University of Chicago Graduate Student Killed. A Stolen Dream. What's the University Doing? What's Obama doing?

Today's Chicago SunTimes reports the tragedy of a University of Chicago graduate student from Senegal, Africa, being shot and killed by teens living in the area around the University.

This is not the first time such a tragedy has taken place in Chicago. Click here to be reminded of previous stories.

What I'd like to know is why the news media have not yet made the connection to the rich University and the University of Chicago Hospitals, Presidential candidate Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, who as I recall works for the University of Chicago Hospitals, and the lack of significant strategic involvement by the university and its alumni to support the growth of comprehensive, mentor rich, career focused, neighborhood youth programs that might have provided an alternative path for the three young men who chose to go on a crime spree last week.

I've been building a database of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs since 1993 and sharing this information with many information, including the Obamas and others at the University of Chicago. I've been trying to encourage leadership from the university and the hospital that would lead to more and better tutor/mentor programs in the neighborhoods around Hyde Park (60637) where the university is located.

If you search for the 60637 zip code in the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, looking for programs that define themselves as a "mixture of tutor/mentor programs", you'll only find three groups in this area. One is The Blue Gargoyle, located near the University of Chicago. For many years I've received calls from parents and social workers on the South Side of Chicago who were looking for tutor/mentor programs in the area. Many had contacted the Blue Gargoyle first, who then refered callers to us since they could not fill the demand themselves.

You can search a map version of the program locator for the zip codes around 60637, and you'll see that there are very few volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

This has been an issue for many years. Thus, my question is, what's Obama's track record, or what's the university's track record, or strategic plan, for helping more and better tutor/mentor programs grow in this part of Chicago, using the resources of the University, the Hospital, and the rich and powerful alumni of both institutions.

My belief is that if there had been a strategy since 1995 when I begin communicating this information to the hospital and university, and other business leaders in Chicago, there would now be many more tutor/mentor programs in the area, and some of these would be the best in the country (based on the quality of thinking and resources that the university could bring to bear on this issue, using the proposed on the T/MC web site).

Is there a strategy? Do any of the candidates have a strategy?

Let's Redefine Christmas by Putting More Thanksgiving in It.

Today's Chicago Tribune include a full page ad that encourages people to consider giving gifts to charity, rather than to each other. I saw this ad a week ago and was going to write about it.

Anyone willing to spend this kind of money to encourage philanthropy is a hero to me.

However, the first ad apparently used the word "loathsome" and that generated negative feedback. Thus, the second version was rewritten. Eric Zorn wrote about this in his column today, which is what prompted me to take another look.

When I first saw this ad I wondered who sponsored it, and there was some small type saying The Dolio Family Foundation does not solicit donations from the public. In his column today Zorn interviewed Matt Dalio, on behalf of the Dalio Family Foundation, the sponsor of the $2 million campaign. This gave me a greater appreciation of the goals behind the ad.

I just want to say THANK YOU.

If you've read my blog in the past you know how much I'm trying to recruit leaders who will use their visibility, and their wealth, to generate more consistent year-round support for tutor/mentor programs. I don't have an advertising budget, thus having someone like the Dolio Family Foundation step forward and spend their money is great news for me.

I only have one wish. I'd like to have seen them provide a link to a web resource where people could find a list of charities to support, such as you'd find on www.networkforgood.org or www.change.org.

Furthermore, I love to have them review the Program Locator which the Tutor/Mentor Connection is piloting. This is intended to help tutor/mentor programs grow in all poverty neighborhoods, by teaching donors to look at maps showing all the places where programs and donations are needed, then choose what section of the city, or what zip code, they want to help.

Once they have made that decision they can search the Program Locator by zip code, and type of program, age group served, and time of day service is provided, to narrow down their search. This only leaves a few choices in most neighborhoods.

If systems like this were used, the small charities operating in neighborhoods without the high visibility of a Cabrini Green, or a Robert Taylor Housing Development, would have a better chance to get consistent funding and this would enable more comprehensive tutor/mentor programs to grow in all parts of the city.

If leadership like that provided by The Dalio Family Foundation helps long-term charities grow in high needs areas, their gift will have a lasting effect. So will yours.

Customer Service - Key to Volunteer Retention

One of the themes of every Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is volunteer recruitment and retention and one workshop was a panel discussion hosted by leaders of three different Chicago programs. Nicole White wrote about this and included a few photos at this blog.

For programs to provide a high level of customer service, they need to find ways to recruit and retain key leaders who understand the goals and strategies of their program, can build relationships with youth and volunteers, and are able to support the individual needs of each youth and volunteer as the tutoring year moves from September through June.

I feel one of the challenges of going to scale, or of having hundreds of high quality volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs is the difficulty of finding experienced leaders for many different tutor/mentor programs, and to keep these leaders in place for 5-10 years.

One obstacle is lack of consistent, or adequate funding. Many tutor/mentor programs, including Cabrini Connections, work shoestring budgets, thus staff wear many hats, work many hours, and often work with hand-me-down equipment that is not always in good working condition. It's hard to keep good people in these jobs when their skills are so highly valued in the for-profit world.

You can help change that with year end donations, and charitable bequests, to support tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, or in other communities.

However, a second major challenge is that I don't know of any university that is preparing graduates for careers specifically in volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs. If young people apprenticed in tutor/mentor programs as they moved through high school and college, and they took courses in communications, marketing, leadership, as well as education, youth development, psychology, etc., they would leave college ready to take mid level and leadership roles in tutor/mentor programs. Or they might leave college and go into industry, more aware of their pro-active role as a leader and donor in support of individual programs.

If you're thinking of a place to leave a fortune, why not consider a bequest to a university to set up such a training program? It could have an impact all over the country.

No Funds Left Behind

Today there is a story in the Chicago Tribune showing how funds provided by the government via the No Child Left Behind Law are taken away once a school improves its test scores.

This is the thinking that got us into Iraq without a plan to win the peace. In most neighborhoods with poorly performing schools, poverty is the main problem, or English as a Second Language. Just because a school improved test scores does the government think poverty has gone away. It would be great if NCLB were also focused at reducing high school drop outs, or preparing youth for 21st century careers. Then maybe the funding would be more flexible and would continue for decades, not just a few years.

If you've read my blog previously you'll see that I feel a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program should be viewed by business as a workforce development strategy. Volunteer involvement provides learning and networking experience for current workers, and it can help build a pipeline to careers for future workers.

We host a variety of information on this subject on the T/MC web site, and host a conference every six months to draw people together, and to build visibility for tutor/mentor programs throughout the Chicago region.

I've asked people who attended the conference last week to write about it. Read Keith's blog and you will see a few more photos and a few more reasons to get involved with the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

If we can get business to think strategically about tutor/mentor programs, we can innovate new sources of long-term revenue, and reduce our dependency on short sighted (and limited) public funding.

National Football League Alumni Score for Tutor/Mentor Programs in Chicago Region

On Thursday, Nov. 15, Marcus Sullivan, former football star at the University of Illinois, and in the National Football League, helped open the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference. By their participation, they help us draw volunteers and donors to all tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. Using the Program Locator, anyone can choose where they want to be involved, and what programs they want to support. As we approach the year end holidays, we hope you'll all use this resource to make a donation to one or more tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region.

