III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 61 

Designating January 2007 as ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2007 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. BOND, Mr. BURR, 

Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARPER, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. DODD, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. DURBIN, 

Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. KERRY, Ms. LANDRIEU, 

Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. SANDERS, 

Mr. REID, and Mr. SPECTER) submitted the following resolution; which 

was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Designating January 2007 as ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’. 

Whereas mentoring is a long-standing tradition with modern 

applications in which an adult provides guidance, support, and encouragement to help with a young person’s 

social, emotional, and cognitive development; 

Whereas research provides strong evidence that mentoring 

can promote positive outcomes for young people, such as 

an increased sense of industry and competency, a boost 

in academic performance and self-esteem, and improved 

social and communications skills; 

Whereas studies of mentoring further show that a quality 

mentoring relationship successfully reduces the incidence 


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•SRES 61 ATS 

of risky behaviors, delinquency, absenteeism, and academic failure; 

Whereas mentoring is a frequently used term and a well-accepted practice in many sectors of our society; 

Whereas thanks to the remarkable creativity, vigor, and resourcefulness of the thousands of mentoring programs 

and millions of volunteer mentors in communities 

throughout the Nation, quality mentoring has grown dramatically in the past 15 years, and there are now 

3,000,000 young people in the United States who are 

being mentored; 

Whereas in spite of the strides made in the mentoring field, 

the Nation has a serious ‘‘mentoring gap,’’ with nearly 

15,000,000 young people currently in need of mentors; 

Whereas a recent study confirmed that one of the most critical challenges that mentoring programs face is recruiting 

enough mentors to help close the mentoring gap; 

Whereas the designation of January 2007 as National Mentoring Month will help call attention to the critical role 

mentors play in helping young people realize their potential; 

Whereas the month-long celebration of mentoring will encourage more organizations across the Nation, including 

schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations and faith institutions, foundations, and individuals to become engaged in mentoring; 

Whereas National Mentoring Month will, most importantly, 

build awareness of mentoring and encourage more individuals to become mentors, helping close the Nation’s 

mentoring gap; and 


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Whereas the President has issued a proclamation declaring 

January 2007 to be National Mentoring Month and calling on the people of the United States to recognize the 

importance of mentoring, to look for opportunities to 

serve as mentors in their communities, and to observe the 

month with appropriate activities and programs: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) designates the month of January 2007 as 

3 ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’; 

4 (2) recognizes with gratitude the contributions 

5 of the millions of caring adults who are already serv6 ing as mentors and encourages more adults to volun7 teer as mentors; and 

8 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

9 to observe the month with appropriate ceremonies 

10 and activities that promote awareness of, and volun11 teer involvement with, youth mentoring. 

Æ 


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