Celebrated each year throughout the month of January, National Mentoring Month helps raise awareness about the essential role mentors play in children’s, teens’ and young adults’ lives.

A mentor could be anyone—a supervisor, a fellow peer, a neighbor or friend, a professor or a teacher. But what truly makes someone a mentor is the experience and knowledge they bring to the table as well as their willingness to take initiative, support your growth and help you succeed. The value of someone effectively communicating, giving honest, constructive feedback and helping an individual navigate through life cannot be understated. That is why each year in January, we celebrate youth mentors, encourage others to become youth mentors and promote helpful mentoring in schools, universities, workplaces and communities nationwide.

Stemming from the Harvard Mentoring Project established in 1997, National Mentoring Month was officially launched in January of 2002 by former President George W. Bush. The initiative sought to address the growing need for mentoring across a wide range of financial and educational backgrounds.

As a father of two children, ensuring my son and daughter and others throughout our state are given the best chance to succeed in whatever field they choose to pursue is a passion of mine. As your assemblyman, I have always been dedicated to providing parents and school districts with the necessary resources and tools needed for their students to receive the best educational opportunities possible. Whether a student is interested in a skilled trade or a profession, every student should have access to a mentor to help guide them through life.

This month, I encourage every parent and/or guardian of a young individual to look into local mentoring programs and opportunities. The Web site has a wide range of resources and information for those in need of mentoring or prospective mentors who wish to share their knowledge.

The New York State Mentoring Program is a school-based one-to-one mentoring program available to youth statewide. This program recruits and trains volunteer mentors and matches them to children and teens in their communities (https://ccf.ny.gov/nys-mentoring-program/). 

And, right here in our 98th Assembly District, there are also youth mentoring programs and opportunities available, including:

• The Big Brother Big Sisters of Rockland County (BBBS), which provides one-on-one mentoring for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds;
• Bravehearts M.O.V.E. New York in Rockland County, which offers mentoring for youth to foster skills for independent living, housing, education and emotional well-being;
• Orange/Ulster BOCES, which provides educational support to youth and connects parents with other youth programs (https://www.ouboces.org/);
• Budo Accelerator in Orange County, which is a youth mentoring program that combines martial arts training with life and leadership skills; and 
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County, which offers youth mentoring and trauma-informed support (https://www.orangecountygov.com/2516/Positive-Youth-Development-Resources).