In this photo he is shown with Scott K. Niermann, MPA, SERVE ILLINOIS Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service



On Friday, Bruce Herron, who wore #51 for four years as a linebacker, for the Chicago Bears, talked about the importance of teamwork, in sports, and in life. In this photo Bruce is shown with Daniel F. Bassill, President of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, and LaMarr Johnson, Labor Market Outreach Specialist, IL Dept. of Employment Security.

LaMarr has been a speaker at the past two conferences, and introduced a new State of Illinois web site intended to help young people plan for careers.

LaMarr, Bruce, Marques and everyone who attended the Thursday-Friday conference, are part of a growing team, a network of purpose, working to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs grow in the Chicago region.

In the next few weeks we'll post additional photos from the web site, and talk more about how hospitals, pro sports teams, tutor/mentor programs, lawyers, colleges and youth can work as a team to help young people from economically disadvantaged, and socially isolated parts of America have the expanded network of support they need to succeed in school and move to careers.

Join us on-line to be part of this team. Send your donations to help the T/MC do this work.

It's Conference Day

I'm at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Il. This is where we're hosting the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.

This is the 28th time I've hosted this conference since 1994, and I still get jitters,hoping everything will run smoothly, enough people will attend, and that participants will get value from attending.

Yet, I know from past experience that I've done all I can. It's now up to those who attend to make this conference and this networking work for them. I know from past experience, that just one or two contacts out of a face to face conference can lead to major impacts on an organization.

For instance, in the first conference we started our relationship with lawyers and judges of the Chicago Bar Association. That's led to a Lend A Hand Program that now mobilizes lawyers and judges to be part of tutor/mentor programs all over Chicago. It also raises money to help fund these programs. Yesterday was the annual meeting to review grant requests. Almost $200,000 was awarded to different tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

In another conference, around 1998, I met Steve Roussos. Steve was a PhD student at the University of Kansas and had contacted me saying "I'm coming to Chicago. Can we meet?" I asked when. He said November. I said, "will you do a workshop?" He did, and we've been working together ever since.

In another conference, in around 2000, I met Scot Evanbeck, Dean of University College at IUPUI, in Indianapolis. The http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site was re-built by IUPUI in 2005 as a result of the networking and collaboration that resulted from that first meeting.

In the T/MC OHATS documentation system I've documented actions and networking that has taken place since 1999. Through this you can see how the conferences play a role in bringing people together, share knowledge, and enable each participant to use this knowledge to build their own program, start a new program, or support a citywide strategy of multiple programs.

It's showtime! Got to get dressed and help set up. If you're in the area, why not drop by. If you can't make it, why not join us in the forums on the T/MC web site.

Mentoring Makes A Difference

I was searching Google tonight for articles about mentoring that related to workforce development and found this one titled Mentoring Makes a Difference.

The writer makes a strong case. The question I ask you is, what do we need to do to make effective mentoring programs available in more high poverty neighborhoods, so more kids can participate?

That's a primary reason I invite people to come together every six months for conferences,such as the one we're holding on Thursday and Friday, and to read this blog, or to visit the TMC web site. If we agree mentoring makes a difference, then let's put more time into making mentoring available to more kids.

NFL Players help build Tutor/Mentor Network

Marques Sullivan, former college football star at the University of Illinois and National Football League will be one of the speakers helping to kick off the 28th Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, to be held November 15 and 16, 2007 at the Olympia Fields County Club in Olympia Fields, Il.

Marques Sullivan was a multi-sport athlete at Fenwick High School in Chicago, achieving All-America honors in football during the 1995 season. He was an All-America football player at the University of Illinois and then played for the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and New England Patriots between 2001 and 2004. Having grown up in inner city Chicago, he understand the importance of mentors and coaches in the lives of young people. He is currently involved with many charities in the Chicago area.

Learn more about the conference at http://www.tutormentorconference.org. There is still time to register.

Network Building - Can you do it?

Today on the Smart Communities blog Suzanne Morse wrote about the Tutor/Mentor Connection, drawing from a comment I'd posted on her blog previously. We were introduced to each other about a year ago via the Non-Profit Blog Exchange .

This illustrates how people who care about the same issues can each voice their opinions, using their own blog, and connect their networks to each other, via blog exchanges.

If more people do this every day, we'll soon have an army of people working together to help disadvantaged youth.

Tutor/Mentor On-Line Network - Social Problem Solving

We're holding the next tutor/mentor conference next week in the South Suburbs of Chicago. The map shows that within a 12 mile radius of the Olympia Fields Conference site there are many areas of high poverty where tutor/mentor programs are needed.

We hope leaders of programs that already operate in this region, and in other parts of the Chicago region, will attend. But we also want other leaders to attend.

Our goal is to create a convergence, of business, health care, universities, faith groups, k-12 educators, social workers, lawyers, etc., ... all focused on expanding the learning and mentoring network for k-12 kids living in poverty, with the idea that volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can be a more important strategy to business, hospitals, faith and university leaders.

While we expect leaders of some tutor/mentor programs to attend (see the attendee list), we're not yet getting leaders of business and health care organizations to participate. We know some CEOs understand how volunteerism can be a valuable form of workforce development, and how some health care leaders understand mentoring as a workforce development strategy, however, getting these people into an on-going conversation that turns them into leaders of the Tutor/Mentor Connection's strategy, is not yet happening.

Part of the problem is that most business people don't even know the Tutor/Mentor Connection exists. Those that do are too busy to attend our conferences, or to far from Chicago to attend. This is true for tutor/mentor program leaders, too.

Thus, we've been working to move this networking to the Internet. In the past year more and more social network spaces have become available, which enable people who care about a cause, to connect with others who care about the same cause. We've created discussion forums on the T/MC site. But we also have space on LinkedIn and Facebook. In addition I participate in forums hosted by others, such as the Learning to Finish Wiki, and the Classroom 2.0 community. At MyHealthCareer.net we've started a new outreach with health care professionals.

Each of these communities connects the T/MC to a growing network of others who care about kids just as much as we do. If we can turn this network into a network of purpose, we can solve problems facing non profits, and do more to help kids.

Building collaborations and partnerships and focusing them on long-term goals is a difficult process, in the best of circumstances. I've been building this network for the past 30 years, informally at first, with limited support from foundations, or government. Yet over time we've helped many people build tutor/mentor programs, and many volunteers connect with kids. Here's a timeline that illustrates this growth.

Some where in America, today's papers will report stories of kids being killed, schools that perform poorly, poverty, and other social injustices. If you read one of these, I encourage you to join us in one of the forums I've listed, so you can learn ways you can be part of the solution, or that you can connect your network so they can be part of a solution.

We can become angry about a problem, and hope someone else solves it. Or we can begin to learn more about the problem and become a catalyst who helps make it go away.

Halloween Tragedy. Education Gap Grows. How to respond?

Last week's headlines included a tragic story of a young mother who was shot and killed as she was out trick-or-treating with her three young kids. It was a random shooting, gang related, and too common in Chicago.

As tragic as this was, it did not get as much of a headline as the reports from the most recent round of education test results, showing a continuing gap between the learning or rich and poor in Chicago.

