day he began rollerblading 1,300 miles from Brainerd, Minnesota, to Washington, D.C., to promote mentoring: "The reason for all these events is that if good people give a little to a kid, then our world will be better." More...

August - 2009

MENTOR's Online Tracking Tool Used Across America
August 25, 2009: From Washington to Florida, mentoring programs are using MENTOR's online data tracking and analysis tool to manage information and, ultimately, make mentoring relationships more effective. More...

Mentoring Programs Ready As School Bells Ring Again
August 18, 2009: As children begin a new school year across America, mentoring programs are gearing up to find qualified mentors for students who want and need a caring adult in their lives. More...

MENTOR Helping in President's Call to Service
August 11, 2009: MENTOR has joined with other national nonprofit organizations in aggregating volunteer service opportunities that will support the President and First Lady Obama's United We Serve campaign for voluntarism. More...

MENTOR's Research and Policy Council Honors Presidential Appointees
August 4, 2009: At its Research and Policy Council meeting last week, MENTOR honored four Presidential appointees who contributed greatly to the growth of mentoring in America. More...

July - 2009

MENTOR Rallying to Save Funding for School-based Mentoring
July 21, 2009: MENTOR is rallying the national mentoring community to convince Congress to restore $50 million for mentoring program grants in the U.S. Department of Education's FY 2010 budget. More...

MENTOR Releases Guide for Recruiting Older Mentors
July 14, 2009: MENTOR has just published and released The Wisdom of Age: A Staff Guide — a handbook to recruiting and most effectively working with the growing number of older Americans who could be volunteer mentors. More...

MENTOR and LifeLock® Partner to Protect Children from Identity Theft
July 7, 2009: A partnership between MENTOR and LifeLock, the leading identity theft protection company, is aiming to educate the public about the dangers of child identity theft. More...

June - 2009

MPs Across the U.S. Attend MENTOR States Caucus
June 30, 2009: The Memphis Mentoring Partnership/Grizzlies Foundation rolled out the red carpet for colleagues from 22 Mentoring Partnerships attending last week's States Caucus meeting in Memphis, TN. More...

Child Protection Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate
June 26, 2009: Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John Ensign (R-NV) hammered out a consensus in order to introduce their version of the Child Protection Improvements Act in the U.S. Senate June 25. More...

MENTOR Annual Report Wins Washington, D.C., Award
June 16, 2009: The Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington recently awarded MENTOR's 2007 annual report a silver place in its 60^th Annual Show and Gala held at the National Press Club. More...

First Focus Joins Push to Make SafetyNET Permanent
June 10, 2009: First Focus has joined MENTOR and other leading youth service organizations in the effort to reintroduce the Child Protection Improvements Act and seek its passage this year. More...

Mentoring Reaches Native Americans Through Caregiver's Choice
June 2, 2009: MENTOR is working with Native American populations to make mentoring more accessible to young people in those communities. More...

May - 2009

Congressional Leaders Champion School-Based Program
May 27, 2009: MENTOR salutes Congressional leaders who are urging colleagues to restore funding to the Department of Education for competitive grants that help mentoring providers support school-based mentoring infrastructure. More...

Mentoring Named a Strategy to Prepare Youth for the Future
May 19, 2009: Two new briefings from Child Trends cite mentoring as a strategy in preparing young people to make a successful transition into adulthood and in preparing young people to succeed in the workplace. More...

School-Based Conference Extends Early Bird Rates
May 12, 2009: Registration is open for the National School-Based Mentoring Conference June 16 - 18 in Kansas City, MO, and host YouthFriends has extended the early bird rates to all participants. More...

New Report from America's Promise Alliance Supports Need for More Mentors
May 5, 2009: Only 53 percent of U.S. students in the country's 50 largest cities graduate from high school on time, according to a new report from America's Promise Alliance. More...

April - 2009

Register Now for Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring
April 28, 2009: The May 8 registration deadline is fast approaching for Portland State University's third annual Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring July 20 – 24. More...

