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. 

A Collaboration of the Willing - Leading from Behind

I've used this graphic dozens of times to illustrate a vision of engaging workplace volunteers in long-term strategies that help inner-city youth move from first grade to first jobs. I've created a library of graphics like this on Pinterest and posted a library of illustrated essays on Scribd.com.

I started doing this almost 20 years ago when I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection, at the same time as I and six other volunteers were creating the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program in Chicago. Every year since then, I've invested time, talent, and a fragmented flow of dollars to build the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Doing this as part of a single tutor/mentor program provided many benefits, but it also made it difficult for leaders throughout the region to clearly understand the T/MC strategy.

This is another graphic I've used often. We all want the outcomes shown at the top of this graphic, but without the work at the bottom, too few people are connected to each other, and too few are working strategically to support age-appropriate tutoring, mentoring, learning, jobs programs, etc. in every high poverty neighborhood of the city and suburbs.

Recently a friend send me a document from the World Economic Forum, titled "Multistakeholder Collaboration for Healthy - Living Toolkit for Joint Action". On the web site where this PDF is shared, is a message saying "To assist stakeholders in initiating and managing multistakeholder actions for Healthy Living, the Forum and the Pan American Health Organization, in collaboration with Bain & Company, have developed the “Toolkit for Multistakeholder Action”. The Toolkit is based on a simple six-block framework to help collaborations structure and progress with their joint work.

It provides step-by-step guidelines, hands-on templates, practical resources and case studies to illustrate solutions to the core challenges of multistakeholder actions at the local, national or global level."

On page 8 of this pdf this graphic illustrates the six steps of multi-stakeholder collaboration. In this concept map, I point to several dozen intermediary organizations working in the Chicago region and focused on the well-being of youth. If you know leaders in these organizations, I encourage you to share the PDF with them.

Many have asked me for the strategic plan of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. While I've created written versions of this countless times since 1993, I feel that "my web sites" are the plan, and are the plan in action! Anyone who is willing to spend the time, can browse through the web sites and learn the strategies I've developed over the past 20 years, and apply them to their own work. I've created a variety of PDF essays to summarize what I'm trying to do, such as this one. I've also created a series of concept maps, that show the vision of helping youth in poverty move to jobs, and this one showing the 4-part strategy that supports what leaders can do to help make this happen.

In 2011 after the Cabrini Connections board of directors voted to no longer support the Tutor/Mentor Connection, I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC as a business structure to keep the T/MC available in Chicago and to help similar intermediaries grow in other cities. I created this WIKI to show my goals, and this PDF to show value of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to others.

After reviewing the WEB graphic, I created a new version, showing actions I have been taking related to each of the six steps in the tool kit. That graphic is below.

I created this concept map, showing the 4-part strategy, and work that needs to be done to support each step of the strategy more fully. I don't have the organizational strength, funds, or talent to do all of this myself. Others need to share ownership, if they also share the vision of helping kids in every poverty neighborhood overcome the violence, poverty, negative aspirations, etc. that face them.

In this Harvard Business Review blog article by Linda Hill, she talks about leaders like Nelson Mandella, who “stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

This is the type of leadership I provide, and the goal of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. I believe the ideas and resources I've aggregated, and the tools I continue to develop, can be used by any organization in Chicago that works to help youth and families.

In this ROLE OF LEADERS pdf, I invite leaders from business and many other sectors to take the lead in strategies that help kids move from first grade to first jobs. In this RESOURCES pdf, I show tools I've developed to support such leaders in Chicago. With help, these can be developed and used to support leaders sharing similar goals, in any city in the world.

It has taken me more than 35 years to develop these ideas, and I'm constantly learning and updating my own thinking. Thus, I hope you and others will take a little time each month over the next few years to understand and apply these ideas in your own thinking. As you do, share what you do on blogs and web sites and I and others will learn from you.

If you'd like to connect, why not attend the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago on Monday, Nov. 4, or introduce yourself to me on Twitter, Facebook, Linked in or this blog.

