[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 294 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 294

       Designating January 2004 as ``National Mentoring Month''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 28, 2004

Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Allen, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Pryor, 
Mr. Kerry, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Dayton, Ms. Mikulski, 
Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Cochran) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
       Designating January 2004 as ``National Mentoring Month''.

Whereas mentoring is a strategy for motivating and helping young people succeed 
        in life, by bringing them together in structured and trusting 
        relationships with caring adults who provide guidance, support, and 
        encouragement;
 Whereas mentoring offers a supportive environment in which young people can 
        grow, expand their vision, learn necessary skills, and achieve a future 
        that the young people never thought possible;
 Whereas a growing body of research shows that mentoring benefits young people 
        in numerous ways, through improvements in school performance and 
        attendance, self-confidence, attitudes and relationships with adults, 
        and motivation to reach their potential;
 Whereas mentoring is an adaptable, flexible approach that can be tailored to 
        focus on helping young people with academics, social skills, career 
        preparation, or leadership development;
 Whereas over 15,000,000 young people in this Nation still need mentors, falling 
        into a ``mentoring gap'';
 Whereas mentoring relies principally on volunteer mentors, so mentoring 
        programs must recruit even more volunteers in order to expand their 
        program to help more young people;
Whereas, in an effort to begin closing the mentoring gap, this year Congress has 
        significantly increased Federal grant funding for local mentoring 
        organizations to $100,000,000;
 Whereas the recipients of these grants and other entities carrying out 
        mentoring programs all across the country will need an influx of 
        volunteers to meet the growing demand for mentoring;
 Whereas nonprofit groups and leading media companies have joined together to 
        designate January 2004 as National Mentoring Month to recruit more 
        mentors for young people; and
Whereas the month-long celebration of mentoring will encourage more adults to 
        volunteer their time as mentors for young people and enlist the 
        involvement of nonprofit organizations, schools, businesses, faith 
        communities, and government agencies in the mentoring movement: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1)(A) designates the month of January 2004 as ``National 
        Mentoring Month''; and
            (B) requests that the President issue a proclamation 
        calling on the people of the United States and interested 
        groups to observe the month with appropriate ceremonies and 
        activities that promote awareness of and volunteer involvement 
        with mentoring;
            (2) praises individuals who are already giving their time 
        to mentor young people; and
            (3) supports efforts to recruit more adults as mentors, in 
        an effort to close the Nation's mentoring gap.
                                 <all>