Internet Was a Key Resource for National Mentoring Month 2009
April 21, 2009: Preliminary reports from across America show that Internet communications became a key awareness and recruitment tool for mentoring organizations during January's National Mentoring Month (NMM). More...

MENTOR Releases Toolkit on Mentoring Immigrant Youth
April 14, 2009: MENTOR is offering a new resource titled Mentoring Immigrant Youth: A Toolkit for Program Coordinators to help mentoring organizations better understand and serve America's growing immigrant and refugee youth population. More...

Willem Kooyker Appointed Chairman of the Board for MENTOR
April 7, 2009: Geoffrey T. Boisi, co-founder of MENTOR and chairman and CEO of Roundtable Investment Partners L.L.C., announced today that Willem "Wim" Kooyker has been named MENTOR's new chairman of the board. Kooyker is chairman and CEO of Blenheim Capital Management L.L.C. More...

Obama to Sign Serve America Act
April 3, 2009: As you know, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to approve The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (H.R. 1388 and S. 277 respectively). More...

March - 2009

Legislative Victories and Challenges for Mentoring Programs
March 24, 2009: A flurry of legislation affecting mentoring programs across the country is in play on Capitol Hill, and in a few instances, has already resulted in committed mentoring funds. More...

MENTOR to Receive Partial Proceeds from New Book on Baseball's Manny Ramirez
March 17, 2009: Authors of the just-released biography of Manny Ramirez, one of baseball's greatest hitters, announced that a portion of the proceeds from their book sales will be donated to MENTOR, the nation's leading advocacy group for mentoring. More...

MENTOR Names New CEO
March 16, 2009: Daniel C. "Dan" Schneider has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of MENTOR, the nation's leading advocacy group for mentoring, announced by MENTOR's Chairman of the Board Willem Kooyker. More...

Economic Stimulus Package Includes Funding for Mentoring
March 5, 2009: When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law February 17, it included $225 million in competitive grant funding through the U.S. Department of Justice for mentoring and other activities. More...

February - 2009

MCOP Continues Positive Momentum Into Year Two
February 17, 2009: The Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Caregiver's Choice initiative (MCOP:CC) is well into a productive and positive second year. More...

MENTOR Releases Legislative Agenda for 2009
February 3, 2009: With the 111th Congress in session, MENTOR announced its public affairs priorities, which would help build the infrastructure necessary to expand high-quality mentoring programs across America. More...

December - 2008

MentorPRO® Solving Programs' Dilemma
December 23, 2008: No matter what form mentoring takes, mentoring program directors want to produce the highest quality experience for the young people they serve. More...

President-elect Obama Promotes Mentoring in The New York Times
December 19, 2008: Today's edition of The New York Times includes a public service advertisement showing President-elect Barack Obama encouraging readers to "Be the change: mentor a child." More...

Audio Conference for Mentoring Programs
December 10, 2008: The Finance Project’s Youth Programs Resource Center provides information and resources related to supporting and sustaining youth programs, initiatives and policies. More...

November - 2008

SafetyNET Background Checks Extended Through 2009
November 6, 2008: In the midst of the overwhelming involvement and action of the 110th Congress to address the crisis in the financial markets, Congressional champions committed to ultimate passage of the Child Protection Improvements Act managed to secure a full one-year extension of the SafetyNET criminal background check pilot. More...

September - 2008

Two Key Public Policy Documents Released
September 26, 2008: September saw two important policy documents released – Strategies for Becoming a Nation of Service by the ServiceNation coalition and Toward a Brighter Future: An Essential Agenda for America’s Young People by the National Collaboration for Youth. More...

Access MENTOR’s New Online Community and Blog
September 11, 2008: MENTOR's National Mentoring Institute now offers a new online mentor community for networking, peer support, and informational resources meant to develop stronger, more impactful mentoring relationships. More...

National Mentoring Summit in Two Weeks
September 5, 2008: September 5, 2008: Two weeks from now, leaders from across the country will be gathering in California to celebrate the "The Magic of Connections" and take a hard look at the skills needed to ensure that young people get the high-quality mentoring experiences needed to prepare for school, work and life. More...

