Retaining Volunteers in Tutor/Mentor Programs

We're nearing the end of this school year and are at the end of the annual April Volunteer Recognition Month.  Volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs all over the country have been making an effort to recognize the people who have given time and talent over the past year, while are also (I hope) looking for ways to motivate many of those volunteers to return for another year when the 2024-25 school year begins in late August.

I've been digitizing newsletters and yearbooks from the two tutor/mentor programs I led between 1975 and 2011 and thought I'd do some volunteer recognition today.

Below is a page from the 1991-92 yearbook of the tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago from 1975 to the fall of 1992.  

This program was started in 1965. I joined as a volunteer in 1973 and became a member of the leadership committee in 1974. In the summer of 1975 I was chosen to be the leader when the incumbent announced during a summer planning meeting that he was "going to Europe and would not return for a couple of years".   When I took the lead the program was already recruiting 100 pairs of kids and volunteers at the start of the year.  In my last year, 1991-92, that had grown to 440 2nd to 6th grade youth and 550 volunteers.  You can see the yearbook PDF at this link. 

I left that program in October 1992 and with six other volunteers formed a new program, intended to help kids who aged out of the first program after 6th grade have similar support to help them through high school.  At the same time we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection, to help similar programs grow in all high poverty areas of Chicago.

Below is a page from the 1999 Annual Report for that program.

Starting with only seven volunteers the program grew quickly, reaching nearly 100 volunteers by the end of the 1998-99 school year.  If you look at the list of veteran volunteers on this page and on the one from 1991-92 you'll see many of the same people. That's because many volunteers from the first program came to the new program with their students, as those kids joined Cabrini Connections.  You can see this Annual Report in this PDF. 

Note that by 1999 I was using the Total Quality Mentoring graphic to describe how we were recruiting volunteers from many different backgrounds.  That was true in the first program, too. 

In this PDF I describe the concept of Total Quality Mentoring.

By sharing my annual reports and newsletters I hope that I'm providing some inspiration for how others might build activities in their programs that help them recruit and retain students and volunteers for multiple years.  It's these long-term relationships that have the greatest benefit and it's the experience of veteran volunteers that helps newer volunteers become part of the program and stay involved longer.

You can view 1975 to 1992 yearbooks for the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program at this link.

You can view 1994 to 2009 annual reports for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection at this link.  

As you look at these annual reports you'll see several thousand volunteers who participated for one or many years. I am tremendously thankful for the time each person contributed to helping create a brighter future for the kids we were working with.  

Now I want to share a President's Message from a January 2005 e-Mail newsletter.  You can open the PDF and read the full newsletter at this link. 

The heading of my message was "Competing for Attention" and it was written after a year of "unbelievable acts of violence caused by nature and caused by humans."

I wrote, "In the aftermath of these have come equally magnanimous acts of kindness and generosity.  While this leads me to be thankful at the same time as I fear what the next tragedy will be, I feel that we need to look at charity in new ways if we're to maximize the benefits of the generosity that is in this world."

I went on to write

----- begin Jan 2005 ------  

"This is why I participate in a variety of Internet forums that connect people from around the world with each other. 

I feel that out of the Tsunami tragedy will come some innovations that those of us working with kids might benefit from. Right now donations are coming from all over the world to a variety of charities serving the Tsunami because of the high public visibility the tragedy has generated. I feel that if we can create a portal that tells why it's important to help kids, with doors leading to each continent, each nation, each city, and each neighborhood where kids need help, this portal can serve as a funnel for dollars, volunteers and similar resources to go to individual programs in each neighborhood. While there are some on-line charity portals, like http://www.networkforgood.org, these promote all forms of charity, and thus don't have the passion and appeal that could be generated by having portals that focus on specific channels of service, like tutoring/mentoring. 

Rather than reinvent the wheel, my dream is that we could find people who share our passion for helping kids and will share their talent to build such a portal, or to make existing products available to other streams of service. I'm sure such people and organizations exist. We just have not connected yet. In the Discussion section of www.tutormentorexchange.net there is a database and a GIS discussion group where I'm gathering volunteers who might help with such a project.