9-14-2018 update - I'm still trying to "lead from behind" but with even fewer resources than I had in 2013 when I wrote this.  I have not hosted a conference in Chicago since 2013, yet I probably reach and share ideas with far more people every week than ever attended any of the Tutor/Mentor Conferences.  

If you value what I'm doing please visit my FUND ME page and offer your support.

Tutor/Mentor Connection - Knowledge Network

This is one of several videos I created a year ago to outline the strategies of the Tutor/Mentor Connection.



There are more than 2000 links in the Library I've been building for the past 20 years. I have used this information personally to build and lead volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs since 1975. I've been sharing this information for over 20 years to help others build and sustain programs with similar goals in many different places.

No one can read this in a short time. However, if learning is extended over many years this information can become a foundation of ideas that support actions of leaders from many sectors, intended to help high poverty neighborhoods have a wide range of youth and family supports that lead more young people through school and into adult jobs and careers.

I'm now supporting the Tutor/Mentor Connection through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. I've posted a library of essays showing how this information might be used and encourage you to view these along with the videos.

I hope you'll budget time each week or month to read and reflect on some of this information. I also invite you to become a financial supporter, partner or investor to help me build and sustain this platform. Read more.

Selling Service and Volunteerism to Busy Nation

This article from The NonProfit Times features Points of Light Institute CEO Michelle Nunn.

If focuses on the challenges volunteer-based organizations have in attracting busy people to volunteer and donate in the nation's social sector. The 1994 Chicago Tribune story shows that this has been my focus since creating the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Click here to see many stories created as a result of this strategy.



I'm in Chicago. My voice is small. My total budget for Tutor/Mentor Connection has never been larger than $150,000 in a single year. That does not include many dollars for advertising and public awareness.

Yet, I fully agree with Michelle Nunn. We must find ways to tell stories on a daily basis the same way advertisers promote fast food, financial services, Viagra, etc. To do this we need many people in business, schools, faith groups, etc. writing and sharing stories that mobilize volunteers and donors to support tutor/mentor programs in every part of the Chicago region where they are needed.

I've posted numerous articles to show how this might be done. Browse the leadership and collaboration sections of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Form a group and begin learning about these strategies and ways they can be adopted in your own organization. Visit this site to see how interns have been involved in this work for many years.

Anyone can adopt these ideas and provide as much leadership as they want. They don't need to tell me that they are doing this. However, if you appreciate the ideas and want to help me keep sharing this information, or do it even better, I'd appreciate your help, involvement and partnership. Read more.

NATO, World Leaders, Urban Mayors

This is a video I created a year ago after Rahm Emanuel was elected. It shows leadership and strategy that needs to come from CEOs and civic leaders. While it focused on Chicago the reality is that every major city in the world has pockets of poverty where people are isolated from the opportunities of the rest of the city.

As long as you're in Chicago this week, perhaps you will want to take a look. I've not been invited by anyone from the Chicago Mayor's office to come in and talk about these ideas, so maybe someone in your city will want to invest some time in learning how you might apply them.



With the millions of dollars available to Mayors of big cities and corporate leaders, imagine how much more professional this video and others on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC channel could be, if they were created by your production departments.

Or you could view the articles I've posted at Scribd.com to show strategies leaders could take. Any of these could be re-built as more creative and professional presentations, delivered by Mayors, CEOs, celebrities and/or faith leaders.

In fact, any of the over 1,000 articles I've written on this blog could be used as leadership sermons by people all over the world.

That's the goal. Many leaders need to be sharing these ideas every day so more people take time to read, reflect and then begin to use their own time, talent and dollars to solve some of the problems facing big cities.

Writer? Publisher? Tell This Story.

Today I posted an essay title The Tutor/Mentor Business to my Scribd.com account. This was written in 1997 by Sara Coover Caldwell, who was one of the original founders of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

When Sara wrote this in 1997 she also wrote a script for a TV show centered around what happens from August through May in a tutor/mentor program. Our goal was to expand the essay into a book and to use the TV show to build visibility for tutor/mentor programs and raise funds to support our efforts as well as those of other programs in Chicago.

