III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 728 

Designating January 2009 as ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 10, 2008 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. SPECTER, Mrs. 

LINCOLN, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. 

LAUTENBERG, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. BAYH, Mrs. CLINTON, Ms. COLLINS, 

Mr. LEVIN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. PRYOR, and Mr. ISAKSON) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

DECEMBER 11 (legislative day, DECEMBER 10), 2008 

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Designating January 2009 as ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’. 

Whereas mentoring is a longstanding tradition in which a dependable, caring adult provides guidance, support, and 

encouragement to facilitate a young person’s social, emotional, and cognitive development; 

Whereas continued research on mentoring shows that formal, 

high-quality mentoring focused on developing the competence and character of the mentee promotes positive 

outcomes, such as improved academic achievement, selfesteem, social skills, and career development; 


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Whereas further research on mentoring provides strong evidence that mentoring successfully reduces substance use 

and abuse, academic failure, and delinquency; 

Whereas mentoring, in addition to preparing young people for 

school, work, and life, is extremely rewarding for those 

serving as mentors; 

Whereas more than 4,200 mentoring programs in communities of all sizes across the United States focus on building strong, effective relationships between mentors and 

mentees; 

Whereas approximately 3,000,000 young people in the United 

States are in solid mentoring relationships due to the remarkable vigor, creativity, and resourcefulness of the 

thousands of mentoring programs in communities 

throughout the Nation; 

Whereas, in spite of the progress made to increase mentoring, 

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

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

Whereas mentoring partnerships between the public and private sectors bring State and local leaders together to support mentoring programs by preventing duplication of efforts, offering training in industry best practices, and 

making the most of limited resources to benefit young 

people in the United States; 

Whereas the designation of January 2009 as National Mentoring Month will help call attention to the critical role 

mentors play in helping young people realize their potential; 

Whereas a month-long celebration of mentoring will encourage more individuals and organizations, including schools, 

businesses, nonprofit organizations, faith institutions, 


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and foundations, to become engaged in mentoring across 

the United States; and 

Whereas National Mentoring Month will, most significantly, 

build awareness of mentoring and encourage more people 

to become mentors and help close the mentoring gap in 

the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) designates the month of January 2009 as 

3 ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’; 

4 (2) recognizes with gratitude the contributions 

5 of the millions of caring adults and students who are 

6 already volunteering as mentors and encourages 

7 more adults and students to volunteer as mentors; 

8 and 

9 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

10 to observe National Mentoring Month with appro11 priate ceremonies and activities that promote aware12 ness of, and volunteer involvement with, youth men13 toring. 

Æ 


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