Keeping focus amid a world on fire

Over the past 22 years I've used maps and visualizations frequently in my newsletters and blog articles to communicate ideas that mobilize more people, around a wider based of information, on a more consistent basis. Yet, the goal remains to help inner-city kids connect with a network of extra adults who are concerned about their well-being and their futures.

I continue to maintain a list of non-school youth serving organizations operating in the Chicago region. This year I also started to host a Facebook list, showing Chicago youth serving orgs with Facebook pages. Browse the list. Offer your help to one, or many.

Keeping focus on this mission has been challenged frequently, and unexpectedly, starting with the 9/11 attack on America, and continuing through this past weekend with the terror attacks on Paris, a Russian airliner, a college in Kenya, and in Beirut, Lebanon, along with many lesser known places. Since 2001 world events, environmental tragedies, and cyclical political campaigns have consistently disrupted the day-to-day work I and others do to help make the world a safer, better place for everyone to live and raise families.

This graphic illustrates that while I focus on helping kids living in urban poverty have support systems of mentors, tutors and extra learning in non-school hours be available in more places where they are needed, I realize there are other issues that also require day-to-day attention, which are also disrupted with every natural and man-made disaster that interrupts our daily activities.

My heart bleeds and I shed tears when I read of the carnage of terror attacks. It also bleeds when I see refugees drowning at sea or dying in the American Southwest as they seek entry into the US. I am angry every day when I open my paper and read about shootings taking lives in Chicago neighborhoods and every time I read about local, national and corporate corruption and greed that causes these problems or lets them exist.

I wrote about this in 2005 and again in 2011. Here are some other related articles.

Let's honor the victims by giving extra effort to the work that needs to be done.

Legal Leader Using Social Media to Build Support for Mentoring in Chicago

Over the past few weeks I've posted a couple of stories showing how Dan Cotter, the 2014-15 President of the Chicago Bar Association, has been asking friends (and strangers) to help him raise money to fund Chicago mentoring programs. The weight lifting event was last weekend and on Dan's Facebook page you can get a detailed description of activities leading up to the event, during and after.

I've featured Dan's work because as the media and public leaders are agonizing about what to do to reduce violence Dan has been raising money to fund tutor/mentor programs in Chicago for more than 10 years. By highlighting the good work one person does my goal is to inspire others to take the same role so that people in many industries are recruiting volunteers and raising dollars to fund tutor/mentor programs in all high poverty areas of Chicago, not just a few high profile programs.

I created this graphic several years ago, and I've created many like it, to illustrate the role each person can take to mobilize others to support the growth of tutor/mentor programs.

One of the pushbacks I've had from people in business is "that's not what I do" or "I don't have time". Well, Dan's a busy attorney working for a big company. He's chairman of the board of the Lawyers Lend A Hand Program, and he's incoming President of the Chicago Bar Association.

Yet for the past four weeks Dan has been using his Twitter feed and Facebook to encourage people to get involved with mentoring and pledge funds to his weight lifting effort. In order for you to better understand what Dan's been doing, click into these three Twitter accounts which Dan uses.

DCotter1 - click here

The Lifting Lawyer - click here

CBA Pres 2014-15 - click here

Scroll down on each page and see how Dan Tweets, reTweets, favorites Tweets of others, and is featured in Tweets I and others have posted. He's taken an active position on social media to support a cause he cares about. If he can do it why can't executives of companies, faith groups, colleges and other professional groups do the same.

If you've read this far you've seen that I've given a lot of praise to Dan Cotter. He deserves it.

What if teams of youth and volunteers in different parts of the city where following social media and were creating links to a Village Map like this, pointing to people in different sectors who were trying to connect the people they know with programs working to help youth through school and into jobs and careers. What if they were writing stories like this to recognize the good deeds of people doing good work?

Each year the Mayor, or other celebrities, could give awards to leaders in each industry who have been outstanding examples of using social media to mobilize attention and resources.

Yesterday the Mayor said violence in Chicago is a complex problem and many people need to be involved in solutions. Here's a way many people can be involved, and who if they stay involved as long as Dan Cotter has, can make a huge difference, without spending a lot of tax payer dollars to do it.

Mr. Mayor, are you listening?

82 shot and 14 killed. The war zone that is Chicago.

This is a guest article, submitted by Dan Cotter, who is Chairman of the Board of the Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth organization, and 2014-15 President of the Chicago Bar Association. This is his opinion, and not an official statement from either of the organizations where he serves.

We must find a way to stem this violence and to create safe places and alternatives. One way to address the violence is through strong mentoring programs in our disadvantaged communities. Working as a board member of Lawyers Lend-A-Hand over the last decade, I have witnessed the impact that mentoring has on our youth.

A recent example of how powerful mentoring can be occurred at the Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth Spring Awards Dinner on April 30. At the dinner, George, a young man mentored through the Urban Life Skills Program of New Life Centers, spoke of how before joining the program he cared little for anyone else. He literally described himself as a "psychopath." After working with his mentor, he has become a whole new person that "wants to give back."

