Executive Order  No. 423: The Governor's Task Force on Youth Mentoring

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is committed to advancing the best interests and improving the quality of life for all young people in the Commonwealth;

WHEREAS, today's young people face challenges that can be more easily overcome with the guidance of a caring, consistent and responsible adult mentor, and positive mentoring relationships have long been recognized as a valuable tool for empowering young people and developing future leaders;

WHEREAS, mentors are a source of significant support - social and academic - to youths as they progress through school and seek to realize their full potential;

WHEREAS, we are committed to achieving the final goal of the October 1997 Massachusetts Summit: "The Promise of Our Youth" to recruit 50,000 new mentors to provide guidance and support to the Commonwealth's youths;

WHEREAS, there is a need within the Executive Branch to integrate and coordinate understanding and strategy for the provision of effective mentoring to youth throughout the Commonwealth;

NOW THEREFORE, I, Argeo Paul Cellucci, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby order as follows:

Section 1. There is hereby established an inter-agency task force, to be called the Governor's Task Force on Youth Mentoring (the "Task Force"). It shall be the responsibility of the Task Force to make recommendations to the Governor as to how public funding of programs targeting youths should be restructured or enhanced to best meet the Commonwealth's need for effective, positive mentoring services. To that end, the Task Force shall:

• Identify current expenditures of public funds by state agencies for the provision of services targeting youth in the Commonwealth;
• Evaluate those publicly funded services using research-based measures from both the public and private sectors;
• Consider new policy initiatives or the restructuring of current programs to reinforce, strengthen, and/or enhance existing mentoring services;
• Issue a written report to the Governor summarizing its findings and recommendations.

Section 2. The Task Force shall be chaired by the Personnel Administrator of the Human Resources Division, or his designee and shall consist of no less than seven (7) members. The Task Force members shall include the Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, or his designee; the Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, or her designee; the Director of the Department of Economic Development, or her designee; the Director of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, or his designee; the Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety, or her designee; and the Commissioner of the Department of Education, or his designee.

Section 3. The Task Force shall meet at such times and at such intervals as the Chairman shall determine, provided that it issues its written report of findings and recommendations to the Governor within ninety (90) days of this Executive Order.

Section 4. The head of each secretariat, state agency, department, board, commission, or other body within the Executive Branch shall issue a notice to all state employees under his or her supervision to raise awareness of Executive Order 343 and the existing Commonwealth of Massachusetts Mentoring Program, which encourage all state employees within the Executive Branch to voluntarily contribute their time and talents on behalf of the academic achievement and mentoring of the Commonwealth's youth. That notice shall remind such state employees that they may provide voluntary services for up to one day per month without the loss of salary, in accordance with established policies and procedures. It is further the responsibility of the head of each secretariat, state agency, department, board, commission, or other body within the Executive Branch to implement any recommendation of the Task Force adopted by the Governor.

The Personnel Administrator of the Human Resources Division shall develop and establish a process to assess each agency's success in engaging its employees in these mentoring/volunteer activities and to ensure that innovative efforts and extraordinary commitment by any agency or individuals are recognized and promoted statewide.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston the 21st day of November in the year two thousand.

Argeo Paul Cellucci

Governor

William Francis Galvin

Secretary of State