As we usher in the new year, we also mark the beginning of National Mentoring Month—a time to celebrate the impactful relationships between mentors and mentees that contribute to personal and professional growth for young people across the country. This month presents the perfect opportunity for the BBBS Network to engage in advocacy efforts that will increase public support and funding for mentoring programs. By engaging with elected officials at all levels of government, agencies can amplify their impact, secure vital resources, and create a supportive environment for mentoring programs.

Here are some ways agencies can leverage National Mentoring Month in their advocacy efforts:

Raise Awareness:

Use National Mentoring Month as an opportunity to share success stories and testimonials that showcase the tangible benefits of your agency’s mentoring programs. Start by highlighting the positive impact of mentoring on individuals and communities through your social media and communications with external stakeholders, including elected officials.  

Leverage Data:

Incorporate BBBS data in your materials and communications to demonstrate the effectiveness of BBBS mentoring initiatives. Armed with compelling evidence from our YOS/SOR survey data, agencies can make the case to elected officials about the positive impact that mentoring has on the youth and families we serve. To access your agency's data via Power BI, click here.

Advocate for the Youth Mentoring Grant: 

Utilize the BBBSA Action Center to reach out to your members of Congress about the Youth Mentoring Grant, the only federal program dedicated to support mentoring initiatives nationwide. BBBSA has been awarded $60 million, which has supported 120 agencies nationwide and served 35k youth. It’s important to keep this program robustly funded through our advocacy efforts. 

Figure out your agency’s involvement in advocacy in 2024:

Now is a great time to figure out your agency’s level of advocacy involvement in the upcoming year. BBBSA has created several tools to help you determine your advocacy strategy, including the BBBSA Advocacy Activities guide and the Advocacy Calendar. Those, and other helpful resources, can be accessed on the Advocacy BBBS Connect page. 

National Mentoring Month serves as a reminder of the invaluable contributions mentors make to our communities. By engaging with elected officials, we can pave the way for increased resources, policy changes, and greater support for the youth we serve.

For additional advocacy resources to utilize during National Mentoring Month, our partners and friends at MENTOR have created a toolkit for engaging state and local officials this month. View the toolkit here.