The beginning of a new year often inspires people to set new goals and begin new projects.

January is National Mentoring Month, an effort to raise awareness about the positive effects mentoring has on children and teens.

The Harvard Mentoring Project launched the mentoring month program with aid from a coalition of business leaders, government officials and professionals in the mentoring field. Iowa is taking part in the project, which has been taken to a local level across the nation.

Jane Acker, coordinator for the National Mentoring Partnership in Story County, said the county will play a very active role in running mentoring programs.

“We have a big variety of mentoring programs,” Acker said.

Barry Spear, leadership chairman for the Iowa Mentoring Partnership, attributed Iowa’s involvement to the “vision and foresight of Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson and the Office of Drug Control Policy.”

“When you look at youth and [their] importance, you realize that mentoring is the most effective means of intervention and prevention,” Spear said.

National Mentoring Month publicity includes the release of a new mentoring postage stamp, features on the “Today” show and television advertisements, Acker said.

Mentoring is not just an individual effort, Spear said. His job involves visiting corporations around Iowa and encouraging them to get their employees involved in mentoring programs.

“I will be asking other corporate leaders to join me in learning and getting involved in mentoring . [I hope] to attract 50 companies in the first year,” Spear said.

Another goal, he said, is to attract about 50,000 youth to understand the value of mentoring over the span of five years.

Judy Dolphin, executive director of the Ames/ISU YWCA, said ISU students are an important resource for mentoring programs. Dolphin helped implement an all-female mentoring program, which consists of 12 mentor/mentee pairs in Ames and nine in Nevada. The mentors are female ISU students, while the mentees are seventh-grade girls, she said.

“Besides having a good time, the girls have really developed confidence that they can have broader horizons,” Dolphin said. “These girls can work with somebody who’s not their teacher or mom, but someone who is `cool.’ “

The mentors provide the girls with support in knowing they can survive seventh grade, Dolphin said. The mentors also gain experience, she said. The two coordinators for the program are both undergraduate ISU students, Dolphin said.

“[National Mentoring Month] is about thanking your mentor, trying to raise awareness of mentoring and recruiting some mentors as well,” Acker said. “Many of these [mentoring] programs rely very heavily on ISU students. These are incredible young people who help our community. They are very busy but are still generous with their time.”