At 33, he was pressing the case of civil rights with President John Kennedy. At 34, he galvanized the nation with his “I Have a Dream” speech. At 35, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. At 39, he was assassinated, but he left a legacy of hope and inspiration that continues today.

This Web site, first created by The Seattle Times in 1996, contains the story of a remarkable man, images of a tumultuous time, and perspectives of politicians, academics, students and the many, ordinary citizens whose lives he touched. We invite you to explore it.

Created in 2002 by the Harvard School of Public Health and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how each of us—individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits—can work together to increase the number of mentors to assure brighter futures for our young people.

10 Things You Can Do This January

1. Become a mentor in your community.
2. Learn more about mentoring.
3. Partner with a mentoring organization.
4. Join “I Am a Mentor” Day.
5. Think about the mentors in your life and post a tribute to them online.
6. Read the latest research and find resources on mentoring.
7. Serve your community on MLK Day of Service by deciding to become a mentor.
8. Make a donation to a mentoring organization in your community.
9. Go to YouTube on Thank Your Mentor Day™ (January 26) and make the National Mentoring Month videos the most popular of the day.
10. Explore ways to help children succeed academically through mentoring.

For more information on National Mentoring Month visit: www.nationalmentoringmonth.org.

November is National Adoption Month, a month set aside each year to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care. This year’s National Adoption Month initiative targets adoption professionals by focusing on ways to recruit and retain parents for the 107,000 children and youth in foster care waiting for adoptive families. The National Adoption Month poster (PDF – 2,796 KB) notes strategies adoption professionals can implement any day, week, or month to benefit children waiting for families. The Spanish National Adoption Month poster (PDF – 2,494 KB) also provides suggestions for working with Spanish-speaking families throughout the year.

The 2011 theme for National Adoption Month is Build Capacity to Make Lasting Change. The National Adoption Month initiative supports the national adoption recruitment campaign and public service announcements produced in partnership with the Ad Council, AdoptUSKids, and the Children’s Bureau. This year’s campaign is targeted toward the recruitment of families for preteens (8-12 year olds).

The first major effort to promote awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in foster care occurred in Massachusetts in 1976, when Governor Michael Dukakis announced an Adoption Week. The idea grew in popularity and spread nationwide. In 1984, President Reagan proclaimed the first National Adoption Week, and in 1995, under President Clinton, the week was expanded to the entire month of November.

Every November, a Presidential Proclamation launches activities and celebrations to help build awareness of adoption throughout the nation. Thousands of community organizations arrange and host programs, events, and activities to share positive adoption stories, challenge the myths, and draw attention to the thousands of children in foster care who are waiting for permanent families.

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There are almost 19 million veterans in America today, but with over 1,100 war veterans dying each day, there is an urgent need to collect their personal accounts of their war time experiences while they are still among us. There are valuable lessons to be learned and these should be collected by the nation’s library, The Library of Congress. You can help create this historical record by contributing a story or interviewing someone yourself. Capture the oral history of a veteran in your family or community.

The Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project has provided this tipsheet on how to capture veterans’ oral histories on video and audiotape and submitting them to the Project.

The goal of the Veterans History Project is to collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. Please go here to learn how you can participate.

I believe in giving back. I believe that it is incumbent upon those of us who are more fortunate to give back to others, even strangers, all the good things we have received in life. It is our responsibility to volunteer our time, talents and resources for the benefit of others.

There are many reasons why volunteering is beneficial to all involved. When we volunteer our time for a good cause that we are impassioned about, we reap rewards far beyond our efforts. Many people become involved in volunteer activities because of our children, our families, our friends or co-workers. Because of these connections, volunteerism often takes the form of coaching sporting activities, leading Scouting troops, teaching Sunday school, or acting as class mom. These are all necessary and vital endeavors. But there is more.

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The selection of Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, announced Tuesday, is also a statement about the growing influence of women in the top tiers of the technology world.

Two of the biggest technology companies will have female leaders when Rometty’s appointment takes effect Jan. 1. Last month, Hewlett-Packard Co. named Meg Whitman, former eBay Inc. chief and candidate for California governor, as its CEO.

Their appointments are “setting a fabulous example” in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed IBM and HP closely for years.

Read the rest of the article at businessweek.com.

“I am pleased NCSHA recognized Virginia’s work in developing a statewide housing policy framework beginning with the work of the Virginia Housing Commission to build broad bipartisan consensus on our Housing Guiding Principles,” said Governor McDonnell. “My administration has put together a broad group of housing professionals, including for-profit, non-profit and governmental representatives, to expand these principles into the state’s first housing policy framework so that my cabinet secretaries and their agencies can better address Virginia’s critical housing needs.”

The NCSHA award recognizes agencies demonstrating the most efficient, effective, and creative use of resources to achieve state policy objectives. Virginia’s housing policy initiative won for showing that state policymaking can effectively link the executive and legislative branches of government with stakeholder groups to reach consensus on desired housing outcomes, while forging strong coalitions to address Virginia’s housing needs well into the future.

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NDEAM’s roots go back to 1945, when Congress enacted a law declaring the first week in October each year “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.” In 1962, the word “physically” was removed to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to “National Disability Employment Awareness Month.” Upon the agency’s establishment in 2001, ODEP assumed responsibility for NDEAM and has worked to expand its reach and scope ever since.

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Disaster prevention includes modifying your home to strengthen it against storms so that you can be as safe as possible. It also includes having the supplies on hand to weather the storm. The suggestions provided here are only guides. You should use common sense in your disaster prevention.

• DEVELOP A FAMILY PLAN – Your family’s plan should be based on your vulnerability to the Hurricane Hazards. You should keep a written plan and share your plan with other friends or family.
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• CREATE A DISASTER SUPPLY KIT – There are certain items you need to have regardless of where you ride out a hurricane. The disaster supply kit is a useful tool when you evacuate as well as making you as safe as possible in your home.
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• SECURE YOUR HOME – There are things that you can do to make your home more secure and able to withstand stronger storms.
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• ONLINE VULNERABILITY INFO – There are web sites that can give you information about your communities vulnerability to specific hazards. These include hurricanes as well as other weather related hazards.
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Visit the National Hurricane Center Disaster Preparedness Webpage

The Clovis Unified School District (CA) first considered creating a full-time online school about four years ago. Clovis Unified is known as a high-performing district, but it was losing 200 to 400 students a year. In a district with a total enrollment of nearly 38,000, those numbers don’t seem so bad, but officials realized only about half of those students were dropouts; the rest were opt-outs.

“What we saw in those statistics was that our students have real alternatives to what our traditional schools have to offer,” says Rob Darrow, principal of the district’s two-year-old virtual charter school. “Most K-12 school districts know that they’re losing kids who are going to other programs to get their needs met, and they know that they’re going to have to offer some kind of online program to meet those needs if they’re going to survive.”

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