I also posted a second essay, talking about the network-building that I continue to do through the current Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC structure. In this essay I show how connecting networks using maps, links libraries, conferences and on-line communities can increase the power of people around the world who are trying to give a voice to youth who have no political power in this world.

After you read the Tutor/Mentor Business I hope you'll also read the Network Building story.

On the final page I point to this blog and other places where part of this story is available on line. However, it's not yet compiled in a book, or in a course outline being taught at some university. We still don't have the TV show, even though we do now have a Tutor/Mentor Institute YouTube channel.

If you'd like to be the writer, producer, publisher or benefactor who helps me compile this information into book form, or in a TV series, just introduce yourself and join the network.

Using Maps in Social Benefit Efforts

This photo was taken more than 15 years ago, illustrating my long-term commitment to using maps and to supporting the growth of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in all parts of the Chicago region.

Thanks to donations of software and talent along with a major gift of $50,000 in 2007 you can now use an interactive Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator to find out if there are volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in different poverty areas of Chicago and you can click on their web site (if they have one) to learn what they do and how to help them.

While this use of maps has been featured in various media and publications, I've not been able to find investors/sponsors/benefactors to provide the money needed to keep the maps updated and working properly nor to launch an on-going advertising campaign in Chicago intended to draw more attention to the maps and teach more people to use them.

You can view a PDF of the map story printed in the USRISA News.

You can also see how our use of mapping idea was recognized by being nominated for a 2004 Award by the Institute for Social Inventions of the Global Ideas Bank.

Yet, due to economic factors, lack of leaders and plain bad luck, we're operating at a minimal level of support to keep this service alive. If you want to help support this work please send a contribution. Read more.

If you'd want to become a partner to help develop this capacity, or want to have "naming rights" to the Program Locator, the Tutor/Mentor Conference or the Tutor/Mentor Institute library, email me at tutormentor 2 @ earthlink dot net.

Tutor/Mentor Conference, Nov. 4, 2011

I've been building a Directory of Chicago area tutor/mentor programs since 1993 and have hosted a networking conference every six months since May 1994.

The article below is one of many that have been written as a result of this strategy. This one was from the Daily Southtown. It includes a message (see pdf) that I've been delivering consistently for 18 years of mobilizing resources to support high quality tutor/mentor programs in all poverty neighborhoods of Chicago, not just one or two high quality programs in a few places. In 1995 I was optimistic that I could find enough philanthropic investment to build and sustain the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Due to economic factors, the 9/11 tragedy, wars on terrorism, etc. we've not been able to raise consistent funding for operations and innovation. This past summer I had to create the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC as a new strategy to find the revenue, partners and investment to do what I've not been able to do as well as needs be for the past 18 years.

Yet, we're still here. If you search for "tutor mentor" on Google or Bing our web sites come up on the first page and are a resource to people all over the world.

The Nov. 4 conference has a great agenda. If we can attract 75-100 paying participants (we keep fees low, give group rates and offer scholarships at $20....and all speakers attend at no cost), we can cover our expenses and provide some money to support the data collection, web sites and other costs of hosting the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Yet we won't thrive until we find an investor willing to put his/her name on the conference, or the mapping site, or the Tutor/Mentor Institute itself. That would take a multi-year commitment of several million dollars. Yet it would do more to help inner city kids to careers than much of the billions that have spent so far over the past 20 years.

Innocent teen killed in Maywood. What Can Be Done?

Today the Chicago SunTimes and the Chicago Tribune both included stories about a 14 year old teen killed while she slept in her home by a car that crashed into the house as a result of the driver being shot.

This story is tragic, but it also is personal. The teen was part of the Maywood Youth Mentoring Program that has been led by Barbara Cole for many years. Through the Tutor/Mentor Connection I've tried to help Barbara build the program she leads so it can help more teens. This program has also been aided by Michael Romain, who also volunteers time to write about the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Below is a map showing the 7th Congressional District that was created last year during the campaign to elect a new Chicago Mayor. This map was created several years ago to illustrate ways that leaders in different political districts should be working with business, faith groups, and other elected bodies to help build and sustain a wide range or mentor-rich youth programs in the high poverty parts of the district.