George is just one example. At an awards presentation by Jeffrey Leving to Passages, we met a number of young men who anxiously await the arrival daily of its executive director. They spoke of how important the mentoring program was to them and described it as a sanctuary from the streets and violence around them.

A dozen years ago, with two young children at home, I wanted to pay it forward for the huge impact mentoring had on my life. From my first mentor, my dad, to my 8th grade teacher, Cheryl Porter, to my high school coach, John Urban, to my college coaches, Tiny Devore and Kelly Kane, to my first boss in law, Mark Wilcox, and first corporate mentor, Paul Hourihan, to my wife, Ann, I have been blessed. So many provided advice, tutoring, and friendship to me. I was beginning to competitively powerlift. I joined the two and came up with Lifting to Lend-A-Hand. In 2002, I raised $2,600. I took 2003 off due to injury but then discovered I was a line item for revenue in the LLAH budget.

The next 9 years, the amount increased each year until we raised $45,000 in 2012. Taking a year off to "allow the organization to find other fundraising avenues," I decided to give it one final push this year as I became CBA President.

Thinking of George and the wonderful work grantees of LLAH perform to provide our future with strong mentoring opportunities, I decided the goal this year would be one year's grants - $100,000. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And think of the number of George's we can help with that amount.

It literally takes not just a village but a city, a state and beyond. You can partner with me. No amount is too small - if 5,000 people gave $20 each, we would hit it; 2,000 people at $50 each, 10,000 @ $10, 1,000 @ $100, etc. With just under two weeks to go, we are about to surpass $50,000 with less than 200 donors. Think of the alternatives if we hit $100,000. A city with less violence and more future. Please I to lawyerslendahand.org, hit donate and give what you can. $1, $5, $10. Etc. Dig deep and be part of the collective you that raises $100,000 for mentoring. Thank the mentors who have you their time, talent and treasures. Pay it forward. Yours in mentoring, grateful and thankful for the power of mentoring, The Lifting Lawyer. @lifting2014xi. Liftingtolendahand@hotmail.com.

Thank you Dan. We need more leaders duplicating your efforts.

In the editorial page of the July 14, 2014 Chicago Tribune, the final call to action says "If Chicago is to conquer this plague of violence in Chicago, the solutions have to come from all of us." The image at the left is from the October 15, 1992 Chicago Sun Times, where virtually the same call to responsibility was issued.

I've been trying to build business and political support for volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs for nearly 25 year. This image is from 1990 when Mayor Richard Daley and the CEOs of the Montgomery Ward Corporation and Quaker Oats Corporation visited the tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago. If you view past newsletters, media stories, and blog articles, you'll see a consistent call for leadership that would help mentor-rich programs grow in high poverty areas of Chicago and its suburbs.

This "it takes a village" map is one I've shared for many years, indicating that leaders from every sector need to support the growth of mentor rich programs that help youth through school and into jobs.

Had these ideas been embraced in the early 1990s, perhaps there would be fewer youth out on the streets shooting at each other.

Unless these strategies are embraced in 2014, I fear what the stories will be in 2034.

We need more people like Dan Cotter, doing heavy lifting to raise funds to support tutor/mentor programs, and using his own social media to help me spread this message.

More Heavy Lifters Needed

This photo shows Daniel Cotter, the incoming president of the Chicago Bar Association, doing some “heavy lifting” to raise money to support volunteer based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

Dan sent me information about this year’s lifting event over the weekend and I invited him to write an article that I could share on my blog, and that others can share via social media and their own email networks.

Dan wrote:

"Approximately 15 years ago, I started to compete in powerlifting. My good friend from college suggested I consider it so that my training had a focus and I had specific goals in the gym. I played football in college and the 10 years since I had graduated were not exactly kind to my body. At my 10th reunion, some of my teammates suggested I get back in the gym. I did so the following Monday.

Competing did give me a focus and a mission. Early meets were not great in terms of the weights lifted. But I had a plan. In 2002, I was a Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association. The YLS had a mentoring program with Working in the Schools. The program required that the participants be available one day a week for several hours to tutor and mentor a Chicago student. I wanted to do it, but had a five year old and a two year old at home. I could not directly participate in the mentoring program.

I was competing in meets. I thought that the idea of raising money like a walkathon or marathon while competing in a meet would help mentoring even if I could not directly mentor. I made the proposal and “Lifting to Lend-A-Hand” was born. The idea was simple – I would solicit people I knew for donations and then lift. The first year, in 2002, I raised $2,600. That was a good raise. Since then, the raise has gone up each year and in 2012, the last time I did the event, I raised $45,000.

Every penny that I raise goes to the Sun-Times Judge Marovitz Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth, which promotes best practice mentoring programs in disadvantaged communities. Since its founding in 1994 by former CBA President Thomas A. Demetrio, Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth has awarded over $1.5 million in grants and positively affected the lives of tens of thousands of youth.

This year will be my 11th and final year of Lifting to Lend-A-Hand. I first publicly announced my goal at the Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth Spring Awards Dinner on April 30. At the dinner, George, a young man mentored through the Urban Life Skills Program of New Life Centers, spoke of how before joining the program he cared little for anyone else. He literally described himself as a “psychopath.” After working with his mentor, he has become a whole new person that “wants to give back.”

