[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 29 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                      January 22, 2007.
Whereas mentoring is a longstanding concept in which a dependable adult provides 
        guidance, support, and encouragement to facilitate a young person's 
        social, emotional, and cognitive development;
Whereas high-quality mentoring promotes positive outcomes for young people, 
        including an increased sense of industry and competency, a boost in 
        academic performance and self-esteem, and improved social and 
        communications skills;
Whereas research on mentoring shows that participation in a high-quality 
        mentoring relationship successfully reduces the incidence of risky 
        behavior, delinquency, absenteeism, and academic failure in young 
        people;
Whereas mentoring, in addition to being beneficial for those being mentored, is 
        also extremely rewarding for those serving as mentors;
Whereas quality programs that encourage young people to learn about mentoring 
        and to become mentors, such as programs that recruit high school 
        students to mentor younger children, are important and have the 
        potential to create high-quality mentors at an early age;
Whereas mentoring relationships have grown dramatically in the past 15 years, 
        now reaching 3 million young Americans, because of the remarkable 
        creativity, vigor, and resourcefulness of the thousands of mentoring 
        programs and millions of volunteer mentors in communities throughout the 
        Nation;
Whereas, in spite of the progress made to increase mentoring, our Nation has a 
        serious ``mentoring gap,'' with nearly 15 million 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 in December 2006, the President designated January 2007 as National 
        Mentoring Month to 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 individuals 
        and organizations, including schools, businesses, nonprofit 
        organizations, faith institutions, and foundations, to become engaged in 
        mentoring across our Nation; and
Whereas National Mentoring Month will build awareness of mentoring and recruit 
        more individuals to become mentors, thus helping close our Nation's 
        mentoring gap: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
                    (1) supports the goals and ideals of National Mentoring 
                Month;
                    (2) acknowledges the diligent efforts of individuals and 
                groups who promote mentoring and who are observing National 
                Mentoring Month with appropriate ceremonies and activities to 
                further promote awareness of and volunteer involvement with 
                youth mentoring;
                    (3) recognizes with gratitude the contributions of the 
                millions of caring adults and students who are already 
                volunteering as mentors; and
                    (4) encourages more adults and students to volunteer as 
                mentors.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.