Once we have the portal every organization that offers any form of tutoring, mentoring, career development, etc. can share in building visibility and traffic, knowing that this helps each of us increase the revenue pie that we end up splitting. In six months much of the attention to the Tsunami will be turned to some other tragedy and the people in these countries will be just like us, struggling to draw attention and consistent revenue to the work of rebuilding lives. The type of portal I'm trying to build could be a benefit to these countries just as much as it will be a benefit to you, me and thousands of others like us. 

This email goes to more than 3,000 people. A print newsletter goes to almost 14,000 people (when we can find the money to print it-the last print newsletter was sent in 2003). Some of you have been connected to me and the Tutor/Mentor Connection for more than a dozen years. Some are getting this email for the first time. While my intention is to share information that I hope you can use, this is also an invitation to everyone who reads this far on this email to contact me to explore ways we might work together. As Margaret Mead once said, "it only takes a few people to change the world". It only takes a few of you to join us in 2005 to make this a better year for thousands of organizations serving kids living in poverty. 

While it is almost impossible to have two or three thousand one-on-one conversations each week, it is very possible to meet in on-line forums where thousands of people can share ideas and unite in joint action. In the Discussion Section of http://www.tutormentorexchange.net a few such forums are listed. I hope you'll join some and that we can meet on-line.

---- end Jan 2005 ----

I've never been able to find a group willing to work together (of provide funding) to build the type of portal that I described in that 2005 newsletter.  I was able to build an interactive tutor/mentor program locator in 2008 and keep it available until 2018, but not able to update it after 2010.

On this planning page you can see the vision for the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator and find a link to a "next step" of adding a fund raising capacity to the platform, that would enable donors to directly donate to programs listed in the database. 

I've continued to use social media daily to share ideas and connect with others.  I'm still looking for program leaders who "share in building visibility and traffic, knowing that this helps each of us increase the revenue pie that we end up splitting."

In the Tutor/Mentor library I've three lists that point to organizations doing part of what I envisioned in 2005. Find those here, here and here.  If you know of others doing what I described, please share the link in the comments. 

As you read my newsletters I hope you'll share them in your own networks.

Thank you for reading today's post.

At this page you can find links to where I'm active.  Please connect with me and encourage your friends to do the same.

Finally, there's a cost for me to keep these archives available and to keep updating the Tutor/Mentor library.  If you can help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, visit this page and use the PayPal feature to contribute. 

Tips for volunteers in tutor/mentor programs

I led two tutor/mentor programs between 1975 and 2011. You can see some of the people we connected to each other in the montage below. If you follow me on Facebook and look at some of my "friends" you'll find many former students and see them celebrating high school and college graduations of their own kids. That's the long-term impact we were hoping to achieve.

The first program is now Tutoring Chicago.  I led it from 1975 to 1992 while it was hosted at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago. When I took the lead (as a volunteer) in 1975 we had 100 pairs of elementary school kids and adult volunteers, mostly Montgomery Ward corporate office employees. By 1992 when I left, we had converted the program (in 1990) to a non-profit called Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, Inc, and our number of kids served was 440 2nd to 6th grade kids and 550 volunteers, who came from more than 100 different companies in the Chicago region. 

In October 1992 I left that program and with the help of six volunteers, created a new program, called Cabrini Connections, to help kids who aged out of the first program after 6th grade, have continuous adult tutor/mentor support through high school.

 We started with 7 volunteers and five teens in January 1993 and by 1998 we had nearly 100 volunteers serving 80 teens. Due to space limitations we kept the number of kids served each year at around 80 until I left the program in 2011. The greater number of volunteers was the result of volunteers leading extra learning activities such as our arts, video and technology clubs, as well as serving as substitutes and in other roles.  (The name of the program was changed to Chicago Tutoring Connection after 2011. This is the Facebook page.)

When we launched Cabrini Connections to serve kids in the Cabrini Green area of Chicago, we also launched the Tutor/Mentor Connection to help similar programs grow in all parts of Chicago. I still lead that, via Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. This blog is one of the ways I continue to try to help youth tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in Chicago, and around the world. 

I've often been asked to talk at mentor training events, and while I do that, I don't consider myself an expert. What I focus on is "How leaders build and sustain constantly improving programs over multiple years". Training volunteers to be effective tutors and mentors is certainly part of that process, which is why I organized conferences every six months from 1994 to 2015, to help programs connect and learn from each other.

