Thanks from 2006 and 2024

In past articles I've tried to draw attention to volunteer-based Chicago youth tutor, mentor and learning programs who I see sharing their stories on social media.  That leaves out some programs that have been around for many years, but don't use social media regularly.  

Inspired Youth is one.  Below is the home page of their website. 

I was reminded of this today when I received a question on Mastodon from Jayne Cravens, who has been a consultant to volunteer-based organizations since 1996.   She was responding to this 2006 post that I shared earlier today. In it I had mentioned Beth Palmer, who has led Inspired Youth since the 1990s.

Jayne asked me where the stories were featured, which prompted me to search the archives I have placed on my Google drive.   I shared this folder, which has reports from 1995 to 2003 Volunteer Recruitment Campaigns organized by the Tutor/Mentor Connection. 

Then I dug a little deeper and found this letter that Beth had sent to me.

This is part of a set of letters and email sent to me between 2001 and 2006 that can be viewed in this PDF.    By coincidence, Beth and I exchanged an email just a few days ago, as she was celebrating her 40 years of leading the Inspired Youth Tutoring Program (and Epworth Tutoring Program before that).

My archives have a wealth of information showing how I've tried to help tutor mentor programs grow in Chicago, while leading my own single programs from 1975 to 2011.  I'd love to make them available to researchers who want to help new leaders grow in Chicago and other cities who focus on information-based program innovation and growth and on helping fill all high poverty areas of cities like Chicago with programs like Inspired Youth and others who I point to from this page on my website. 

Thanks for reading (and hopefully) sharing my blog articles.

As I've digitized my files and past newsletters I've been reminded of how few people have ever seen any of this information. That won't change unless other people begin to dig into the archives and share the work.

You can connect with me on many social media platforms (see links here). 

And, if you're interested, you can also help me pay the bills to keep doing this work. Visit this page for information.