Have you ever submitted a letter to a local or national print media outlet and had it published? When we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 one of our main goals was to increase the number of media stories drawing attention to volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs in Chicago.
This graphic visualizes our goal.
We created quarterly events to draw programs together and draw volunteers and donors to our Directory and list of Chicago programs. These motivated local media to write stories about our events (see list here) and that built our reputation as an "expert" and led to media coming to us for quote in stories they were writing.
However, another way to get our story into local newspapers was to "write it" myself, as a "letter-to-the-editor". Below I'm sharing some of those.
Chicago Tribune - 10-29-1995 - open PDF to view
Chicago Tribune - 12-7-1995 - Open PDF to view
Chicago Tribune 9-3-1997 - Open PDF to view
Chicago Tribune 4-30-1998 - Open PDF to view The same letter appeared in the Chicago SunTimes on 4-30-1998 - Open PDF to view
Chicago Sun-Times 4-12-1999 - Open PDF to View
YouthToday - July 2000 - Open PDF to View
Daily Southtown - 3-30-2001 - Open PDF to view
By 2000 I was spending much more time on the Internet, connecting with people and ideas from Chicago and the world. I made less effort to write Letters-to-the-Editor because I was sharing the same information on my website, in email newsletters, and on-line eMail discussion groups.
Below is a message I posted on October 2, 2000 in a digitaldivide list hosted by Benton.org. Open this PDF to read my post and others in that discussion. I'm still connected to some of these people today.
Below is a message I posted on October 2, 2000 in a digitaldivide list hosted by Benton.org. Open this PDF to read my post and others in that discussion. I'm still connected to some of these people today.
In each of these letters I'm sharing ideas that other people need to implement. That's more difficult than doing the work yourself, but I've never had much money to do everything that needs to be done, and frankly, the whole strategy of the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been to provide information that others can use to build the "Village" needed to help more K-12 kids born, or living in high poverty areas, of Chicago and other places, move more successfully, and safely, from birth-to-work.
All of these images are part of an archive that I've built over the past 50 years. I've been able to put a large part on my Google drive as I've down-sized and had to through original copies away.
My wish is that a research group from a local, national, or international university will take ownership of all of this information and then teach young people what I was trying to do, and how to do it better. There still is so much that needs to be done.
That wish could come true if a major donor were to provide the money for a university to build such a program, and name it after the donor. If you've any ideas, please reach out.
That wish could come true if a major donor were to provide the money for a university to build such a program, and name it after the donor. If you've any ideas, please reach out.
You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media platforms. You'll find links on this page.
If you've appreciated what I'm sharing and what I've been trying to do, please consider a small contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here
If you've appreciated what I'm sharing and what I've been trying to do, please consider a small contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here
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