Next Tutor/Mentor eNews coming. Share with your Network

I've been writing articles on this blog since 2005 and before that used email newsletters, print newsletters and bi-annual conferences held in Chicago to connect people who want to help all kids move through school and into adult lives, with ideas and each other.

I'm actively sharing ideas every day on Twitter, Facebook and Linked in, but only send my email newsletter once a month. It's loaded with information so I encourage people to bookmark it and bring it up frequently as a support for the work each of you do to build and sustain needed programs that reach kids and families in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other cities.

I post a link to the newsletters in this archive so you can refer to past issues. 

Between 1994 and 2002 I sent a print newsletter three times a year. While my mailing list started with about 400 people in 1993 it grew to about 12,000 people by 1998-99. That meant I was reliably putting this into the hands of one or two people at every Chicago tutor/mentor program on my list, as well as a large number of people in foundations, business, Chicago universities, libraries, schools and Chicago politics.

It was also reaching a large number of people in other cities and states.

When financial circumstances forced us to stop sending the printed newsletter in 2002 we created an email version, but the list of people receiving that never was the same as the print newsletter list. As spam became an issue it became more and more difficult to simply add people to the email list.

You needed to subscribe. That meant we were reaching fewer and fewer people in different tutor/mentor programs, and the ecosystem of people who need to be actively involved in supporting programs in every neighborhood.

That's where we stand today. Thus, if you are connected to leaders of any of Chicago's tutor/mentor programs, foundations, businesses, political groups, etc. , encourage them to visit the archives to see what I include in the newsletter...

....then subscribe, using this form.

At the same time I urge you to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Linked in and actively share ideas about what's happening in different Chicago area and national tutor/mentor programs, as well as what challenges you face that limit your ability to do everything you feel needs to be done.

After nearly 10 years on social media I think Twitter offers the greatest potential for interaction. If you're not sure of how to get involved, there's a New Teachers to Twitter (#nt2t) chat every Saturday morning from 8am to 9am that you can follow, and join in on as you become confortable with the platform.

Or you can visit this cMap where I show some of the Twitter chats I follow. Click the link to go to each chat, then scroll through the latest posts to see who's posting comments and what they are sharing.

While you cannot solve the challenges you, your students and your organization face, by yourself, we all might make a difference if we were connecting more frequently in our efforts.