The question is, "who cares?". Do you see the stories of shootings so often that you just read past them? Is the education gap something that is "somebody else's problem"?

The reason I advocate for volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring is that it connects people who don't live in poverty, who have never had to fear for their life as they go to school every day, or walk in a park, or take their kids out for Halloween, on a personal basis with kids and families who deal with these issues every day.

If we can help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs like Cabrini Connections grow in every part of the Chicago region where there are pockets of poverty, we can connect thousands of people with this tragedy and, hopefully, increase the number of people who don't put the paper down when they read these stories, but dig deeper for meaning and understanding, and look for ways to stop this killing.

I write about this often and encourage you to scroll back through the past messages that I've posted. I also encourage you to try to participate in the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, which will be November 15 and 16.

If you can't attend personally, then join us on the Internet, in the T/MC forum, on Facebook, or in other spaces where we can stay connected for many years, or as long as it takes to develop a more sophisticated, and broad based, response to these tragedies.

As you move through the coming week, and read more stories like these, I hope you'll remember this invitation.

NFL stars participate in Tutor/Mentor Conference

Bruce Herron, a former Chicago Bear, and active business leader in the Chicago region, is just one of the speakers participating in the November 15 and 16 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, being held at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois.

Visit the conference web site and review the agenda and list of speakers. You can register on line. Scholarships are available for any who requests them. A few workshop slots are still available, so if you'd like to do a presentation, host a meeting of a business, or community network, or host a display table, email the Tutor/Mentor Connection, or call 312-492-9614

"Two Kids.Five Days. We're living in a crossfire."

The front page story in today's Chicago SunTimes was about the senseless shooting of two more Chicago kids. One was 10. One was 13. A quote with the front page headline reads "We are becoming veterans of doing this. Too many young people are dying for stupid reasons."

In one of my email messages today one of my former volunteers contacted me. She reports that the student she worked with has had one baby. Her sister has had two, maybe three. Both are under 18.

The only good news about this is that the volunteer is still in contact with the teen mother, and with Cabrini Connections. We don't have magic to prevent kids from making decisions that make their life more difficult (or end it), but we can build and sustain an adult support network that will be available as these kids wise up and look for alternatives to the bad decisions they have made.

That's what the conference on Monday was all about. Alternative Schools Network recognizes that there are almost 250,000 kids out of school, and out of jobs. Many of these kids are ripe for recruitment by street gangs, who provide a self esteem and reward negative behavior.

There is no simple, or short term, solution. Another march in the streets, and another headline in the paper, won't change habits that have built up over many years, and many generations.

The only solution I know is a difficult, long road. It's one of getting informed, and getting involved.

We're hosting a tutor/mentor conference on Nov. 15 and 16. That's a place to begin to get informed, as is this blog and the links I post when I write articles. If people visited this blog as often as they go to church or another faith based institution, or as often as they read the newspaper, or watch TV, we'd have a lot more people who were well educated about the problem, and had a wider range of solutions that they could bring into their actions.

However, getting informed, is only relevant if you also get involved. Visit the Chicago Program Links, or the Program Locator, and find a tutor/mentor program in Chicago, or another city, where you can become a sponsor, a volunteer, a leader, a network weaver, or a student.

The more you stay involved, the deeper your commitment becomes, because it becomes more personal, and your knowledge becomes more sophisticated.

As you build a personal understanding of how difficult it is to get kids to participate, stay involved, and to change habits, all of the information you can find on the internet can stimulate your creative side, and lead to new ways that you support a tutor/mentor program, or a youth, with your time, your talent and your dollars.

There's a process to this. I wrote about it here.

Establish a learning group at your college, in your high school, at your law firm, in your synagogue or mosque or in your business. Grow your understanding of the problem and the ways that you can be part of the solution.

Consequences of Dropping Out of School in Illinois

On Monday I attended a Statewide Summit titled Building a System to Re-Enroll Students who Dropped out of School. It was hosted by the Alternative Schools Network.

The research on high school dropout rates is being compiled by The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. Here's an excerpt from the summary document:

Dropping out of high school without obtaining a regular high school diploma has a number of adverse labor market consequences for adults in Illinois, especially for men whose employment rates and real annual earnings have been declining since the late 1970s. On every core measure of labor market success, adults (18-64 years old) in Illinois without high school diplomas are far worse off than their better educated peers. Employment rates of adults (men and women combined) in Illinois during calendar year 2005 were only 55% for high school dropouts versus 69% for high school graduates and 82% for those with a Bachelor’s degree. As a consequence of their lower employment rates and their lower wages when employed, adult high school dropouts in Illinois had mean annual earnings of only $15,650 in 2005 versus nearly $23,000 for high school graduates and over $50,000 for bachelor degree holders.

I encourage you to visit the site and read the full report.

I'm a big fan of the Alternative Schools Network. Jack Wuest has been building this organization for more than 30 years. He can fill a room with political leaders better than most.

I wish I could find a way to link his efforts more strategically with mine so that while we're addressing the needs of nearly 250,000 drop outs in Illinois between the ages of 16 and 24, we can also be developing prevention and youth mentoring strategies that reach young people as early as elementary school so we prevent them from becoming drop outs and do more to help the develop their full potential.

As I sit through meetings like this, I keep a running journal, making comments to myself, and looking for linkages to the speakers that I'm listening to. I thought I'd share with you some of my notes from Monday:

While I was listening to the first panel, with Arne Duncan, Wayne Watson, Mary Ellen Caron, Jesse Ruiz, Geoff Obrzut and Therese McMahon, I looked around and saw more than 200 people. I wrote "How do they connect with each other, or the speakers, during, or after this meeting?"

One of my frustrations for the past couple of years is that while some people can get a crowd in a room, they don't create ways for people of the crowd to connect well with each other, or with the speakers. My goal is that on-line forums would support face-to-face events, thus encouraging more interaction, and more application of the ideas from a conference in real world problem solving.

As I keep working to develop the mapping capacity of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, one goal is to create a Google map showing the participants of specific events.

After the first panel I went to a workshop hosted by Jeff May, a member of the Illinois Task Force on Re-Enrolling Students who Dropped out of School. Jeff listed some goals of the task force:

1) learn who is already working with these youth; what works, etc.
2) don't reinvent the wheel
3) many agencies provide funding, but work in silos. Need more integration
4) the goal of the task force is to find as much as $131 million in funding

During the Q&A with Jeff, the question of Truancy vs Drop Out came up. The task force is focused on those who have already dropped out, not those who might. Jeff gave a insightful definition. A Truant is a "part time drop out" while a Drop out is a "full time truant".

As I listened to the focus on drop outs, and the goal of finding new money, my thought was "What is the strategy to build political support?" My goal of connecting tutor/mentor, youth development, prevention, workforce development and diversity into one goal of helping every youth reach a job is to broaden the base of people who have a self interest or personal connection to the cause.

Senate President Emil Jones was the keynote speaker. He received an award from Alternative Schools Network and lavish praise from Deputy Governor Louanner Peters, who introduced him.

As he talked about the need for a "system to re-enroll drop outs" I wrote, "shouldn't we be talking about a "system to assure that all students, including dropouts, are starting jobs and careers by their mid-20s?" Such a system goes way beyond the thinking of No Child Left Behind.

