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

National Mentoring Month 2010 State Mentoring Partnerships Take the Lead in Spotlighting Mentoring

With National Mentoring Month as the backdrop, 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 Barack Obama, the U.S. Congress, governors, mayors, the media, corporations, government agencies and others.

Selected State Activities During for NMM 2010:

AHFY – Mentors and Friends
Holly Jackson

AHFY – Mentors and Friends recruit their Mentors through the local college, local businesses, brochures and network through word of mouth. They have a mentor orientation and activities that have consisted of chili supper, group activities, and community activities. They communicate all upcoming activities to mentor/mentees through a monthly calendar along with suggestions they may try to participate.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit
Katherine J. Adams, Director of Partnership Development

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit will launch its 100 Mentors in 100 Days campaign for the third year in a row. At the MLK Walk, AmeriCorps Members who with Big Brothers Big Sisters will rally Littles and Bigs to participate in this city-wide event. Detroit McMatch, a partnership with local African American McDonalds owners will also participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit match program. This month will be driven by an intentional media focus on mentoring and this would include radio and television interviews, as well as print media efforts.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado
Christy Schaerer

The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado plan to have the City of Durango and the Town of Pagosa proclaim January as National Mentoring Month. In addition, they will celebrate our mentors on January 21, Thank Your Mentor Day, and give away the annual Magic Moments Award. Lastly, all local public libraries and two bookstores will distribute “Mentor a Child” bookmarks. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

The Buddy Program
Soledad Lowe

The Buddy Program will distribute bookmarks to local libraries, hospitals, and community partners; put a National Mentoring Month banner on Main Street; send out a thank you email to their 300 mentors, donors and supporters. The Buddy Program will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements, as well as use social media to promote their efforts.

BVSD Community Access Mentoring
Carol Corsell, Administrative Coordinator

The BVD Community Access Mentoring will host a mentor appreciation event, where they will acknowledge the mentors, mentees and community, and build awareness around the benefits of mentoring. Mentees will provide musical and dance performances as entertainment.

Children’s Services Council Mentor Center
Kelly Brill

Children’s Services Council Mentor Center will partner with local businesses (banks, restaurants, etc) who have agreed to promote mentoring every Monday in January. Each business will do this by wearing mentoring t-shirts, displaying mentoring print materials and distributing promotional/recruitment materials that encourage community members to become mentors. Additionally, our television partner will film the businesses during Mentoring Mondays and air the footage on the evening news. We will also be organizing opportunities for mentors and mentees to volunteer together to give back to the community during the month of January. Children’s Services Council Mentor Center will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Children Uniting Nations, Los Angeles
Brandon Kiel

Children Uniting Nations will host a NMM Press Conference at City Hall. California Senator Curren Price (26th District) and Speaker of the House Karen Bass will issue a State Senate Resolution on behalf of National Mentoring Month in Sacramento. The organization will kick off a faith-based initiative during the Martin Luther King Weekend Celebration, starting Saturday January 16th. Partners will host recruitment, advocacy and awareness presentations at local churches and synagogues throughout Los Angeles County. On Monday, January 18th, Children Uniting Nations will participate in the Los Angeles Clippers Community Day 2010 at the Staples Center. Mentors and mentees, community partners, corporations and mentor agencies will join together to support National Mentoring Month at the Los Angeles Clippers game.

Cincinnati Youth Collaborative
Kimberly Heestand

The Cincinnati Youth Collaborative will take action in the following ways for National Mentoring Month- initiate a Mayoral Proclamation and a Hamilton County Proclamation. They will host various events including a Thank You Mentor Day recognition event with STRIVE Mentoring Student Success Network (featuring Olympic Gold Medalist, Mary Wineberg), a mentor/mentee night with the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team, a new mentor training, a Martin Luther King Day volunteer mentor service activity, a mentor/mentee night at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a mentor mentee event at Union Terminal Museum Center, a panel discussion with seasoned mentors called Pearls of Wisdom Skill Builder, and other various city-wide recruitment activities.

Communities In Schools of North Carolina
Erica Rafferty

Communities In Schools of North Carolina will plan activities to recognize successful mentor/mentee relationships; request a proclamation from the Governor declaring January as Mentoring Month; and highlight local dignitaries/celebrities who were mentored as a child or currently serve as mentors. Communities In Schools of North Carolina will partner with television media to promote mentoring.

