OFE News Release
Foundation Marks National Mentoring Month by Promoting Mentoring Opportunities Statewide
January 3, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is celebrating National Mentoring Month in January by encouraging Oklahomans to make a difference in a child’s life by becoming a volunteer mentor. The theme for the 2010 national Mentoring Month is “Expand Your Universe: Mentor a Child.”
Through its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative, the foundation administers a Web site at www.okmentors.org with a statewide directory of more than 70 mentoring opportunities. Prospective volunteers can log on to the Web site or call (405) 410-1523 to learn about mentoring opportunities in their community. In the Tulsa area, prospective volunteers can also call the City of Tulsa Helpline at 211 to learn about mentoring opportunities.
“During Mentoring Month, we want to raise awareness of the need for mentors in our state and encourage Oklahomans to volunteer just one hour a week to make a difference in the life of a child,” said Jennifer Geren, director of the Boren Mentoring Initiative. “Research demonstrates that mentoring helps children increase self confidence, strengthen their relationships with others, improve academic performance and make healthier choices.”
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has been designated as Oklahoma’s official lead organization for National Mentoring Month by the Harvard Mentoring Project. This year, the foundation will present its second annual David and Molly Boren Mentoring Award to recognize an outstanding Oklahoma mentor. The winner, Henry Wallace of Hugo, will be recognized during national Thank Your Mentor Day, Jan. 21, at the State Capitol.
As part of its efforts to promote Mentoring Month, the Foundation for Excellence is partnering with Cox Communications to broadcast television commercials featuring Wallace, who is a volunteer with the Little Dixie Passport to the Future Mentoring Program. The foundation is also distributing print and radio public service announcements statewide.
Geren said Mentoring Month is also a time to recognize the many volunteers, schools, churches and community organizations that are working together to provide a brighter future for many Oklahoma children. Oklahoma mentoring organizations are being encouraged to celebrate “Thank Your Mentor Day” on Jan. 21 by sending thank-you cards to or hosting events to recognize volunteers.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 by then-U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools. In 2005, the foundation launched the Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and development of school-based mentoring statewide. The initiative grew out of Boren’s own commitment to mentoring and the proven impact that mentoring can play on a student’s success in and out of the classroom.
“Think what would happen if all children in Oklahoma had mentors – someone to spend time with them, to tutor them, to love them,” Boren said. “Think how it would transform this state. It would be truly revolutionary!”
Through the mentoring initiative, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is working with mentoring organizations, schools, local education foundations and businesses to promote mentoring as a positive step toward academic excellence. The foundation is also providing training, marketing and networking opportunities for new and established mentoring programs, and encouraging programs to follow established standards for safe and effective practice.
In 2009, the foundation held mentoring roundtable discussions on effective school-based mentoring in Elk City, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The foundation has also held workshops for businesses on how to start a corporate mentoring program.
“We want to encourage Oklahoma businesses to support mentoring by partnering with neighborhood schools and allowing employees one hour a week to volunteer as mentors or tutors,” Geren said. “Not only is corporate mentoring good for the community, but it has also been shown to actually increase employee productivity and teamwork.”
In addition to providing support for mentoring programs across the state, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence sponsors its own mentoring program, which matches Academic All-State alumni with elementary students in Oklahoma City, Norman, Tulsa, Stillwater and Weatherford.
“Through our All-State alumni mentoring program, we have seen the powerful impact that mentoring can have on the volunteer as well as the child,” Geren said. “Volunteers enjoy mentoring because it gives them a chance to share important life lessons and to be a valued friend to a child who needs them.”
During Mentoring Month, Geren will be available to speak to groups and media about the Boren Mentoring Initiative and ways that citizens can support mentoring in their communities. For more information, contact Jennifer Geren at (405) 410-1523 or visit the Boren Mentoring Initiative Web site at www.okmentors.org.