Jones talked about his youth experiences and the discipline teachers were able to administer, saying "They weren't trying to hurt me; they were trying to get my attention."

That's a lot more difficult in today's environment.

Following Senate President Jones, was a panel of state representatives and state senators. As Kim Lightfoot, who represents the 4th district, spoke I wrote this note "Is the question one of how to reduce drop outs, or re-enroll dropouts" or "is it one of "how to prepare more young people for 21st century careers?"

I reflected on my role at this point in the forum saying "my role is a catalyst. I have limited time to meet people in one-on-one settings. By putting my ideas on the Internet, like I'm doing now, I hope to stimulate the involvement of thousands of people.

I visited the Alternative Schools Network web site this morning before writing this. It has great information on the demographics of drop outs and a database of organizations working with youth who have dropped out.

I don't know how much traffic the site gets, but I hope by writing about the forum and posting the web site, more people will find the site, the research data, and locations where they can get involved as leaders, donors, volunteers, etc.

My goal of networking with ASN and others is that they can draw attention to my sites and tutor/mentor programs, just by putting links on their site, or pointing to this sector when they host their events.

Unless we expand the number of people visiting these sites, reading the research, then finding ways to act, not just as a voter, but by voting with their feet, their dollars, and their time, we won't dramatically change the system of supports for kids who are at risk of being drop outs, or who have already become drop outs.

Why Participate in Tutor/Mentor Conference? Visibility, Dollars, Ideas.

Tutor/Mentor Programs in Chicago who received Lend A Hand Grants at the May 1996 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.

I sent an email to the leader of one of the more sophisticated tutor/mentor programs in Chicago today, and decided to share that letter with the world. I hope you'll read it and make time to be part of the November 15th and 16th Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference being held in the Chicago suburbs.

-----------------------------------
I hope all is well with you and that you've submitted your proposal for the 2007 Lend A Hand Program grants. The size of the grant pool this year is close to $200,000, which is a huge increase from previous years when it averaged around $35,000.

This means you and others who operate volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago will receive larger grants this year, and for the next 10 years (because that's how long the LAH grants should continue at this level or higher!).

This is exactly what I've been trying to make happen since 1993 when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC).

The Lend A Hand Program received a $2 million award last November, focused on funding volunteer based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago at a much higher level than in previous years. This was not an accident. It was the result of a concerted effort by several members of the legal community, which started in 1993 and 1994.

With much more money to award, it will be a challenge to keep LAH funds focused on general operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, but if programs are to grow, and more programs are to start in areas without such programs, we'll need consistent funding from the LAH and we'll need similar funding from other business and philanthropy sectors.

It will take the combined efforts of leaders of many tutor/mentor programs to keep the LAH group focused on funding general operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs, and to encourage other industries to duplicate their lead .... in Chicago, or in other cities.

That's something I would like to talk about with you. That's something I'd like to be talking about with leaders of tutor/mentor programs throughout the country!

In order for leaders in other industries to duplicate the Lend A Hand program, they need to know about this and know why they should become involved. At the Nov. 15 and 16 conference one of my board members, Steve Miller, President of Legacy Mortgage Corporation, is hosting a workshop titled "How business leaders can and should participate in charitable organizations".

I hope leaders of tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region, and in other cities, will encourage one of your board members to attend this workshop, and this conference.

We also want health care people to participate. Last month, I wrote an article titled: Reframing School Drop Out as a Public Health Initiative.

Some programs, such as Chicago Youth Programs, Inc, are wonderful demonstrations of health care involvement in a tutor/mentor program. If these programs host a workshop, or a display table, to show how they have built hospital and health care support, and invite leaders from hospitals in the entire region to attend, this can lead to others duplicating this type of support in more places.

I also hope you'll do a workshop on evaluation. In order to keep money coming to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs we need to develop some outcomes that business leaders understand easily. As you can see from articles like this, I feel that if industry looks at a tutor/mentor program as part of a workforce development, or diversity strategy, they will invest more creatively and consistently.

I think you're further ahead than many on this, which is why I keep inviting you to share what you know vis the conferences.

Having you part of the conference helps with our efforts to motivate people like LAH to support tutoring/mentoring. On the conference web site you can see you can see photos from past conferences where LAH is giving grants to tutor/mentor programs.

I know this is a busy time for leaders of tutor/mentor programs, but the rewards from what the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been doing for the past 14 years are beginning to show up in the increase of funding from a variety of sources.

If we can build on this we can stabilize the resource pool for tutor/mentor programs
all over the region. If other cities duplicate this, and collaborate with each other, we can influence this growth in cities throughout the country.

---------------------------------

If you cannot come to Chicago for a conference, connect with us on-line in blog exchanges, discussion forums, webnars, etc. If you host your own event, link to the T/MC conference, and to web sites of others who also host events. By doing so we create greater traffic of potential volunteers, donors and business leaders through a network of linked organizations. This is essential for building the type of public awareness needed to gain more consistent support for comprehensive, long-term tutoring/mentoring programs operating in high poverty areas around the country.

Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection

Rev. Jackson duplicates Mayor Byrne strategy to call attention to public housing

I'm part of a Non-Profit Blog Exchange this week. What's that got to do with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Public Housing in Chicago, or former Mayor Jayne Byrne.

The story on page 5 of the Chicago Sun Times today is titled "Jackson rips cops at housing complex". The photo shows the Rev. Jesse Jackson with a family at an apartment in the Harold Ickes development on the near South Side of Chicago.

The goal of the Rev.Jackson is to draw attention to the needs of residents living in public housing. He along with 20 area ministers distributed 500 turkeys and other food items and drew attention to the harassment by Chicago Police of residents inside the development. In one quote, the Rev. said "We intend to break up the Gestapo-like techniques used in this area."

Jackson moving into a housing complex reminds me of how Mayor Jayne Byrne did this almost 27 years ago when she moved into a Cabrini Green apartment at a time when gang violence was surging in the the area. I was leading a tutor/mentor program serving kids in the Cabrini Green area at that time and I remember it well.

In fact, a few days prior to the Mayor moving in, I was at a meeting of several church leaders who were talking about what could be done to stop the violence. I remember telling them, "why don't you call on members of your congregations to be leaders, volunteers and donors who support tutor/mentor programs as an alternative to involvement in gangs in these areas." Or, "why don't you vote for elected leaders who do more to make such programs available.

To my knowledge none did much of this, and the Mayor moving into a Cabrini Green apartment did not do much to help my tutor/mentor program get volunteers. I'm not sure anything has changed and that Jackson going into Ickes is going to lead to a faith based effort that draws volunteers, leaders and donors into tutor/mentor programs in the 60616 zip code where the Ickes complex is, or to any of the other high poverty neighborhoods of the city where tutor/mentor programs are needed.

It would be great if when the Rev. Jackson calls attention to the problems of the neighborhood he'd point to the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator and say "search the 60616 zip code, sorting for tutor/mentor programs, serving junior high, or high school youth, and see what programs you can find."

If you do this you'll see six that offer some form of tutoring and/or mentoring to junior high school kids, and just one Boys & Girls Club offering any type of mentoring to high school kids. That means the neighborhood has few alternatives for its kids in the non school hours, other than gangs or hanging out. If you search other zip codes you'll find even few programs in some areas, and more programs in other areas.