With a donation from you, think about how many more young people like George can be guided towards a different path in life.

How does this all work? On July 19, I will compete in a powerlifting meet. The best lift in each of the squat, the bench, and the deadlift will go towards my total “Lift.” You can make a specific pledge, or you can pledge by the pound. Specific pledges can be fulfilled anytime by donating online or by sending in a check with the attached donation form. I expect to lift between 1400 and 1500 pounds total. If you pledge $.10 per pound, and I lift 1500 pounds, you would owe $150. I will notify everyone of the results of my July 19 lifting the following week.”

The question raised to me by Dan Bassill is, “Why do you do this?” The main reason is I have been blessed in my life with the most incredible mentors. My dad was my original mentor and idol. He supported and encouraged me and kept me focused on my education and football, as well as showing what it meant to make sacrifices for family. He and my mom also instilled in me the need to give back. We did not always have a great amount of excess at home, but my parents always made sure to contribute to the betterment of society and support causes.

Other mentors includes teachers, coaches and bosses, as well as people such as Dan Bassill. Dan has a passion for tutoring and mentoring that is seldom matched.

I want to “pay it forward” and give back to the community. Mentoring is a foundation of our nation’s successful future and we need to help ensure the vitality of mentoring programs in Chicago and beyond."

Thank you Dan. We need more people to be like you!

My history with Dan Cotter and the Lawyers Lend A Hand Program goes back to 1994 when I formed a partnership with the Lend A Hand Program, which was then hosted at the Chicago Bar Foundation. This partnership formed with a goal of raising "large amounts" of money from Chicago's legal community to support the on-going operating expenses of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

In 1994 we created a November “Tutor/Mentor Week” to build visibility for programs in the six weeks leading into the year end gift giving period. This proclamation was issued by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Since then more than $2.5 million has been raised to support the operations of tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. The money Dan has raised has contributed to this total.

In 1994 I started publishing a map-based directory showing where tutor/mentor programs are needed, and where existing programs are located. All of the outreach I’ve done since then has intended to recruit leaders like Dan Cotter, who would use their own talents and network to raise money needed by each of these programs to sustain, and constantly improve, the work they are doing to help youth in Chicago area neighborhoods.

This is one of many graphics I’ve created to show that support for tutor/mentor programs needs to come from every industry, business and faith sector, and on an on-going basis so programs can stay connected to youth for multiple years.

I hope you’ll help Dan Cotter reach his goal of raising $100,000 this July. And I hope some of you will make a commitment to duplicate Dan’s effort, or even exceed it.

Here’s a list of Chicago area youth serving organizations. Some are better than others, but most are in areas where kids need help. You can reach out to one or more programs directly, or through your personal or corporate foundation, or in partnership with the Lend A Hand Program.

My Mentor. The Father I never Had.

On Tuesday, September 17 I attended the Tenth Annual My Hero Awards Luncheon, hosted by the Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth Program. This is a group of lawyers from Chicago who have raised more than $1.4 million since 1994 to fund the general operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. Read more about this event.

During the late 1990s the Lend A Hand Program was part of the Chicago Bar Foundation and held an annual event in November which attracted more than 1500 lawyers, friends and families. Since 2002 a My Hero Awards Lunch in the spring or fall has attracted more than 200 participants to give recognition to lawyers, law firms, business and judges who are involved with volunteer based tutoring and/or mentoring programs in the Chicago region.

During this week's event Doug Wambach, a shareholder at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. received one "Making a Difference Award" and Richard Gleason, managing partner of O'Mara, Gleason & O'Callaghan, LLC, received a second award.

Wambach has been involved in many roles supporting Boys Hope Girls Hope for more than a decade. He was nominated by a youth he has mentored for the past several years. In the nomination letter, the youth wrote "I haven't been writing about a mentor; I'm writing about a father I never had." In his acceptance comments, Wambach said "He's the one who made a difference in my life, and in my family's life."

Gleason has been involved with the mentoring program at the Logan Square Boys & Girls Club in Chicago since 2006. The boy he has mentored for the past 6 years is now working at the club and gave the nomination speech. He said "If it wasn't for Rich, I don't know where I'd be now."

Over my 35 years of leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program I've heard comments like this from many alumni and volunteers of the programs I've led, and of other programs I've connected with. This has led me to three levels of understanding, which are reflected in the graphic below, and in this Logic Model pdf essay.

First, the testimony of young people and volunteers convinces me that connecting youth with volunteers from the business community, and keeping them connected for multiple years, is something we should try to do.

Second, to connect youth living in high poverty neighborhoods with volunteers who don't live in the neighborhood, but model many types of work and career experiences that youth might aspire to, structured, well-organized, and well funded programs like Boys Hope Girls Hope and the Logan Square Boys & Girls are needed.

Third, since there are more than 125,000 high poverty youth living in Chicago, and many more in the suburbs, we need hundreds of well organized programs, not just the few that are now in existence. For such programs to be in place and well organized, we need organizations like the Lawyers Lend A Hand to be raising millions of dollars from their industry and spreading this money each year to on-going programs throughout the city and suburbs.