Dime Child Foundation
Lauren Fox, Media Coordinator

Dime Child Foundation is planning three main events throughout National Mentoring Month. The first event will be a kickoff event to recognize and celebrate mentors, while also increasing awareness of National Mentoring Month and our mission of growing the number of mentors in the Chicagoland area. Community organizations, foundations, leaders and mentors all will be invited. Next, they will host a three on three basketball tournament. They will encourage those in attendance to become adult mentors to children. Finally, Dime Child Foundation will have an awards brunch to give recognition and thanks to top mentors in the Chicagoland area. Media (print, television, radio) will be invited to all the events, and students who work in their magazine and radio programs will also report on the events.

The Governor’s Prevention Partnership
Veronica T. DeLandro

Governor M. Jodi Rell will proclaim January National Mentoring Month as part of a statewide campaign to encourage adults, especially men, to mentor children in their communities. On December 1, 2009, a free “Media Training” will be offered to mentor coordinators to help them develop strategies to engage the media in order to support their programs and recruit mentors during National Mentor Month and throughout the year. On January 16, 2010, on Central Connecticut State University’s Annual Mentor Day, CCSU will provide free tickets to mentor and mentee matches and programs to CCSU’s men and women’s basket ball doubleheader games. On January 22, 2010, the Connecticut Mentoring Partnership we will host a celebration to recognize and thank the mentor coordinators (school, community and faith-based programs) throughout Connecticut. Dr. Susan Weinberger will be the guest speaker. On January 27, 2010, an Annual Corporate Honor Roll Breakfast will honor 100 businesses for their investment in mentoring Connecticut’s Youth. MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership’s Vice Chairman of the Board, Marian Heard will serve as the keynote speaker. The Governor’s Prevention Partnership has plans to team up with WFSB (CBS affiliate), CBS Radio, Comcast, and other media outlets throughout the state to help spread the word about the importance of mentoring in the lives of Connecticut’s young people and the critical needs for more male mentors.

Iowa Mentoring Partnership
Melissa Simmermaker

The Iowa Mentoring Partnership is working with the Governor Culver’s Office to generate a Governor’s Proclamation for National Mentoring Month. They will also release a press statement declaring National Mentoring Month in Iowa and highlight the positive benefits of mentoring, encourage all Iowans to take the time to mentor, and work to allow state employees to serve as volunteers during their work day. They will host a Mentoring Day on Iowa’s Capital Hill, which will allow local mentoring programs the opportunity to educate their legislators on local mentoring programs and to communicate a general understanding of the importance of mentoring. Organized in conjunction with Mentoring Day on the Hill, the first annual Excellence in Mentoring Awards will honor five outstanding Iowa mentors. Because this date corresponds with our Day on the Hill, they will work with their Provider Board to determine other appropriate activities designed to focus on Thank Your Mentor Day. They will create a National Mentoring Month Kit for distribution to local mentoring programs for use. The Iowa Mentoring Partnership will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Kansas Mentors
Ella Todd

Kansas Mentors have the following actions and events planned- a signed proclamation from the Governor’s Office; thank you letters from local champions available for partner programs to use in mentor recognition activities; press releases for statewide offices; planning events involving our local champions & social media technologies. Kansas Mentors will partner with television, radio, print and outdoor advertising media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Little Rock Arkansas Collaboration:
• Division of Volunteerism/Arkansas Service Commission (Jackie Stubblefield)
• Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, Inc. (Kim Hogue)
• Baxter County Juvenile Services- Mountain Home Arkansas (Paulette Hill)
• VIPs Project 67 Mentoring League (Myrtle Withers)
• North Little Rock Mayors Youth Council (Jan Scholl),

The City of Little Rock Arkansas is partnering with local nonprofits organizations to carry out various actions and events to honor National Mentoring Month. The Governor will issue a proclamation declaring January 2010 as National Mentoring Month. Goodwill Industries will use National Mentoring Month to recruit and train mentors for our Good Guides youth mentoring program. On Friday January 22nd, Baxter County Juvenile Alternative School students will host a mentor recognition luncheon. VIPs Project 67 Mentoring League will make an appearance on morning radio to spotlight youth and pastors who will promote mentoring; they will publish mentor tributes, hang banners on School District Administration Building during the month of January and sponsor a mentor fair after proclamation. The North Little Rock Mayors Youth Council will be hosting the 3rd annual Compass Awards program in January to honor mentors who have touched the lives of the council members. They will all partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Mass Mentoring Partnership
Ingrid Peters

