S. RES. 529 - Recognizing January 2024 as ‘‘National Mentoring Month’’

Summary:

This bill acknowledges the significance of mentoring relationships and aims to raise awareness, recruit new mentors, and encourage institutions to integrate quality mentoring into their policies, practices, and programs. It emphasizes the positive impact of mentoring on individuals' life and social skills, self-esteem, academic achievement, career exploration, and youth leadership development.

Main Points:

Mentoring can happen in various settings, such as community-based programs, schools, colleges, government agencies, religious institutions, and workplaces. It can be formal or informal.
Quality mentoring helps underserved and vulnerable populations by improving their mental health and social-emotional well-being.
Incorporating culture and heritage into mentoring programs can enhance academic outcomes and community engagement, especially for Alaska Native and American Indian youth.
Mentoring encourages positive youth development, daily behaviors, and career goal-setting. It also helps connect mentees to industry professionals for training and job opportunities.
Mentoring programs have a significant positive impact on academic achievement, school connectedness, educational success, attendance, grades, test scores, and classroom behavior.
Youth with mentors have a lower risk of not completing high school, are more likely to enroll in college, participate in sports or extracurricular activities, hold leadership positions, volunteer regularly, and are less likely to start using drugs.
Mentoring plays a crucial role in juvenile justice and violence prevention efforts.
Mentoring relationships benefit youth facing risk, such as foster youth, across various factors like mental health, education, peer relationships, employment, and housing stability.
Mentoring has a positive impact on mental health symptoms, interpersonal relationships, and reducing parental stress.
Mentoring is an evidence-based practice that supports young people of all demographics and backgrounds in all aspects of their lives.
Mentoring connects youth to economic and social opportunities and strengthens communities.
Despite the benefits, many young people in the United States lack a mentor, highlighting the need for collaboration between private, public, and nonprofit sectors to increase support for relationship-centric mentoring programs in communities, schools, and workplaces.

Resolution:

The Senate:

Recognizes January 2024 as 'National Mentoring Month'.
Acknowledges the adults who serve as staff and volunteers at quality mentoring programs.
Recognizes the benefits of mentoring in supporting educational achievement, engagement, self-confidence, career goals, social capital, reducing juvenile delinquency, and strengthening communities.
Promotes the establishment and expansion of quality mentoring programs across the United States.
Supports initiatives to close the 'mentoring gap' and ensure that young people have meaningful connections with adults outside the home.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen

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