If every industry, fraternal and alumni organization forms a Lend A Hand type program, the result would be multiple sources of on-going funding, and a diversity of volunteers, supporting tutor/mentor programs in every high poverty zip code, thus enabling each program to have a higher percent of the total dollars each needs to operate, as well as a diversity of volunteer talent helping the program innovate ways to constantly improve their impact on the lives of kids....and volunteers.

I've been broadcasting this idea for nearly 20 years, yet there are few leaders who have embraced the idea to the point that they should be receiving awards for how well they support "birth to work" mentoring programs in places where they do business or where employees and customers live. Why is this?

1) Maybe I'm the wrong messenger. I'm not from a wealthy family. I'm not the CEO of a big company. I'm not politically connected. I'm not of a minority racial background.

2) The non profits who would benefit most from increased resources, are not embracing the strategy. There's too much fear of losing volunteers or donors by talking about the need for tutor/mentor programs all over the city, rather than just their own program. The competitive nature of philanthropy reinforces this.

3) Business leaders who lead multiple store corporations via central office strategies don't apply the same thinking to what they do to support multiple non profits in all neighborhoods where they are needed. It's easy to adopt one or two high profile programs, or run a small in-house volunteer program. It's harder to take on a role intended to build an distribution of these programs, and a supply system to support them. Read more about how businesses might help programs grow.

4) I've never been able to keep consistent funding or build a large enough funding base to spread these ideas consistently, draw people together for conferences, or teach leaders to adopt and use the ideas.

I've written more than 1000 articles on this blog since 2005, all intended to build consistent support for constantly improving tutor/mentor programs in high poverty neighborhoods. In addition, I've created a variety of essays to illustrate ideas that leaders might adopt in support of multiple tutor/mentor programs. Finally, I've created a web library with more than 2000 links to ideas of other people around the world which can be applied to building and sustaining individual programs as well as networks of programs.

This is all part of a 4 part strategy, illustrated in this strategy pdf and this concept map. Since 2011 I've not had a non profit organizational structure to support this strategy, and I'm reaching out to find volunteers and partners to re-build this. However, I'm more interested in finding ways to embed these ideas and strategies in many other organizations, in Chicago and around the country, so more owners carry this forward in future years, and so it's not dependent on any single organization or individual. If you're interested in this let's find a way to talk.

These ideas and web resources are free to anyone who wants to see more young adults standing up in front of crowds saying "my mentor made a difference in my life." I hope you'll spend some time getting to know them.

$50 million business commitment to anti violence. Is this ownership?

I encourage you to read the column by Phil Rosenthal in the Business Section of today's Chicago Tribune, titled "Business Makes Fighting Crime their Business".

The final paragraph says "This (crisis) didn't happen all at once. This happened failure by failure. Here we are 30-some years later and we're in a bad p lace. We need to take ownership for making it better."

This sounds like the front page editorial on October 15, 1992 Chicago SunTimes after 7-year old Dantrell Davis was shot while going to school. I've kept this front page as a reminder for my own responsibility, and have shared it often in my outreach in an effort to encourage business, political and philanthropic leaders to adopt a long-term responsibility for building and supporting birth to work programs that offer alternatives to gangs and violence, and more paths to jobs and careers. see article

So while business leaders are being asked to contribute $50 million to Chicago's anti violence program I urge you to review and adopt the commitment and strategy shown below.

Role of Business Leaders - Helping Kids From Poverty Areas Move to Careers from Daniel Bassill

To signal your commitment and share your leadership strategy, create a version of this strategy map, with your name in the box at the top, and post this on your web site, with links to the Tutor/Mentor Institute Chicago Crime Lab and other resources that people can learn from -- and connect with -- in supporting this long-term war on poverty and inner city violence.

Rather than a single leader, the city and country need many leaders, each innovating ways to mobilize resources to support the infrastructure and operations of a wide range of youth tutoring, mentoring, learning and jobs programs in communities where they do business, not just where the corporate office is located.

I've written countless articles showing strategy, leadership, network building, learning, etc since starting this blog in 2005. If you devote resources within your company to building your own strategy to support your commitment, I hope some of your leaders will read and reflect on some of these ideas, then put the ones that work for you into your own efforts.

Twenty years from now we can have another column like the one Phil Rosenthal wrote today, or a different one showing a city with a wide range of programs in every poverty neighborhood, each telling stories of young people who have gone through the programs and now work at the companies that made this possible.

Mayor wants Business to raise $50 million to support kids

I saw this article in today's Sun Times and posted my own comment to it, encouraging the Mayor to use some of the ideas I've shared on this blog so he supports constantly improving tutor/mentor programs in every high poverty neighborhood, not just the traditional high profile programs that attract the most support.

My first suggestion was to use maps, such as provided on the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, to identify and support programs in every high poverty neighborhood, and to encourage new programs to support where none exist.

My second suggestion was to support programs that show a strategy that supports youth for multiple years and engages volunteers from the business community as tutors, mentors, tech support, organizers, communicators, advocates, etc. Look for a "theory of change" or a "logic model" on the organization's web site with graphics and history that demonstrates this commitment.

