What if political candidates did this?

I've used this graphic, or versions of it, for 30 years to show my commitment to helping volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs in all parts of the Chicago region attract needed resources. These include: volunteers, public visibility, operating dollars, training/learning (ideas), technology and leadership.

I and six other volunteers formed Cabrini Connections in late 1992 with the goal of helping teens who had aged out of a different program that I had led from 1975 to 1992, continue to receive mentor and tutor support through high school. 

We realized that one more small program serving a few teens could make a life-changing difference to them, but would have little impact on the city of Chicago, where over 240,000 kids lived in high poverty areas.

So we decided to split our efforts, and any money we could raise, and created a second program that would help every existing tutor/mentor program (including our own) grow, and would help new programs form where more were needed.  During 1993 planning we developed a strategy, and gave this program a name.

We called it the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC).  In 2011 I formed the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to keep the T/MC going in Chicago and help versions of it grow in other cities and countries.  

The T/MC had a four-part strategy, shown in this concept map.  

Step 1 focused on collecting information that anyone could use to help tutor/mentor programs grow, and to help kids in high poverty areas move through school and into jobs and careers.  

Step 2 focused on building public awareness, drawing more consistent attention to the information in the library, and to each tutor/mentor program in a list of programs that we started building in 1993. 

Step 3 focuses on helping people understand and use the information in the library. This could be volunteers, students, parents, educators, business, media, program leaders, policy-makers, researchers, etc.

Step 4 focused on  helping people use the information from Step 1 and Step 3 to develop actions that helped programs get the consistent resources each needs to operate, innovate and stay connected to kids and volunteers.

This graphic visualizes the result of Step 1, 2 and 3.  YOU and others are mobilizing resources to help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reach K-12 kids in high poverty areas of Chicago and other cities. (Note: this graphic was created by an intern from South Korea). 

Over the past 30 years I've built a huge library, and used concept maps, like the one below, to show what's in difference sections.  

This is information anyone can use, in any part of the country where there are areas of concentrated, persistent, on-going  poverty.  

So with billions of dollars being spent in this election season, why can't every candidate have a page on their website that points to libraries like mine and encourages supporters to volunteer, and donate, to organizations working to improve the well-being of people and planet.

That might be wishful thinking. Too much to ask.  But, that's what I do.

Last week I received an invitation to the 60th birthday of Leo Hall, who I first met in the fall of 1973 when I was assigned to be his tutor/mentor.  We've stayed connected for over 50 years, which is one of the motivations I have for helping organized programs build and sustain similar connections.

Here's another reason. This is a message I received on LinkedIn today from a former volunteer.  He wrote: "I was so glad to come across your profile, and see that you're still making a difference for Chicago youth. I'm still fighting the fight for Philly youth. And it all started with the Cabrini program in '92--a life-changing experience I'm forever grateful for."

Over the past 30 years I've received numerous thank you messages from former students and volunteers, parents and leaders of other tutor/mentor programs.  I've begun to share some of these via past newsletters and correspondence, that I'm putting in my Google Drive.  I keep looking for someone who will care about this information and will bring it to a university, where it helps future leaders learn to duplicate what I've been trying to do.

If you're still reading, thank you.  Please share my posts.  Someone you know could be the person who takes this forward for the next 30 years. 

Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (x), Instagram, Mastodon, etc.  Find links on this page.

Finally, if you can spare a dime, visit this page and make a contribution to help fund my continued work.