There should be good programs in every high poverty neighborhood, for every age group.

When leaders begin to put this message into their own communications, pointing the people who listen to them to places where volunteers and donors are needed, we'll begin to get more consistent support for these programs.

That brings me to the Blog Exchange. A Blog Exchange connects me with another blogger, who I've never met. We look at each other's web sites and write something about what the other is doing. One of my past blogging partners was the Smart Communities blog. As a result of a first introduction, I'm now a contributing member to the Act Now wiki hosted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. This led me to organize my own blog exchange around the conference I host in May and November.

I'm always learning new things when I read what other bloggers are writing.

This time I'm matched with Kivi Leroux Miller's Nonprofit Communications Blog. This was a surprise to me, because this is the blog I point to on my own blog as a path people can go to and learn more about fund raising, philanthropy, marketing, etc., by reading what these bloggers write on their own blogs. Kivi's blog is loaded with good ideas for how to get a message spread to many people. The blogs she links to have a wealth of additional good ideas.

When I visited her blog today I found a section I had never seen before. It's a "how to" for non profit bloggers. Great stuff!!

I'll bet she could condense this article to have the size with twice the impact. I hope she tries.

So what does this have to do with Rev. Jackson and Public Housing. My goal is that many people are using their visibility and writing ability to talk about ways we can solve poverty by building and sustaining comprehensive, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that mentor kids through school and into jobs and careers.

Every time a leader points to the problem, they should point to a solution, just the way Kivi and other bloggers point to web sites of other non profit bloggers. Every time a tutor/mentor program is featured in a news report, they can draw attention to every other program if they just finish their interview with "look here for more information" and point to a web site like the T/MC that links to many other web sites.

Not every tutor/mentor program is equally good at telling their story. I'm over 60 and my writing habits are pretty well set. The only way I can tell my story better is that good writers take me on as their own community service, and tell my story for me. Thus, if students in high school writing classes or college journalism or marketing courses adopt tutor/mentor as a cause, they can spread out and tell the stories of tutor/mentor programs in their city on a daily basis.

This adds up to a growing public awareness that leads more people to be volunteers, leaders and donors in more places, at programs that end poverty, one child in a job at a time.

If you're a Mayor, or pastor, point to the tutor/mentor programs in your community the next time you are delivering a sermon.

Creative Economy 101

The Smart Communities blog has started a Creative Economy 101 discussion.

It references an article in Business Week that I encourage everyone to read, especially the people in industry who are concerned about skill shortages and/or diversity in their workforce, or those people who think kids should be learning to think, innovate and solve problems in public schools, rather than correctly answer the questions on standardized tests mandated by NCLB.

As you read this, thinking about ways the accumulated knowledge of tutor/mentor and business leaders could have a growing impact on building and sustaining connects that influence the choices and habits of young people as the grow up and choose careers. Think about the role leaders in industry might take to support the growth of such places in all neighborhoods where they do business, where they have customers, or where families of employees live.

How would Jesus, or ML King have worked to solve this problem? I wrote about this here, and here.

Here are a couple of essays to stimulate your thinking:

Tipping Points - what are the actions individuals, organizations might take to assure that more youth are entering jobs, careers by age 25?

Theory of Change - What results to we hope to achieve from our actions?

Role of Leaders - what role can business, faith, university and hospital leaders take to achieve this vision, and meet their own workforce development and diversity goals?

Process Improvement and Innovation knowledge base - visit these links and learn from the same people we learn from.

Creating Pipeline to Jobs & Careers

Pipeline to Careers cMap - click here

A couple of days ago I wrote an article about a forum I attended, during which leaders of manufacturing companies talked about workforce development issues.

What I'm concerned about is that business leaders seem to be competing for youth who have reached 10th or 12th grade with the grades and social skills to be able to succeed in an apprentice program, or in a college track.

I think that with the shrinking workforce and competition for skills workers, there won't be enough of these young people to feed the huge economy, and that unless business leaders develop strategies that reach inner city kids, as early as elementary school, this group of young people will continue to drop out before they reach the stage when they would be able to become an apprentice or enter college. Even kids who do graduate from big city public schools may not have the critical thinking and problem solving skills desired by industry, because of the education and policy emphasis of teaching to the tests.

I created a map illustrating my vision that companies encourage volunteers and customers to connect with kids in non school tutor/mentor programs, and that these programs be challenged (and funded) so that they can provide a wider range of enrichment, learning and skill development activities, to go along with tutoring and mentoring.

I'm hosting a conference on November 15 and 16, and I hope business and health care leaders will attend, to discuss ways they can use their resources more strategically to support this pipeline to careers strategy, in multiple locations throughout the Chicago region, and in other major cities, not just in one or two locations.

I hope you'll help me recruit leaders from tutor/mentor programs, as well as from faith groups, businesses, hospitals, colleges and civic groups to participate.

Tips for Mentoring, from program in Australia

I've been encouraging others to share their experience via blogs, and to use blog exchanges as a way of connecting our networks and drawing more visibility, volunteers and operating dollars to all of us.

One leader to take this up is Robin Cox, who leads a program in Australia. His blog has great information, in fact, it's almost a training manual for anyone who is starting or leading a program.

I hope you'll take a look and read it often.

These are the types of experiences we try to share at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference we hold in Chicago. If you're able to participate, the next one is November 15 and 16. I'm still looking for workshop presenters, so please share your time and talent.

Is College the Only Path to a Rewarding Career?

I attended a conference in Chicago today titled Mobilizing to Attract Skilled Workers to High Tech Manufacturing. This was a Program of Swiss Business Hub (USA), the Trade Commissions of Switzerland to the United States.

The speakers talked about the critical skills shortage that will face the US and other countries around the world as their populations shrink over the next two decades and as the baby boomer retire. Dr. Ed Gordon's book the 2010 Meltdown provides an excellent overview of this impending crisis.

What was provoking is that many of these speakers talked as though there were a conspiracy of higher education and government leaders to channel youth from high school into college, while ignoring and under investing in high paid careers in manufacturing. I hope to write more about this later this week, but to start you thinking, here's an essay titled, A Career in Toolmaking or Machining Technologies: The Right Choice for Students, Community and Country, that I hope you'll read .

At the same time, there was also a clear message that high schools, colleges and industry need to be working together on workforce development goals, for the good of the country. I remember a time around 1998 when I was in the office of Gerry Chico, the Chairman of the Chicago Board of Education. On his wall were 10 steps to school reform. Step 6 was "prepare youth for careers". I said to Chico, shouldn't that be steps 1, 2 and 3? He grabbed his assistant excitedly and said "He gets it! He gets it!"

Unfortunately public education leaders and policy makers still don't seem to get it.

Connecting with YouthNet in UK

I'm constantly searching the net to find others who are using blogs and social network forums to link leaders, volunteers and donors with each other in ways that might build relationships or lead to better practices to support the on-going operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

Today I found a discussion hosted by the UK based YouthNet. One question in the article I read was "How do we engage with "the public" more on the issues of transparency, effective ways to give and charity governance?" This is a challenge I feel all the time, but in a broader sense.

