Edition

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NOTE: throughout this newsletter we use a Tiny URL to shorten long web site addresses so the links do not break.

Issues of the month

* Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago, May 19
* Engage in Deeper Learning. Involve all of your stakeholders.
* What are the different activities included in your Tutor/Mentor Program?
* Enough, is Enough. Expand your network. Expand Your Learning Library.
* President's Message - This month's tutor/mentor news. Where I get my ideas

issue 01

Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago, May 19

The next conference will be held at Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago. Workshops are being organized now. View this list of suggested topics. http://www.tutormentorconference.org/suggestedworkshops.asp

Workshops descriptions have already been submitted by Mars Hill Baptist Church, CB Tutors (showing STEM strategies) and Hannah Holtgeerts an AmeriCorps volunteer at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Commitments have been received from ServeIllinois, TW's Ministries, Kelly Fair of Polished Pebbles, and Deborah Lukovich, http://www.alineaconnect.com/

As speaker commitments are received I'll post the names on this speaker page. An agenda will be posted by early April.

Space is available for 20 workshops. Some need to focus on capacity building, the skills needed to operate on-going tutor/mentor programs. Others need to show activities that could be part of programs. Some should focus on how to recruit and train volunteers. If I've already asked you to present a workshop, please submit your information by the end of February. If you are learning about the conference for the first time, and want to volunteer to host a workshop in one of these topics, please use this form to submit a workshop proposal:
http://www.tutormentorconference.org/forms/presenter_form.asp

issue 02

What are the different activities included in your tutor/mentor program?

The long-term goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, has been to help every volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring program in the Chicago region (and in other cities) get the on-going flow of talent, dollars and ideas required to build constantly improving tutor/mentor programs that have life changing impact on youth living in high poverty and distressed situations. Graphics like you see in this newsletter are included in all of our web sites, blogs, and social media space. Interns from many different colleges have been helping communicate these ideas. See work done by Jan-Feb. 2014 interns at this site.

Image created by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

The Week Three discussion in the Deeper Learning MOOC focuses on project based learning and internships. This type of learning could be part of any organized tutoring/mentoring program if leaders and volunteers embrace the idea.

If you're already doing this type of work, present a workshop at a Tutor/Mentor Conference and show others how you organize this and what impact it has on youth.

Image created by Tutor/Mentor Connection

Following incidents of violence editorial writers often say "Enough", meaning we've got to stop this. See how this was incorporated in a video created by a 2014 intern. This blog article was the inspiration.

New ideas are being added to Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web sites all the time. Below are some categories to add to your own learning library:
Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Links. http://tinyurl.com/TMI-ChiProgramLinks

Research Articles - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-ResearchLinks
Fund Raising, Philanthropy resources - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Library-FundingIssues
Business involvement ideas - http://tinyurl.com/TMILibrary-Business-Involvemet
Process Improvement/Collaboration - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-ProcessImp-Collaboration
Blogs on learning, MOOCs, fund raising, etc. - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Library-Blog-list
Homework Help, Black History Month ideas, etc.- http://tinyurl.com/TMC-Homework-Resources

On each section of the web library you can search for a topic, or browse the list of links. You can also submit new links for inclusion and even write articles about the information added to the web library.

This image is from the front page of a 1980 Montgomery Ward company newsletter, showing a youth and volunteer from the program I had been leading since 1975 and which I joined as a volunteer in 1973.

I did not know anything about tutoring or mentoring when I joined, nor had I lived in a big city and studied urban issues like poverty, racism, social inequality, etc.

It is only by my long-term involvement, and constant learning, from my own experiences, and from the experiences of others, that I have built my own understanding of issues and my own ideas about how volunteer involvement in organized tutor/mentor programs expands the network of adults needed to help youth move through school and into jobs and careers.

In May 2013 I wrote an article about heroes, leaders and introverts. http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-leadership-teams-introverts.html In this article I pointed to am article titled 'Want To Be A Leader? 'Learn To Be Alone With Your Thoughts' in which says William Deresiewicz, speaking to a plebe class at West Point, said that "without solitude, it's hard to arrive at thoughts that are your own, and hard to develop the moral compass and moral courage necessary to act on those thoughts."

All of the ideas shared in this newsletter and on my web sites are intended to support this process of deeper learning that expands our vision and strengthens our resolve so we do what must be done to build and sustain mentor-rich learning programs in all of the neighborhoods where kids don't have access to natural pools of adult support needed to help them in their own learning and journey to adulthood.

In 1982 I received the SunTimes Jefferson Award for Public Service. This week I was interviewed for an article on the Jefferson Award blog as a result of our connecting on Twitter. Read the article.

All of the ideas shared in this newsletter and on my web sites come from more than 40 years of service and learning. All are intended to support this process of deeper learning that expands our vision and strengthens our resolve so we do what must be done to build and sustain mentor-rich learning programs in all of the neighborhoods where kids don't have access to natural pools of adult support needed to help them in their own learning and journey to adulthood.

Connect with me on social media and let's schedule time to meet, or join in the May or November Tutor/Mentor Conferences held in Chicago.

Thank you! You read to the bottom of the page. If you do this every month you are truly dedicated. I'd like to hear from you. Email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net or join one of the forums I've pointed to.

If you can provide dollars, talent, or both, to support the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC please visit this page to learn more.

Best wishes to all in 2014. Good luck to everyone as they launch a new year of tutoring and mentoring.

Daniel F. Bassill, D.H.L
President
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
and Tutor/Mentor Connection