Mass Mentoring Partnership will host events including a recognition event, on Thank Your Mentor Day, at state house recognizing key legislatures and advocating for increase line item funding for mentoring in the state budget; a youth mentoring forum sponsored by State Street Corporation; a conference call with MA Mentoring programs to discuss leveraging campaign; a production of online space where people can access templates for different forms of outreach; and other events will be announced.

Mentor Michigan
Elyse Walter, Communication Specialist

Mentor Michigan plans to facilitate statewide plans for the 2010 National Mentoring Month. Mentor Michigan will support local mentoring programs by providing mini-grants to offset the costs of recruitment, recognition, or celebration events; obtain an official proclamation from Governor Jennifer M. Granholm; publicize activities occurring across the state to local officials and media; and release results of our annual Mentor Michigan Census to inform residents of the value of mentoring in our state.

Mentoring Center of Central Ohio
Marilyn Pritchett, Director

Mentoring Center of Central Ohio will host a Mentor-Mentee Fun Day at Ohio State University as well as a Statehouse Mentoring Celebration and Thank Your Mentor Day. Mentoring Center of Central Ohio will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota
Mai-Anh Kapanke

In December, Minneapolis is launching a chapter of the Cares Movement campaign to capture recruitment content from the launch and distribute those to targeted media. In the past they have always done a statewide event to launch National Mentoring Month but this year they will raising sponsorship money to create resources, in addition to the ones provided to by Harvard, MENTOR and CNCS, to distribute to mentoring programs to enhance recruitment efforts. The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota will all partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania
Arlene Sparks

The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania will coordinate a Thank Your Mentor Day activity with local mentoring programs; host Comcast Mentoring Awareness Day; schedule recruitment presentations with local corporations; request proclamations from Mayor and County Council; schedule radio and television interviews; purchase 30 outdoor billboards to recruit mentors; pitch compelling mentor/mentee stories to local newspapers and magazines; as well as other media related efforts.

Mesa County Partners Program
Joe Higgins

On January 1, 2010 the Daily Sentinel will publish and distribute in the daily newspaper a four page insert about mentoring. The City and County will do proclamations in January. Moose Country and other radio stations will air ads “Change 2 Lives, Be a mentor.”

Mobius, The Mentoring Movement
Tracy MacLean Treadwell

Mobius, The Mentoring Movement will host a Thank Your Mentor breakfast and awards program and a special gym and movie day for mentor/mentee matches. They are seeking a statement from the Governor and others outreach/and public awareness opportunities.

Newark Mentoring Coalition
Rawaa Albilal, Acting Executive Director

Newark Mentoring Coalition will host a Kick Off Event and Mentor Recruitment Event, and create a press releases regarding the events.

Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence (OFE)
Jennifer Geren

Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence will produce a local television PSA featuring the winner of the 2010 Boren Mentoring Award. On January 21st, Thank Your Mentor Day, OFE will present the mentoring award winner with their award and recognize all nominated mentors at a special ceremony at the state capitol. Former Oklahoma Governor and U.S. Senator David Boren will present the award on behalf of OFE. As in past years, OFE will distribute National Mentoring Month press releases around the state and will encourage participation amongst our mentoring partners. OFE will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Oregon Mentors
Christina Mullin

Oregon Mentors will host the Wells Fargo Mentoring Night Celebration at Trail Blazer Game in January and the Cricket Wireless Check presentation at second TB Game. They will run PSAs, disseminate National Mentoring Month materials and Governor’s proclamation to mentoring programs.

RI Mentoring Partnership
Marc Mainville

RI Mentoring Partnership is planning two major events for the month. The first will be a social event to honor the mentor. The second event will be a State House press conference with state officials speaking in support of mentoring as well as the reading of a resolution in the state’s House and Senate chambers and certificates for program coordinators around the state.