How do we cut through all of the media messages that hit all of us every day to get a bit of attention on issues related to helping disadvantaged kids?

How do we get people who already are overloaded with raising their own kids, taking care of parents, dealing with jobs/careers, or concerned with local, national and/or world politics, to spend a few quality minutes each week reading or blogs, or spending time with a youth as a volunteer tutor/mentor?

We don't have advertising dollars to use like big businesses. We can't be like newspapers getting reader attention with headlines that sensationalize bad news.

I don't have an answer, other than linking to blogs where other people are also asking the question and looking for the answer. If you're writing about this, why not write about us in your own blog and let's work together to attract viewers to ours sites.

Honoring a Network Weaver - Steve Habib Rose

I was saddened to hear about the sudden death of a person I've never met face to face, but have grown to know and admire through out many conversations on the Internet. His name is Steve Habib Rose. If you'd like to know more about Steve, and contribute to his memorial, visit http://www.wiserearth.org/group/habibsgarden 

I met Habib in the Omidyar community nearly 2 years ago and over a period of months we began to grow closer together around Network Weaving concepts. Just last week he posted an article on his blog that connected his network to the Tutor/Mentor Connection network: http://group10.sustainapedianw.org/ He started a Network Weaver's discussion on Ned after Omidyar closed. It's at http://www.ned.com/group/networkweavers/news/9/ 

 In one recent conversation he had one of those "aha" moments and realized how many people he knew in Seattle who he might introduce to me and the T/MC. He sent me two introductions in the past week. Steve was a person with one of the most generous spirits that I've met on the Internet, or in the non virtual world.

I think we might have talked only once on the phone, but through many online exchanges we came to know and trust each other. I'm sure that in whatever spiritual world he has gone to he's introducing people to each other, and pointing to us who are still doing this work on earth.

Stop the Violence Discussion on TV tonight

ABC 7 Chicago's Ron Magers and Cheryl Burton will lead a discussion about how to stem the growing tide of violence against the children of Chicago in the half-hour special STOP THE VIOLENCE: LESSONS ALTERNATIVES, Wednesday, September 26th at 10:35 p.m. on ABC 7.

During this follow-up special, Magers and Burton will initiate a conversation with community leaders focusing on education as a key component to helping curtail violence, the impact of active parents on students' education and the role community members can play in creating compelling alternatives to gang activity.

Joining Burton and Magers for the continuing discussion on the best ways to keep our children safe are Arne Duncan, CEO, Chicago Public Schools, (CPS); Diane Latiker, founder, Kids Off the Block ; Phillip Jackson, executive director, The Black Star Project ; and Meredith Rodriguez, education outreach specialist, BUILD Chicago (Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development) .

The special will be featured on-demand at www.abc7chicago.com

We've included a map with this story so that in the follow up to this discussion, leaders will innovate ways to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in all poverty neighborhoods, as a strategy for violence prevention, workforce development and public health.

The three organizations who will be part of the ABC 7 panel are all included in the Chicago Program Links section of the T/MC web site. These programs and the other 190 programs listed ALL need constant media attention, volunteers who serve as tutors, mentors and leaders, as well as flexible operating dollars that can be used to pay for rent, staff, training and other essentials required to make these organizations consistently available to more youth in Chicago, or any other city.

I hope that anyone who is aroused into action because of the ABC 7 report will visit the T/MC web site, join the forums, or attend the November Conference.

After the media turns its attention to another problem, it's up to us to innovate ways to keep public attention focused on this problem.

Reframing School Dropout as a Public Health Issue

"Good education predicts good health, and disparities in health and in educational achievement are closely linked," writes Nicholas Freudenberg and Jessica Ruglis, in an article posted at http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htm

The authors write "If medical researchers were to discover an elixir that could increase life expectancy, reduce the burden of illness, delay the consequences of aging, decrease risky health behavior, and shrink disparities in health, we would celebrate such a remarkable discovery. Robust epidemiological evidence suggests that education is such an elixir. Yet, health professionals rarely identified improving school graduation rates as a major public health objective, nor have they systematically examined their role in achieving this objective."

Last week I wrote about my participation in the Pathways into Health conference. I encouraged participants to continue to network via on-line forums.

In the Freudenberg/Ruglis article one recommendation was to target schools and cities with the most serious dropout problems for intensive intervention, saying "in more than 20 cities at least three-quarters of high school students attend schools where fewer than 60% of students graduate". Graduation rates for 10 largest public school districts are included in the report. In Chicago the 2001 graduation rate for African Americans was 42.1% and for Hispanic youth was 50.8%.

I'd go further and encourage them to use maps to show where poverty and poorly performing schools are concentrated in these cities, to create marketing plans that distribute solutions into each of these neighborhoods.

In their conclusion, Freudenberg/Ruglis wrote, "seldom have health and education professionals been in a better position to work together to achieve common goals. Rarely has a single problem -- high drop out rates -- contributed to so many adverse social, economic, and health conditions."

I read this article with enthusiasm and I hope it stimulates other health care professionals to look outside the box for partners and solutions to the drop out problem.

However, outside of the box means outside of the school building, and the non school hours, not just non-traditional thinking.

In previous blogs I've pointed to the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools as a leader in a movement to make learning supports a part of public education policy.

In my writing, my only criticism with these articles has been that solutions have tended to be primarily school-based. Even when the Freudenberg/Ruglis article talks about connecting young people to caring adults, they tend to emphasize building connections with adults at the school, and not in the non-school hours when kids can connect with adults who hold jobs and work in other careers beyond education and social services. Cabrini Connections is an example of such a program.

In the 10 biggest cities poverty is a root cause of poorly performing schools and the number of kids living in poverty neighborhoods is well over 100,000. I enthustically encourage education and health leaders to connect their strategies.

However, I also feel they need to connect with business and workforce development leaders and look at the non-school hours and non-school locations as times and places when adults can connect with kids in long-term mentoring and tutoring programs.

Such connections can expand the network and skills of adults involved who model a diversity of different aspirations and career opportunities, and can expand the number of people who are personally connected to these kids, and care enough to give time, talent and dollars to build and sustain comprehensive systems of support.

We can, and should, make these connections in Internet forums. However, we can also connect in face to face events. We're hosting a Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in the South Suburbs on Nov. 15 and 16.

If you have read this far, you're interested. I hope you'll bring your network to the conference.

What does it take for a student to succeed?

Nicole White, who is a Public Service Fellow from Northwestern University wrote a summary of an article by Paul Tough in the New York Times Magazine, titled "What it takes to Make a Student.

You can read Nicole's article here.

In the conclusion to Tough's article he challenges us to consider whether we have the will power to build the types of programs needed to reach and help more kids get the type of learning support they need to compete with more affluent kids. I think this challenge should be one of how do we provide the resources to help these kids compete with kids in China, India and other countries who are doing more to prepare their kids for 21st century jobs.

The reason I support volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring is not that it expands the network of adults working to help kids move through school and into careers, but that the involvement of volunteers in the lives of these kids can expand the number of adults who are personally connected and willing to sacrifice more to help kids who are not their own.

Unless we expand the number of people personally involved, and reading articles like Tough's, we'll never have the national will-power to make the investments in learning and mentoring that are needed all over the country.