It's also why the library I host includes "training and learning" materials that can be used by program leaders, volunteers and students.

When I am asked to speak to volunteers I share a strategy that I shared in the programs I led. There are four questions that can provide structure for weekly meetings. These are

 1) What was one good thing that you experienced since we last met, and why was that good?

 2) What was one bad thing that you experienced? The answer to this question could dominate the rest of the tutoring session.

 Note. the volunteer is also expected to answer these questions. It helps build trust and relationships. The questions could be part of writing and journaling activities at the start of every week's tutor/mentor session. 

 3) What's happening in school? Do you have any tests coming up, or term papers due? Is there homework that you need help with? 

 Note. We tried to provide volunteers with report cards and case histories so they had some information to guide their planning.  The answer given by each student would lead to what they do with their tutor/mentor over the rest of the tutoring session.

 4) If the first 3 questions don't stimulate activities for the weekly session, then the final question is "what's going on in the world?" Pull up a newspaper and look at any page. Read an article together and ask "is that important to you?" or "what do you think of this?"

These questions can repeat every week, with different answers each time, because as they say, "life happens".  Kids in high poverty areas are exposed to many forms of trauma which often lessens their focus on school and learning. Having someone to help them cope with these issues is really important. It's just as important to have someone share and celebrate the good things, too. 

If volunteers end each session with "What will we do next week?" questions, they then have a structure for following sessions. They can say "We talked about this last week" as a lead in to work they have planned. In the programs I led we also had email newsletters to provide an outline for any planned activities for the coming week, such as special speakers, report card review, upcoming writing activities, holiday parties and/or field trips.

Last December I wrote a long article showing what it takes to make an on-going tutor/mentor program available and that keeps kids and volunteers coming back each week for several years.  

In addition, I've been putting archives of program plans from past years in my Google drive.  Here's the 1989-90's plan.

Here's the Volunteer Handbook for the 1989-90 Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program.  While this is 30 years old some of the tips and guidelines will still apply. 

I hope you find these suggestions helpful. Please connect with me and other tutor and/or mentor program leaders and volunteers on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and/or Facebook and build a network of people sharing ideas and helping each other do more to help kids.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend. 

Helping kids through school: How can we do this better?

This graphic is one I've used often to visualize the goal of helping kids from elementary or middle school through high school and into adult lives through support provided by organized, volunteer-based tutor and/or mentor programs located in all high poverty areas of Chicago and other cities.

For this to happen volunteers need to go beyond being one-on-one and/or group tutors and mentors. They need to help build capacity and get other volunteers involved.

I wrote this article a few years ago to show how volunteers who are well-supported in a tutor/mentor program often grow into leaders. 

Below is a version of the featured graphic from that blog article, using Thinglink to focus on the four elements of the graphic.



Open the concept map at this link.

I first created this graphic for a 2009 article. Than an intern from the University of Michigan, working with a public interest program fellow from Northwestern, created an animation to share this information. That can be seen in this video.

In addition, the Service Learning Loop animation was updated by an intern from South Korea who was part of a program with IIT in Chicago.

You can see the animation in this video.

All three of these graphics and videos are intended to show youth program leaders the importance of recruiting volunteers from many different backgrounds then providing on-going support, training and learning opportunities, so that many stay involved for multiple years and some become leaders and capacity-builders.

I've been posting articles on this blog since 2005 and on this web page since 1998 and in printed newsletters from 1993 to 2003.  From 2006 to 2015 interns from various colleges, including from South Korea, China and  Hong Kong, were encouraged to review these strategy ideas and then create their own interpretations. The two shown above are examples.  See many more at this page.

All of these focus on the "how can we do this better" idea shown in the visualization shown below:

This graphic includes the birth-to-work message, a poverty map, and a leaders wanted message. Leaders are needed in every program, in every high poverty neighborhood, in Chicago and every other big city, to help kids living in concentrated poverty move more safely through school and into jobs.

Here's another article showing the expanded role volunteers need to take to help kids in poverty move through school.   There are many more like this on this blog.

Please read and share them. Create your own versions.

The work interns did for me in the past should be an example and inspiration for youth and leaders in any school or non-school program to create and share their own interpretations of these ideas.  I hope as you head into this holiday season you'll look at these ideas and make a commitment in 2022 and beyond to share them with others.