My third suggestion was to encourage every industry and professional group to build a strategy that provides volunteers, operating dollars, technology and other needed support to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in every part of the city, such as the Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth Program has been doing since 1994. Note. the Lend-A-Hand Program launched it's on tutor/mentor program a few years ago and discontinued the grants to other tutor/mentor programs in 2021.

This ROLE of LEADERS PDF is one of many created by the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1994 that the Mayor could share to encourage leaders in business to support the growth of mentor-rich programs.

This STRATEGY MAP is one the Mayor could adopt and put on his own web site, and that he could encourage other leader in business, religion, higher education and public health to adopt as part of their own commitment.

In a few years will we look back and see a few million dollars distributed to a small group of organizations or will we see a "virtual corporate office" created where volunteers and leaders from every sector are taking roles that support the growth of mentor-rich youth programs in every zip code of the Chicago region where kids have economic disadvantages that most kids don't face?

Or will we see a model of support that is being duplicated in every city in the country?

Lend a Hand and help create the future you want

Today I attended the Ninth Annual "My Hero" Awards Luncheon organized by the Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth organization based in Chicago. Close to 200 lawyers, judges, members of the legal community, and youth organization leaders gave recognition to volunteers from the legal community who are going the extra mile to help kids in poor neighborhoods connect with mentors and tutors who support those kids as they make their way through school and into their adult lives. UPDATE: See story in the Daily Law Bulletin, written 9/21

While the My Hero Awards event is nine years old, the Lend A Hand Program started organizing events to raise awareness and dollars to fund volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago starting in 1994. The photo above shows myself with my son Jacob, Betsey Densmore, Executive Directory of the Chicago Bar Foundation, and Chicago Bar Association President Richard J. Prendergast at a 1997 event held at the Chicago Children's Museum.

In today's event Dan Cotter, current Chair of the Board for Lawyers Lend A Hand, presented a check for $45,000 which he had personally raised through a "Lifting to Lend-A-Hand" campaign. Dan personally has raised more than $250,000 to support the Lend-A-Hand efforts since 2002. Imagine if hundreds of lawyers and other professionals were making the same commitment to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

This year's Law Firm Partnership of the Year Award went to Freeborn & Peters LLP who has provide long-term support to Chicago Scholars. At the conclusion to the event Genita Robinson, Executive Directory for Lawyers Lend-A-Hand said "If every mentor program in Chicago had a partner like Freeborn & Peters, LLP, what a difference it would make."

I'd like to see that vision extend to every industry in Chicago, not just every law firm.

No single donor funds more than a small percent of the full operating costs of any tutor/mentor program. Thus dollars need to come from multiple sources, not just from one or two. At the same time, one of the greatest benefits of a tutor/mentor program is that it connects young people to adults and experiences beyond the poverty neighborhood where they live. If tutor/mentor programs had volunteers coming from many different industries and professions each program would offer a wider diversity of experiences and mentoring to their students.

This could happen if every person who attended today's lunch were to read this article and make an effort to encourage people he/she knows to get involved. It could happen if the volunteers in every program funded by Lend A Hand were to actively encourage their companies, faith groups, college friends and families to devote part of their giving pie to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in different parts of Chicago.

Merri Dee was MC for today's lunch. I first met her in 1990 as I was creating the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Inc. I've always been inspired by her "If it is to be, it is up to me" statement.

If we want to help reduce poverty and violence and improve the quality of Chicago's workforce, it is up to every one of us to try to build the resources and talent flow that is needed in programs throughout the city and suburbs.

Lawyer doing Heavy-Lifting for Chicago Mentoring

I received the message below from Dan Cotter, Chair of the Board for the Lawyers Lend a Hand to Youth Program at the Chicago Bar Association.

I've been part of the growth of the Lend A Hand Program since 1994 and love what Dan is doing each year to raise money that can be used to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. Dan's a lawyer and weight lifter and each year he gathers pledges based on how many pounds he lifts. Through his efforts he has personally contributed more than $200,000 to support tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.We need more heros like Dan, doing the same thing, and helping support-networks grow in every industry, not just in the legal community.

Please read this, share it and become a sponsor if you can.

With the start of summer comes Lifting to Lend-A-Hand X. On Saturday, July 28, I will compete in the American Powerlifting Federation- Amateur American Powerlifting Federation Chicago Summer Bash 9.

Lifting to Lend-A-Hand is something I created ten years ago to be able to raise funds for Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth, whose mission is to channel the legal community’s resources to promote best practice mentoring and tutoring programs in disadvantaged communities that foster consistent, long-term bonds between adults and youth. I believe strongly in the potential for all youth to succeed.

Lifting to Lend-A-Hand X marks multiple milestones. I originally committed to a ten-year campaign, and this is year ten. My goal for those ten years has been $250,000, and we have come close raising a little over $200,000 in cash and in-kind support. Recently, I celebrated my 45th birthday. My personal goal for Lifting to Lend-A-Hand X is to raise $45,000. A big, hairy audacious goal, but one I think I can reach with some help from friends such as you!

I and the programs supported by Lawyers Lend-A-hand need your support.