Agree? Don't agree? Why not come to the November Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference and connect with others who operat tutor/mentor programs, or who understand how important they are to workforce development and diversity strategies.

Pathways Into Health Conference, Sept. 14, 2007 in Chicago

I've been invited to be part of a mentoring panel at a Pathways Into Health conference being held in Chicago this Friday. This is a unique event focused on the ways distance learning, on-site education and cultural integration can support the positive youth development of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

I'm involved because the challenges of building and sustaining programs that are in all the places they need to be, and that connect youth with a variety of mentors and age-appropriate learning opportunities, are the same challenges we face in big cities. The primary differences are geography and population density.

Furthermore, I'm interested in helping health care professionals become more strategically involved in supporting the growth of tutor/mentor programs, as part of their own diversity, workforce development, and poverty reduction strategies. Leading actions that motivate young people to make more healthy decisions can lower the emergency room costs of many inner city hospitals, and in some cases make a difference between staying in business or ceasing operations. Providing mentors and learning experiences that help young people build aspirations for careers in health care, can help meet some of the workforce needs of these same hospitals, lowering their costs of attracting and keeping key employees.

Thus, this is a good place for me to network. I've posted my introduction on my web site. I also have invited others who will be part of this conference to introduce themselves by posting a comment on this blog message. Thus, even if you won't be in Chicago this Friday, you can meet some of the people who will be attending.

Ways to Work Together

School started in Chicago today and CPS leaders did everything they can to get kids into class for the first day. At the same time, the Chicago Tribune did the third of a 3-day feature talking about the work of a teacher in one of the Chicago schools that was completely re-started last year.

Small non profits around the city are also getting started. However, they don't have the advertising dollars and visibility of CPS, and the local paper's not doing feature stories on how youth and volunteers connect in tutor/mentor programs. Thus, many neighborhood programs will not be as successful at attracting volunteers, or donors, meaning kids attending some of these schools won't have the extra adult support that a non-school tutor/mentor program might provide.

That can change. This summer a student from Hong Kong Baptist University was a volunteer with the Tutor/Mentor Connection. He converted one of my pdf essays to flash animation, and I encourage you to view it and show it to your friends, co-workers and church leaders.

One shows a service-learning loop in which volunteers who become involved often reach out to enlist others. (Editor note: this animation was created in 2011 to update the original created in 2007.  2017 update. This video was created to show the animation, since Flash is no longer supported on many browsers.)

You can find the pdfs in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library section of our web site.

These illustrate ways people in different cities, or different countries, can work together to create business and philanthropic leadership that supports tutor/mentor programs in many cities, not just in one or two high profile places in a big city like Chicago.

Another way people can help is by directing a workplace fund raising donation to Cabrini Connection, Tutor/Mentor Connection, or to your own program. Here's another example of animation used to create an ad that we'll be sending out via email to ask our volunteers to help us increase workplace donations.

I hope you are able to borrow these ideas to help you in your own tutor/mentor program. And I encourage you to share your own strategies, via blog links, or by participating in the November 15 and 16 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.

If we link our strategies via the Internet, we can do much more to help kids in our communities than if we continue to operate in isolation.

National Service Feature in TIME magazine

There is a nice special section on National Service at http://www.time.com/service

I encourage you to read it and share your thoughts. The timing is good because my hope is that this article encourages more people to think about ways they can volunteer in a tutor/mentor program. If you're someone who is reading because of this article, you can use the Chicago Program Links and Program Locator to find information about places in the Chicago region where you can volunteer, or make a financial donation to support a tutor/mentor program.

While it's great that TIME has created this focus, I feel we need to expand the discussion beyond getting volunteers involved, to keeping them involved for the many years, many places, and many ways, it takes to help a youth move from elementary school to a first job.

Did you read the TIME article? What are your thoughts?

Learn about Cabrini Connections. View new video on YouTube

School is starting and Cabrini Connections, like all other volunteer based tutor/mentor programs, is seeking volunteers, and donors. While we're looking for people who will spend one evening a week as a one-on-one tutor/mentor, we're also looking for people who will use their talent to help us.

Here's an example. Rebecca Parrish has created a new video about Cabrini Connections, which you can view at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQWwkgRjfO0

If you email this to friends, co-workers, family and alumni, in Chicago, and in other cities, some will support us with time, talent and/or dollars and we'll be able to continue to offer this service for another year.

At the end of the video is a link to the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site. If you search for tutor/mentor programs using the Program Locator or find a program section, you'll be able to find places throughout Chicago where you can use your time, talent or dollars to help kids.

We don't make the world better by talking about its problems. We make it better by contributing to its solutions.

Please be a contributor.

Help Recruit Volunteers for Tutor/Mentor Programs

Here is an ad that was created for me by some volunteers several years ago. I use it and two other cartoon images because it illustrates how someone can help a youth, as a mentor, tutor, friend, or by using their talent to help a tutor/mentor programs connect additional tutors and mentors.



This is a different version. It also points to the Tutor/Mentor Connection's web site where people can find information on how to start a program, or where they might volunteer, or enroll a child. However, this is one that a business can put on its web site, or in local media or a trade magazine.

Just put your logo in the middle of the ad, and you're showing your support for tutoring/mentoring.

If hundreds of businesses do this over the next few weeks, thousands of volunteers will become part of tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities around the country.

Staying Alive. An issue for Chicago Public School Students

I encourage you to visit the http://www.district299.com/ blog and read the articles posted on August 17 titled, "Youth Violence & CPS-- A View From Afar"

Links in this article go to newspaper articles in Australia that reflect on the violence in Chicago. This is how the rest of the world sees us.

My vision is that the rest of the world would look at places like http://www.cabriniconnections.net where adults from the Chicago region are connecting with inner city teens in structured, non-school tutoring, mentoring, learning and enrichment programs.

In the Chicago Program Links section of the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site you can find links to many other tutor/mentor programs who also connect youth and adult volunteers.

In many of these programs there are a wealth of stories about kids who have changed the direction of their lives because of the involvement of a caring adult. Such involvement is not consistently possible if there are no structured programs (meaning rent, utilities, staff, technology, etc. and a long-term vision of helping kids stay in school and move to college and careers) .

Here's a presentation that illustrates this structure.

Most CPS education strategies don't focus much attention, or many resources, on making tutor/mentor programs available in every poverty neighborhood. However, that's the mission of the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

All of the tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region, and in other cities, are now looking for new volunteers, and donors, to launch the 2007-08 school year. You can help them find these roles if you take on the role described in this Collaboration Strategies presentation.

We can change what is written about us by changing what we're all doing to help inner city kids.

Average CPS freshman: 19 absences, 2.6 F's - Wake Up Chicago!

The Wednesday, August 15, 2007 Chicago SunTimes featured a story on page 16 that to me should have been on page one. According to a research report produced by the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research, titled What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools

The SunTimes article stated that "the AVERAGE for all 2004-05 freshmen in Chicago Public Schools was 19 absences and 2.6 F's."

At one school the average was 44 days missed! The report ties early failure with later dropout rates.

The authors of this report "examine how school practices affect students’ grades, failure rates and attendance. Students' grades and attendance are particularly better than expected in schools characterized by two features—supportive relationships between teachers and students, and a perception among students that the work they are doing in high school is preparing them for the future."

