HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 01-21-20 4-a - National Mentoring Month Proclamation 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: January 21, 2020
Action Agenda
Item No. 4-a
SUBJECT: National Mentoring Month Proclamation
DEPARTMENT: Board of Commissioners
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Proclamation Commissioner Renee Price, 245-2310
PURPOSE: To consider a proclamation designating January 2020 as National Mentoring
Month in Orange County.
BACKGROUND: National Mentoring Month is a campaign held each January to promote youth
mentoring in the United States. It was inaugurated in 2002, and has been spearheaded by the
Harvard School of Public Health and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.
National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how
individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits can
work together to increase the number of mentors to help ensure positive outcomes for young
people. The campaign celebrates mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives,
with goals to:
Raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms;
Recruit individuals to mentor, especially in programs that have waiting lists of young
people; and
Promote the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting organizations to engage their
constituents in mentoring.
Mentoring is a critical component in young people's lives, helping them make the decisions and
connections that lead to opportunity.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with consideration of the
proclamation.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: There is no Orange County Social Justice Goal impact associated
with consideration of the proclamation.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve and authorize
the Chair to sign the proclamation.
2
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
NATIONAL MENTORING MONTH
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the people of Orange County honor caring adult mentors who support
young people by showing up for them every day and demonstrating their commitment to
helping them thrive; and
WHEREAS, mentoring programs such as MENTOR North Carolina make our local
communities, our state and our nation stronger; and
WHEREAS, quality mentoring promotes healthy relationships and communication,
positive self-esteem and growth of a young person; and
WHEREAS, students who meet regularly with their mentors are more than fifty-two
percent [52%] less likely than their peers to skip a day of school, and youth who face an
opportunity gap and have a mentor are fifty-five percent [55%] more likely to be enrolled
in college than those who had no mentor; and
WHEREAS, youth who regularly meet with their mentors are forty-six percent [46%] less
likely than their peers to start using drugs and twenty-seven percent [27%] less likely to
start drinking alcoholic beverages; and
WHEREAS, two-thirds of adults consider it highly important for young people to have
mentors, and that same population estimates that only a quarter of youth have the
mentors they need; and
WHEREAS, research shows that forty-four percent [44%] of adults not yet mentoring
are willing to consider mentoring, and that mentoring is poised for growth; and
WHEREAS, almost half of young adults today report having a mentor in their youth and
those rates appear to have been rising steadily over the past several decades; and
WHEREAS, National Mentoring Month is the time of year where engagement from
community members interested in becoming a mentor is highest;
NOW, THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners does hereby
proclaim January 2020 as National Mentoring Month in Orange County, and
encourages all residents to take this opportunity to celebrate, elevate and encourage
mentoring in communities across the county.
This the 21S` day of January 2020.
Penny Rich, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners