[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 357 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 357

       Designating January 2006 as ``National Mentoring Month''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 27, 2006

Mr. McCain (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Akaka, Mr. DeWine, 
  Mr. Baucus, Mr. Cochran, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
 Lautenberg, Mr. Levin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Carper, Mr. Feingold, Ms. 
    Murkowski, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Nelson of 
 Florida, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Allen, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Lugar, 
Mr. Talent, and Mr. Dodd) submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
       Designating January 2006 as ``National Mentoring Month''.

Whereas youth mentoring is a centuries-old concept, through which an adult 
        provides guidance, support, and encouragement to help a young person 
        become a responsible and productive adult;
Whereas mentoring, when done well, helps young people stay in school and improve 
        academically, boosts self-esteem and communication skills, and improves 
        the chances of going on to higher education;
Whereas there are thousands of mentoring programs in communities of all sizes 
        across the United States, focused on building strong and effective 
        relationships between caring adults and young people who need positive 
        adult role models;
Whereas in spite of the great benefits mentoring provides, the United States has 
        a serious mentoring gap, with more than 15,000,000 young people 
        currently in need of caring adult role models;
Whereas the demand for mentoring far exceeds the current capacity of local 
        mentoring programs and the number of adults who currently volunteer as 
        mentors;
Whereas recent research conducted as part of the National Conversation on 
        Mentoring--Take II points to the need to generate significantly larger 
        numbers of volunteer mentors as one of the most critical issues facing 
        mentoring;
Whereas the designation of January 2006 as National Mentoring Month will focus 
        the Nation's attention on the essential role mentoring plays in the 
        lives of young people;
Whereas the month-long celebration of mentoring will encourage more 
        organizations, including schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, 
        faith institutions, foundations, and individuals to become engaged in 
        mentoring; and
Whereas National Mentoring Month will, most importantly, build awareness of 
        mentoring and recruit more individuals to become mentors, helping close 
        the Nation's mentoring gap: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) proclaims the month of January 2006 as the fifth annual 
        ``National Mentoring Month'';
            (2) recognizes that the President has issued a proclamation 
        calling upon 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 youth mentoring; and
            (3) recognizes with gratitude the contributions of the 
        millions of caring adults who are already serving as mentors 
        and encourages more adults to volunteer as mentors.
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