RIMP NATIONAL MENTORING MONTH 2010
CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Saturday, January 9th, 2010
1PM-5PM
Celebrity Bartender Fundraiser
Flanagan’s Shannon View Inn, Warwick
RI Mentoring Partnership Board Member Peter Koch went behind the bar with RIMP staffers to serve some drinks in exchange for tips that went to the Partnership. The Partnership raised over $5,500 through the event, nearly doubling the previous record for similar events held at the venue.

Thursday, January 14th, 2010
3PM-5PM
Mentor Program Appreciation Event
State House, Providence, RI
RIMP visits the State House and takes part in a celebration/press conference with Governor Don Carcieri and State Lawmakers recognizing National Mentoring Month in Rhode Island, the success of mentoring in Rhode Island, and the hard work of the program coordinators from around the state. Each of our 50 partner programs will receive a citation from several different State Officials and members the Congressional Delegation, and the Governor will issue a proclamation recognizing Mentoring Month in Rhode Island.

Friday, January 15th, 2010
5:45 AM
Coffee Cup Salute
NBC 10 Sunrise Show
Local NBC affiliate holds a segment on its morning news program where the Anchor and the Meteorologist sitting at the newsdesk toast with coffee mugs bearing the logo of any given organization and briefly describe the reason why they are this morning’s Coffee Cup Salute. This day’s Coffee Cup Salute will feature RIMP.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
4:30PM-6:30PM
Call 10 and Mentor Pair Profile
NBC 10 News at 5PM, 5:30PM, & 6PM
Local NBC affiliate will show a profile of a mentoring pair, then encourage viewers to call into the studio to learn more about mentoring and how they can get involved. RIMP staffers will man the phones in studio for the duration of the station’s evening newscasts.

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
ALL DAY
THANK YOUR MENTOR DAY!

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
5PM-8PM
Mentoring Mingle (Mentor Appreciation Party)
Harbourside
East Greenwich, RI
While the State House event on the 14th focused on the programs and the good it has done for the state, this event will focus on thanking the mentors on Thank Your Mentor Day! The event will include food, a cash bar, music, and the chance for mentors from any of our partner programs from around the state to get together and feel as though they are important and part of a group of people doing an important thing, all while enjoying themselves. It will also serve as a recruitment event by waiving the small 5$ entry fee to anyone who brings a friend who is interested in becoming a mentor.

San Antonio Mentoring Forum-University of Texas at San Antonio
Belinda Saldana

The UTSA- San Antonio Mentoring Forum holds an Annual Mentor Recognition Luncheon each January. This event recognizes outstanding mentors and mentoring programs in several different categories. The event is also used to raise funds to support UTSA mentoring initiatives and scholarships. The San Antonio Mentoring Forum (SAMF) serves as an informal organization for mentoring organizations and advocates to share mentoring information, promote mentoring awareness, learn of mentoring best-practices and foster collaboration in the mentoring community. The forum focuses on one-to-one mentoring for youth in the Bexar County area.

Summit County Mountain Mentors
Sarah Provino

The Summit County Mountain Mentors will end thank you notes to each of our mentors; have a “Mentor Appreciation” night for all mentors in our program; attend county mixers to recruit with the materials given for National Mentoring Month; write an article for the local newspaper about National Mentoring Month; connect with local radio stations to promote our program and encourage people to apply to be mentors; and host a mentor/mentee activity to honor the matches.

United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Campaign for Mentors
Lynda Terrell

United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Campaign for Mentors is hosting a Mentoring Night with the 76’ers on January 8, 2010 for 150 youth and their mentors. On Saturday, January 16, 2010 the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center will host a Campaign for Mentors day at the museum. 200 youth and their mentors throughout the region will enjoy a day at the home of the nation’s largest collection of helicopters. Faith in Action Sunday will be on January 17, 2010, where faith institutions throughout the region are encouraged to be unified on this day by delivering sermons promoting the value of mentoring as a ministry and encouraging members to become mentors. On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, slots will be provided for company employees to have ninth grade students from Philadelphia public schools shadow them for a day. National PSA’s and artwork are typically made accessible to the Campaign for Mentors through Harvard School of Public Health and MENTOR - the National Mentoring Partnership. As in the past, WPVI-TV 6ABC will be their local media partner. Each year local mentor-mentee pairs representing programs in our Providers Network are made available for newspaper, radio and TV spots. In addition, promotional efforts and announcements will be listed in their What Matters weekly electronic newsletter which reaches over 8000 non-profits organizations, government agencies, business leaders and elected officials. UWSEPA has an ongoing mentoring hotline through which calls are received through a toll-free number. Lastly, they host a Mentor Training Institute, which trains potential mentors.