Lifting to Lend-A-Hand is like a walkathon event. On the competition day, I will compete in a regular powerlifting meet. The best lift in each of the squat, bench,and dead lift will go toward my total. You can make a flat pledge or you can pledge by the pound. (Obviously, my aging knees and hips would appreciate a flat pledge.) If you pledge $.10 per pound and I lift a total of 1,500 pounds, you would owe $150. My expectations are to be in the 1300-1500 range.

Every amount counts! It all adds up to do phenomenal work for our mentoring programs! The biggest donors will be recognized with prominent listing on a shirt I will wear at the meet and listing in the luncheon program book and on the check I will present at the My Hero Awards Luncheon on Thursday, September 20, 2012 (tentative). Donors at the following levels will also receive tickets to the luncheon:

· One ton club - $2,000 or $1.33 per pound - 8 tickets (a table can be 8-10 seats)

· 3/4 ton club - $1,500 or $1 per pound - 6 tickets

· 1/2 ton club - $1,000 or $.67 per pound - 4 tickets

· 1/4 ton club - $500 or $.33 per pound- 2 tickets

You can donate online at http://lawyerslendahand.org/index.php?page=donation. If you prefer to make a pledge, you can send me an email at liftingtolendahand@hotmail.com. Please check to see if your employer matches donations. Each year, your generous individual donations are augmented by employer matches. Every penny raised goes to supporting the program.

Imagine if leaders in every industry were constantly raising money and visibility to encourage volunteer involvement and to fund volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. More programs throughout the region would have multiple streams of financial support and a more diverse based of volunteers modeling jobs and careers that kids might aspire to. See some of the leadership ideas in the Tutor/Mentor Forum and look for ways you can "be like Dan" starting this fall.

Connecting Grains of Sand into Castle on Beach

We're going into summer and many people will be near lakes and oceans. How many of you will be building sand castles? Have you ever stopped to think how many grains of sand go into just one small sand castle?

What if you were just one of those grains of sand and you were trying to pull the rest together into one of these?

That's how I feel in my efforts to connect with others in Chicago and the country who are concerned with the future and who understand that our children are our future.

For more than 20 years I've been collecting and sharing information that can be used by anyone in the world to support their own efforts to help kids through school and into jobs and careers. I've been using maps, graphics, videos and the talent of interns and volunteers to organize and share this information and to encourage more people to use it.

This map is one entry point anyone could use.


This graphic is from a presentation created this week by Mini Song, an intern from Korea. She spent a couple of days reading articles I've posted then did this presentation to share her understanding.

In past articles I've written about PLANNING and LEARNING and how it takes time and commitment and reflection to build an understanding of complex problems like poverty as well as complex systems that would help a growing number of kids living in poverty neighborhoods of Chicago get the extra support, mentoring and learning needed over a ten to 15 year period as the move from elementary school toward jobs.

No one can digest all of this information in one visit to a web site or a conference. This needs to be an on-going process of learning, reflection, action, etc.

Over the past 20 years I've developed a calendar of events that intend to draw people together, stimulate their thinking and help them build relationships with each other, while also attracting new people into this movement. Such people might start their own journey as a volunteer or donor in a tutor/mentor program, or as an organizer of an activity that connects a company, faith group or college team with one or more programs in a city.

As you head into this weekend, my hope is that some of you will look at the Tutor/Mentor Conference being held on June 14 as an opportunity to connect and network with me and a few others. However, most of you can't attend the conference, but you can reach out to people in your network and start a discussion about the topics on the Debategraph map above.

You can begin to think forward, looking at August, when advertising, social media, sermons, and web sites might tell stories of people involved in tutor/mentor programs so that more people might choose to become involved with one or more of the programs in Chicago or in your own city. You could look six months into the future and think of activities you might do in November to bring attention to tutor/mentor programs and draw financial support to them in December. This article shows how lawyers in Chicago worked with me in the 1990s to create a Tutor/Mentor Week each November from 1995 to 2000. This could be duplicated by many groups in many cities, drawing resources to tutor/mentor programs from many sources.

I've been using maps to show networks of people focusing on the well-being of kids. These also represent people and organizations I hope will participate in the conferences and web events I host, and who will invite me to join with them in their own thinking sessions.

This map includes some of the organizations that are in intermediary roles, connecting networks of organizations. See the most recent version here.

This map includes organizations who have come together for drop out prevention conferences. In the lower right hand corner you can see links to other networks focused on similar issues. The link to the map is here.

If you're just a grain of sand within a small sand castle you don't have much gravity to pull all of the other grains together around your vision of the castle. Yet, if you write articles like this and post to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media on a daily basis like I do, you can draw some others together, and that's a start.

The goal is that the network grows over time and that more people take roles that help make the information easier to understand, that increase the number of people looking at it, and that motivate daily actions that support individual youth serving organizations in many places.

Of course, it's not the grain of sand that builds the castle, but some kids with help from Mom or Dad. That means you can help bring this vision together by your own efforts.

If you've read this far, congratulations! Enjoy your weekend.