While the SunTimes devoted a half page to the tragedy in Maywood, they devoted two pages on Tuesday and another two-pages today to talk about the tragedy taking place in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. They've focused on Murray Park as a symbol of the lack of safe places for kids to play and build skills during the non-school hours. I've created maps of Englewood in the past. The one below is from the Interactive Map on the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator.

In the Interactive Program Locator each green star represents the name of an organization that offers some form of tutoring and/or mentoring. Some have web sites and you can learn more what they do. Some don't.

We intend the Program Locator and our maps as a tool for leaders. Anyone can look at the map of the 7th District and see that there are very few programs and they are not in every part of the district. Same for Englewood.

I've been hosting a Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference every six months. My goal is to bring people together to talk about where tutor/mentor programs are needed and to share ideas and strategies that can help existing programs grow. However, the goal is also to create reasons for newspaper reporters to write stories about tutoring/mentoring and to help us draw more people to the conferences and to the list or programs we host so more people learn to become volunteers and donors helping each tutoring and/or mentoring program constantly improve in an effort to be 'world class' in what they do. The story below was written in November 1996 by Ray Coffey of the Chicago SunTimes.



The next conference is Friday, November 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago. You can see more stories written as a result of the conferences and other actions of the Tutor/Mentor Connection at this link.

I hope some of you will forward this information to bloggers and media writers so new stories will be created. I hope you'll also encourage people in business, media, philanthropy and who lead tutor/mentor programs to register and attend so more people will be working to change what is happening in Maywood, Englewood and many other neighborhoods of this country.

Conference November 4 - Media Stories

As I'm reaching out to invite people to participate in the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, which will be held on November 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago, I've been pulling media stories from past conferences. Here are a few. Click on the image to enlarge.

Chicago Tribune story from the first conference in May 1994.



This was from the second conference held in November 1994 at the Shedd Acquarium



This was a Chicago Defender story in May 1995

In recent years most of our communications have been through blogs and email and we've not had as many stories in local papers. Yet the issues of education, poverty, wealth-gaps, workforce readiness and diversity continue to grow more critical. It's time for more people to help with telling the story and pulling people together to learn ways to build and sustain high quality volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in more places.

There is a 'master plan' - for saving youth

Below is an article written in 1995 by John McCarron and published in the Chicago Tribune. The headline says ""Just as we spectators settle back to enjoy the annual blame game, safe in the knowledge that it's all about somebody else's kids, along comes a Chicago businessman named Daniel Bassill with a very unsettling proposition."

In this article McCarron wrote about the May 1995 Tutor/Mentor Conference, which was only the third that I had hosted since we launched the T/MC in 1993 -- and which I've hosted every six months since then. He wrote "For companies, "Bassill said, "tutoring can be a staff development tool. It's a way to broaden an employee's scope within the organization. And to develop leadership skills."

Below is another article, this time that was in Crain's Chicago Business in 1998. The headline was "A 'trade group' that distributes knowledge to kids"

This article included a quote saying, "In Chicago, there are just 12,000 kids in after-school tutoring programs. That's out of 500,000 school-aged kids." That information was drawn from a 1997 survey conducted by Human Capital Research Corporation, Associated Colleges of Illinois and the Tutor/Mentor Connection and focused on "structured volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs".

The number of kids in Chicago Public Schools has lowered to around 400,000 now, but the problem has not changed. There still is no intermediary organization and business leadership working to build a distribution of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs operating in high poverty neighborhoods and connecting business ideas, technology, volunteers and jobs with kids as early as in elementary school.

While these are two of many articles that have been written about my efforts, I've never been able to build the philanthropic or business investment to do all of what we've wanted to do to support this effort. I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in an effort to expand the ways I find partners and revenue and I'm hosting the next Tutor/Mentor Conference in Chicago on Nov. 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building.

If you want to inject new energy and needed capital into this effort, or adopt it in your own city, then become a sponsor, or participate and learn ways you can become involved in the future.

9-13-2018 update - I'm still trying to find sponsors, partners and contributors to help me do this work. Here's a page where you can help FUND Me.