Utah Mentoring Partnership
Barbara Drake/Carol Hendrycks

Utah Mentoring Partnership will host a “Mocktail Mentoring Mixer” on January 22, 2010, Thank Your Mentor Day, for all UMP Partners, mentors, and mentees. Local media will cover the event and will also interview several featured mentor/mentee matches for feature stories which will run throughout the month of January. A social media campaign recognizing National Mentoring Month, UMP and local activity via UMP Twitter, FaceBook and a YouTube Channel will launch as an effort to raise awareness and inspire mentoring. In addition, UMP will encourage partner organizations to assist with cooperative public relations and general communications via their standard promoting vehicles such as website, newsletter and their social media tools.

Virginia Mentoring Partnership
Julie Philp

Virginia Mentoring Partnership’s annual awards event has historically served as a great opportunity to bring mentoring professionals, mentoring supporters, and advocates together for networking, education and a celebration of quality mentoring. Prior to National Mentoring Month, VMP staff reach out to influential business leaders as potential supporters of the January event and invites these corporate and foundation partners, media partners, community leaders, and mentoring program leads to attend the awards event. Since 2003, they have been honored to have the Honorable John W. Marshall, Former Governor Mark Warner, Governor Tim Kaine, Bill Milliken of Communities in Schools, Attorney General Bob McDonnell, and Jim Durkee speak at our recognition events. Virginia Mentoring Partnership will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, NV
Natalie Minev, AmeriCorps VISTA

The Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada plans to promote mentoring in Southern Nevada through increased partnerships with organizations that provide mentoring volunteer opportunities. Outreach to these organizations will begin in December so that opportunities can be posted for pools of volunteers in time for National Mentoring Month. Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada will partner with television, radio and print media to run PSAs and print advertisements to promote their efforts.

MentorsMatter collaboration c/o Volunteer Connection of Boulder County
Sue McCullough

The MentorsMatter collaboration will be holding a “Mentor Social” event in January 2010. This event will be a recruitment event and serve as an opportunity for prospective mentors to learn about local mentoring programs in their communities. The individual agencies with mentoring programs in the MentorsMatter collaboration will be holding separate recognition events to celebrate Thank Your Mentor Day. In addition, on behalf of the MentorsMatter collaboration in Boulder County, Volunteer Connection will request a proclamation from the Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County and one from the City of Boulder, Colorado.

Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona
Dorian Townsend

The Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona, in partnership with the Mentoring Partnership of Arizona and other local mentoring program will host many events throughout January. On January 18, 2010, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Volunteer Center will provide activities and service opportunities that will incorporate this year’s theme of mentoring. On January 20, 2010, they will host a Thank Your Mentor Day Recognition Event and on January 23, 2010 a Mentoring Community Forum will be held. To close out the month on January 29-30 they will host the Southern Arizona Mentoring Conference. This event will include panels for mentoring professionals, for mentors, and for the general community. Finally, throughout January, the Mentoring Partnership will participate in a number of tabling opportunities, will encourage media outlets to air both the national PSAs and the locally-produced PSAs and will place targeted print advertisements throughout Tucson and Phoenix.

Washington State Mentors
Janae Frisch

Washington State Mentors (WSM) National Mentoring Month campaign will aim to increase awareness about mentoring and the need for volunteers and in turn drive recruitment for our member organizations. WSM will continue its support of Guiding Lights Weekend (GLW) an experiential conference on the art of mentoring. GLW 2010 will convene policymakers, changemakers, social entrepreneurs, and frontline practitioners to generate new ideas and that serve our community. WSM will also work with the Governor and Lt. Governor’s Office to issue a 2010 proclamation in support of National Mentoring Month and further our advocacy efforts. WSM will distribute print/radio PSAs to statewide media contacts and member organizations. In addition, WSM will disseminate National Mentoring Month collateral to member organizations and businesses affiliates statewide.

Related Information:

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