Lawyers support Mentoring in Chicago

Visit this Life Directions blog to read about a mentor and mentee's participation in the annual Lawyers Lend A Hand Dinner held in Chicago on April 18

Since 1994 lawyers from the Chicago Bar Association have been raising visibility and dollars to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in all parts of Chicago. While the amount raised and donated averaged between $25,000 and $50,000 per year from 1995-2006, the visibility that was created by events such as an annual Tutor/Mentor Week Event held in November each year from 1995-2000, led to a $100,000 grant from the estate of Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz in 2000 to create the Lawyers Lend a Hand to Youth Program. In 2006 a $2 million grant from the Chicago Sun Times enabled the annual grant pool to increase to more than $200,000 each year.

If leaders and volunteers in every industry and professional group were to duplicate this type of support for tutor/mentor programs in the entire Chicago region we could create multiple streams of volunteer and financial support for on-going operations of programs that need to stay connected to youth for many years to maximize their impact. That's the idea this chart represents. I created this in the mid-1990's to represent an idea I called "Total Quality Mentoring" which borrows from a Peter Drucker concept of Total Quality Management, or constant improvement based on learning from your own efforts, from the work of competition, and what the marketplace tells you.

If teams of volunteers in business, universities, hospitals, professions, and religious organizations begin to adopt the concepts of TQM into their efforts to build and sustain mentor-rich youth support systems in all places where kids need extra help, we could change the way non-profits and social entrepreneurs are supported by changing how resource providers deliver their support.

Read more articles on this blog and follow the links to other Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC sites, and to the sites I learn from. Make this part of your regular learning and invite friends and co-workers to join you.

There could be dozens of celebrations of mentoring taking place every month, in every part of the world. It just takes a small group of people to say "If it is to be, it is up to me."

Raising Funds for Tutor/Mentor Programs

This photo was taken almost 12 years ago during a November 1997 event hosted by the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Lawyers Lend A Hand Program. It's purpose was to raise visibility within the legal community that would help raise money directly for individual tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and for the Lend-A-Hand Program's pool of funds which it drew from each spring to award small grants to 15-20 tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.



At the right is an article from the Daily Law Bulletin of the Chicago Bar Association, telling about a collaborative effort of the Chicago Bar Foundation and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, intending to raise visibility for tutor/mentor programs in November that would lead to more contributions in the December holiday period.

This was all part of a strategy developed in 1994 where the Tutor/Mentor Connection would host a conference in November, the CBF would host a fund raising event, and we would create a "Tutor/Mentor Week" to generate greater visibility for all tutor/mentor programs in Chicago that would help recruit volunteers and donors at that time of the school year.


We're approaching the Holiday Season again and volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs still need operating dollars to do their work. From 1994 to 2001 the Tutor/Mentor Connection published a printed directory that people could use to search for different tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.
We never had much money so we were only able to send 300 to 400 copies of this to foundations, media, libraries and the programs listed in the Directory. Thus, it was a big deal when we found a way to put this directory on line in a searchable program locator back in 2004. Then in 2009 we launched a new interactive map version where you could look at a map of Chicago and see where tutor/mentor programs were most needed, based on poverty or poorly performing schools, and you could see icons on the map representing existing tutor/mentor programs in our directory. In both of these versions you could sort by age group and type of program and zip code to narrow your search to find contact information on specific types of programs.

This service consistently has recorded 500-600 visitors a month for over eight years. The chart below shows funding available to the Tutor/Mentor Connection in the past decade to do everything it does, including creating and hosting this map based program locator. You can see that we've had less than $150,000 a year which is less than what it would cost to purchase one full page ad in the Chicago Tribune on a single day!

The T/MC operated as part of a combined Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection non profit since formed in 1993. We split money each year between the site based tutor/mentor program and the T/MC, yet the time spent on the T/MC always was secondary to the time needed to support the 70-80 pairs of students and volunteers in the Cabrini Connections program. Due to the financial challenges of the past decade the Board of Directors finally decided that they could no longer support this dual strategy from a single small program, thus voted to discontinue the T/MC in April 2011.

I "retired" from my role of President, CEO in July and created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in an effort to find new ways to generate revenue and partnership to continue to offer the T/MC to Chicago and to help programs like Cabrini Connections get the volunteers, donors and ideas each program needs to thrive. I did this without any financial commitment other than my own meager savings account.

The Lend A Hand Program received a $2 million award in 2006 and has made grants totaling nearly $240,000 per year since 2007. If we can encourage other businesses and professions to launch similar programs it can generate money and volunteer talent from every industry to support tutor/mentor programs in different parts of Chicago. It's a strategy that can duplicate in other cities if an intermediary group like the Tutor/Mentor Connection is available.

I want to help make that happen but I need your help to do this. I've never been successful obtaining sponsorships for the conferences from a charitable standpoint and I have no experience approaching venture capital people for the type of investment we need to build out the features and services of the T/MC or to fund an aggressive advertising campaign to raise money for tutor/mentor programs in the Directory. Thus, my first request is for volunteers to step forward and fill the different roles visualized on this talent chart. You can see this live at this link.

