Children’s Friend and Family Services Marks National Mentoring Month

This January our country will celebrate the 13th annual National Mentoring Month, and Chilidren’s Friend and Family Services is participating in this campaign aimed at expanding quality mentoring programs to connect more of our community’s young people with caring adults.

“We are once again proud to be part of National Mentoring Month and look forward to raising awareness of our Youth Mentoring program through activities and initiatives throughout January,” says Carla M. Saccone, Children’s Friend and Family President and CEO. Research has shown that when matched through a quality mentoring program, mentors can play a powerful role in providing young people with the tools to make responsible decisions, stay focused and engaged in school, and reduce or avoid risky behavior like skipping school, drug use and other negative activities. Quality mentoring relationships lead to a significant increase in a young person’s prospects for leading a healthy and productive life, strengthening families and, ultimately, our community. All of these factors are encompassed in the theme Mentoring Works!

As we focus on engaging more community members in volunteering as mentors, we will share a simple message: Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters. Mentoring relationships are basic human connections that let a young person know that they matter, and mentors frequently report back that their relationships make them feel like someone who matters in another person’s life.

Children’s Friend and Family Services is celebrating the month with an array of activities and initiatives including:

January 9, 2014  –YMCA YOGA night for the Matches, Salem YMCA 

January 14, 2014- Mass Mentoring Summit in Boston at State Street. McCue Foundation has been nominated for a Mentoring award.

January 16- Mayors for Mentoring  Kick Off with Salem Mayor Driscoll. 

January 23- Youth Mentoring Day at the State House with Mass Mentoring Partnership. 

January 30- Winter 2014 Youth Mentoring Program Newsletter will be launched.

National Mentoring Month is led by MENTOR: the National Mentoring Partnership, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and United Way Worldwide. Each year since its launch in 2002, National Mentoring Month has enjoyed the strong support of the president and the United States Congress. Other prominent individuals who have participated in the campaign include: Maya Angelou, former President Bill Clinton, Clint Eastwood, Quincy Jones, Cal Ripken Jr., Bill Russell and Usher.

To learn more about the role mentoring plays in our community and to find volunteer opportunities, call Samantha Alves, Director of Youth Mentoring at 978-219-1528 or visit childrensfriend.net.