June - 2008

Mentoring for All Act of 2008 Introduced in Senate
June 27, 2008: Sens. Kerry (D-MA), Specter (R-PA), Sens. Akaka (D-HI), and Coleman (R-MN) introduced the Mentoring for All Act of 2008 (S. 3200), which creates a competitive grant fund of $50 million to strengthen and grow Mentoring Partnerships nationwide, and includes millions in additional grant monies for support of direct service mentoring programs. More...

Child Protection Improvements Act Passes Important Milestone
June 6, 2008: The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed the Child Protection Improvements Act of 2008 (S.2756) authored by Sens. Biden (D-DE), Hatch (R-UT) and Specter (R-PA). More...

May - 2008

MENTOR's Caregiver's Choice Issues First Voucher
May 7, 2008: Last week, MENTOR's Caregiver's Choice program issued its first voucher for mentoring services to a family from Bend, Oregon. More...

April - 2008

MENTOR Offers Online Debate Platform
April 3, 2008: MENTOR has partnered with Helium, the leader in online citizen journalism, to connect different voices in the mentoring community, and to raise awareness of quality youth mentoring in the United States. More...

March - 2008

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Urge Hispanics to Mentor
March 19, 2008: An ambitious Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBS) pilot program has reaped a 29 percent increase in the number of Hispanics youth served over the course of the last year. More...

MENTOR's SafetyNET Serves as Model in Proposed Congressional Bill
March 14, 2008: The SafetyNET program, created in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the National Council on Youth Sports, the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, will serve as the model for a permanent system available to all youth-serving organizations as embodied in the Child Protection Improvements Act of 2008 after almost five years of field testing. More...

February - 2008

MENTOR Offers Match Program for Children of the Incarcerated
February 21, 2008: MENTOR is pleased to announce the launch of Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Caregiver's Choice, a nationwide voucher program providing children of incarcerated parents with expanded access to mentoring services. More...

January - 2008

White House Leads Mentoring Roundtable
January 31, 2008: The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) convened a Compassion in Action policy roundtable in January, highlighting the efforts of America’s dedicated mentors. More...

MENTOR Launches New 2008 Public Service Announcements
January 17, 2008: Launched during National Mentoring Month - an initiative of the Harvard Mentoring Project, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service - January 2008, MENTOR has created dynamic print and broadcast public service announcements (PSAs) urging readers/viewers to go to www.mentoring.org to find out more about what it takes to be a mentor, the different types of mentoring venues, real-life mentor-mentee stories, local programs, and most importantly, how to volunteer. More...

MENTOR Observes Martin Luther King Day and 40 Days of Nonviolence
January 15, 2008: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to forge the common ground on which people from all walks of life could join together to address important community issues. More...

Order the Elements of Effective Practice Toolkit
January 15, 2008: MENTOR continually looks to make access to content as easy as possible for practitioners. More...

December - 2007

Federal Government Rings in the New Year with Strong Support of Mentoring
December 28, 2007: With vigorous grassroots and MENTOR-led advocacy on Capitol Hill, Congress has allocated $100 million in funding to benefit mentoring organizations throughout the country in fiscal year 2008. More...

Research in Action Series
December 12, 2007: MENTOR is pleased to announce the release of an innovative series - Research in Action - that translates the latest scholarly research on mentoring into tangible strategies for mentoring practitioners. More...

MENTOR Rolls out MentorPRO
December 4, 2007: MentorPRO® is the first of its kind: an online data tracking and analysis tool that allows organizations to access and track data to better manage Programs, monitor Relationships and evaluate Outcomes. More...

November - 2007

Mentors of the Year Celebrated at Back to the Bull Party
November 27, 2007: On November 15, 2007, five very special individuals were honored with the Corporate Mentor of the Year Award in recognition of the time, talent and energy that they have put into their relationships as mentors for New York City's youth. More...