At the same time I need to raise money for monthly expenses such as hosting the web sites, organizing the next conference, etc. I'm not asking for a charitable donation and I don't have a 501-c-3 structure to offer you a tax deduction for a gift. Instead I'm asking your to help me offer hope and opportunity to inner city youth, and an opportunity for volunteers and donors to be enriched by being part of the lives of these kids.

When Jonathan Kozal talked about his book "Amazing Grace" he said the "Amazing Grace is not what we do for them, but what they do for us."

You can help me by contributing dollars to help me continue to build the Tutor/Mentor Connection and by helping me find sponsors and investors who might want to put the "name" on the Program Locator or on the Conferences or on our Links Library, just like US Cellular puts their name on a baseball field or rich alumni put their name on college buildings, hospitals and sports stadiums.

Associate your name with a vision of helping more kids from poverty move through school and into jobs and careers and you'll have a legacy that can last many years into the future.

Email me at tutormentor 2 at earthlink dot net or send your contribution to:

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303
Chicago, Il. 60654

Lend A Hand - Support Mentoring

Today I attended the 5th Annual Lawyers Lend A Hand My Hero Awards Luncheon. More than 200 lawyers, judges, business people and leaders of Chicago tutor/mentor programs attended. The event honored the memory of Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, and celebrated how members of the legal community were supporting volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

I've written about the Lend A Hand many times since 2005.

I sat at one of the back tables and enjoyed listening to Merri Dee, formerly of WGN TV, as she did her duties as Mistress of Ceremonies. This photo shows me and Merri Dee at a Tutor/Mentor Leadership Networking Conference in 1995 or 1996. We were funded with grants from WGN TV Children's Charities until 2001. The first time we met she gave me the "If it is to be, it is up to me" slogan that I still use today to motivate my actions.

It was also a pleasure to here the work that the new Executive Director is doing to lead the Lend A Hand Program. This picture is of myself and Betsy Densmore, who was Executive Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation in 1993-94 when Lend A Hand was created and when Tutor/Mentor Connection first suggested a partnership that would "support the funding of general operations of tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago."

I really enjoyed seeing Michael Chabraja of Family Matters receive the Making a Difference Award. This was presented by Devon Lovell, who has been a workshop presenter at many T/MC conferences. Devon told of Michael's journey from becoming a volunteer to being elected President of the Family Matters Board of Directors last weekend. This photo shows a representative of Family Matters receiving a Lend A Hand Award at the Spring 1998 Conference.

Tutor/Mentor Connection was not on the agenda today, but it felt good watching the ceremony, knowing the role we have taken since 1993 to help this organization grow to its current level of support for tutor/mentor programs.

However, what was not said is what I want people to think about. LAH grants range from $5,000 to $10,000 which is about 5% of the Cabrini Connections budget and much smaller for a larger organization like Midtown Education Foundation. The 30 programs receiving grants are a small percent of the 200 that are in the Program Locator Directory.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection heaps praise on LAH because of what it does, and what it has the potential to do. The lawyers represented in today's gathering represent huge wealth in Chicago. The can do much more to raise money, and provide direct funding, to all of the programs LAH currently funds, and many others who are on the T/MC directory.

Furthermore, they can do much more to influence what banks, accounting firms, engineering firms, construction companies and others do to duplicate LAH in their own industry, so that funding for tutor/mentor programs comes from multiple directions, and the total funding each year comes close to 100% of the operating expenses of most of these programs. Our goal is that businesses use maps like these to build strategies that distribute volunteers and donors to more places in the city where they do business, rather than to one, or two, choice organizations.

When the Hon. Mary Ann G. McMorrow ended her Judge Marovitz Mentoring Award acceptance speech today, she talked of the message greeting visitors to Harvard University as they entered campus and how the memory of your deeds and actions live beyond the span of a lifetime.

I feel good about what I and Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection have been able to do since 1993. I feel that we could have done much more if we'd been able to keep supporters like Montgomery Ward & Co and WGN, or find major benefactors from among the wealthy families in Chicago.

Yet, I'm uplifted by what I saw today, and hopeful for what we can accomplish tomorrow and in the future.

We can do this if more of you take Judge Abe's advise and "do a good deed" every day. Point some of those to helping tutor/mentor programs and you can get one of these awards for yourself in the future.

Or you can sit in the back of the room with me, feeling good about what you know you've done.

Lawyers award $217,000 in grants to Chicago area tutoring and mentoring programs

In January2010 the Lawyers Lend a Hand to Youth Program sent out contributions to 33 different tutoring and/or mentoring organizations serving youth in the Chicago region. You can see the list, with links to each organization, at this article.

Cabrini Connections received one of these grants, and we are thankful. However, no foundation funds all of a non profit's total annual budget, or even more than a small percent.

Thus, as we applaud the leadership of members of the legal community who are helping raise these funds, we encourage leaders in every other industry to form similar programs, using the Tutor/Mentor Connection maps, and library of programs, to choose where you distributed operating dollars, and encourage employee volunteer involvement.

We also encourage non profits who operate tutor/mentor programs to network with T/MC in conferences and on-line forums, so we can work together to help expand the revenue available to operate, and share ideas that help us use these dollars to build constantly improving programs in all parts of the Chicago region.