Introducing The January MTB Cause Of The Month: Mentoring

As the new year rolls around, we turn our attention to a new cause. January is National Mentoring Month, launched in 2002, by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, with support from the President of the United States. Other well-known supporters include Clint Eastwood, Senator John McCain, General Colin L. Powell, and Cal Ripken, Jr. We will be encouraging mentors everywhere to get out on the water and teach someone to fish during the entire month!

Teaching a young person, or any person for that matter, to fish is an important part of sustaining our sport. Mentors everywhere can teach a child to fish with nothing more than a rod, reel, worm, and pond! Some of the amazing mentor programs we will be supporting this month are:

Mentoring.orgNetwork For GoodBoys and Girls Club of Chicago

These organizations do an amazing job of mentoring and keeping at-risk youth off the streets and out of trouble through many different programs. This month we are encouraging them, and all of you, to mentor through the sport of fishing. Teach someone to fish, reconnect someone with fishing, or find a young person who loves fishing and needs a co-angler!Those of you who are able, please go get out on the water with a young person and do some mentoring!Mentoring, whether formally or informally, is a critical component in young people’s lives. Helping them make decisions that lead to improved opportunities and connections, which has an impact in real life. Social media activism can raise awareness for important issues, but mentoring delivers real-life impact to those who need it, changing lives for the better.Here are a few ways mentoring can change the life of a youth for the better:

• With a Mentor, youths are 52% LESS likely to skip a day of school
• Are 55% MORE likely to go to college
• 46% LESS likely to start using drugs
• And 81% MORE likely to participate in extracurricular activities