What scares me is that the responses to this are band-aids, like confining students to one floor of a school, or creating later start times.

No one is talking about systemic change of reaching these students as early as first grade with mentoring, social and emotional learning, arts and enrichment activities intended to build student aspirations and motivations so that when they get to high school they are more prepared to learn.

There are people who are writing about learning styles. Click here, here, and here for a few examples.

These are just a few of the resources on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site that adults can learn from so that the strategies for building student aspirations engage more community stakeholders, start earlier, last longer, and reach the kids who are most disadvantaged because of high poverty surrounding them and their community.

Until writers, community and business leaders, parents and non profits begin to form study groups, and build their own learning habits, too few people will ever read the research and policy as well as philanthropy and community service decisions will be based on sound bytes, not sound strategy.

I outlined a learning strategy in a blog titled ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I show how tutoring/mentoring is a way to engage adults in this learning, in this animated presentation found on the home page of http://www.tutormentorexchange.net.

Mapping a Strategy to Expand Tutor/Mentor Programs In South Suburbs of Chicago

This maps shows a 12 mile radius around the Olympia Fields Country Club in the Southeast part of the Chicago region. It indicates areas of poverty concentrations from 5 to 40%, and shows locations of poorly performing public schools in Illinois (we don't have this info for NW Indiana yet).

If you search the Tutor/Mentor Links Library or Tutor/Mentor Chicago Program Locator, you won't find many volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the area this map highlights. This either means we don't know about them, or they don't exist.

If there are programs that are not in our database, you can email tutormentor2@earthlink.net and we'll show you how to add a program. As school is starting over the next few weeks, being listed will help you attract volunteers and will help parents, teachers and social workers find programs where they can enroll kids. We also hope that business and philanthropy leaders will use this information to develop funding strategies that support multiple programs throughout this regions.

If there are only a few programs, and we think this is the case, we invite you to gather in November for the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, where you can meet leaders of programs, network with others who are trying to start programs, and connect your business and church volunteer strategy with a strategy that helps build more and better tutor/mentor programs in this region.

Research shows that connecting youth in long-term mentor relationships with caring adults can make a difference, however, without places where kids and volunteers can meet, and resources to support this process, too many kids will grow up without this type of support.

You can make a difference. Get involved. Get your company, fraternity, college, hospital or law firm involved.

Do a Mitzvah Every Day. Lawyers in Chicago Celebrate Involvement in Tutor/Mentor Programs

Yesterday was one of the special days of the year for me. I attended the 4th Annual My Hero Award Luncheon, hosted by The Sun-Times Judge Marovitz Lend A Hand Program of the Chicago Bar Association.

More than 200 high profile lawyers, judges and leaders of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs gathered to recognize the involvement of individual attorneys and judges, as well as the involvement of law firms and law associations in tutoring/mentoring programs operating throughout the Chicago region.

The event honors the memory and example of Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, who inspired the creation of the Lend A Hand Program in 1993, and who enabled it to grow with a generous gift from his estate when he died in 2002. The keynote speaker, Joseph A Morris, President of the Lincoln Legal Foundation told stories of Judge Abe, and emphasized his commitment to do something to help someone every day. "Do a Mitzvah every day." was his message.

A poem that the Judge quoted often, titled At Day's End, illustrated this commitment.

What makes this event special is that it not only honors the effort of individual volunteers as tutors/mentors in programs like Midtown Educational Foundation and Inspired Youth, but it recognizes the efforts of volunteers who sit on boards and who help raise money to fund tutor/mentor programs throughout the city and suburbs. The law firm of DLA Piper US LLP was recognized as "Law Firm Program of the Year" because of how it encourages so many of its attorneys to get involved with programs throughout the city, not just one or two high profile programs.

When Karen Wallace received her "Making a Difference Award" she quoted from W.E.B DuBois, who said "the right to learn is our most fundamental civil right". You can read that quote here, as part of a longer article about changes that need to take place in public education if pool and minority students in high poverty neighborhoods of all big cities are to have this right.

Judge Abe said, "Do a Mitzvah every day."

I hope that anyone who reads this will find a way to share this message in their own actions, becoming personally involved, and enlisting others to get involved. If you use your own communications tools -- a blog, a company newsletter, public presentations, etc. --- more people will spend time over the next four weeks searching out volunteer, leadership and donor opportunities in Chicago area tutor/mentor programs as school is beginning to start for the 2007-08 school year.

The result will be that more youth are on this path to learning and careers, and more lawyers, doctors, engineers, and other business sectors are working to build the infrastructure needed to support volunteer opportunities in constantly improving tutor/mentor programs, in Chicago, and in every other city of the country.

Volunteer Recruitment Campaign Planning Meeting

On August 14th at 2pm the Tutor/Mentor Connection will host an open meeting to discuss ways Chicago programs and businesses can work together to increase the number of volunteers who join tutor/mentor programs this fall. The meeting will be held at Literacy Volunteers of Illinois, 30 E. Adams, Suite 1130. If you can attend, email tutormentor2@earthlink.net

If you can't attend, contribute to the planning, and the public visibility, by participating in on-line forums. Read Nicole White's blog and you'll find Links to on-line forums in MySpace, FaceBook, and at Ning.com. Nicole is a 2007 Northwestern University graduate, who is serving a one year Public Interest Program Fellowship with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Read about the goals of the recruitment campaign.

Complex problems require complex solutions

I encourage you to read the article posted on the Smart Communities blog today. It says "We have big problems in this country and we need the free and creative thinking of foundations, government, and non-profits to help shape solutions." Read more.

Sharpton, Nike, Media = Leadership Opportunity

Today's Chicago SunTimes has a story of how the Nike corporation has reached a $7.6 million settlement to a class action lawsuit that accused Nike of racial discrimination in the way they treated customers and promoted minority employees.

It also has a front page story and several inside articles and editorials about the Rev. Al Sharpton coming to Chicago. On the Opinion page the editorial writers offer a "To Do" list of societal problems that Sharpton should address. These include a) school funding, b) gun violence, c) absentee fathers.

My wish list goes like this: Sharpton targets businesses like Nike who make a profit by selling products to minority youth, and motivates them to develop leadership strategies that encourage employees and customers to be volunteers, donors and leaders in volunteer based non-school tutor/mentor programs located in the Chicago region.

He can start right now by helping us mobilize volunteers and donors to support tutor/mentor programs as the new school year is starting. Getting a youth and adult connected in mid September might mean the difference between a youth staying in school and graduating, or a youth joining a street gang, dropping out, and .....

Rev. Sharpton and Nike can both use the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, and Chicago Program Links to determine what tutor/mentor programs are operating in Chicago. In their news interviews, speeches and advertising, all they need to do is encourage listeners to use these internet resources to shop for where they get involved.

Oh, there's one more thing they can do. Most class action lawsuits have money left over. Maybe Rev. Sharpton could encourage Nike lawyers to award that money to the Tutor/Mentor Connection so that we can continue to maintain that database of Chicago programs so that it stays a resource that anyone in Chicago can use to help find a tutor/mentor program, or to help new programs form in areas where none exist.