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Use the ideas and
resources shared monthly to help
youth in your zip code have
opportunities to participate in
well-organized, mentor-rich,
non-school programs.
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Who Is Helping
Recruit Volunteers for
Tutor and Mentor
Organizations in your
City?
The ideas shared in
this monthly
newsletter can be
used by youth
organization
leaders, resource
providers, political
leaders,
universities,
volunteers and youth
to help mentor-rich
programs thrive in
all of the
neighborhoods where
they are most
needed.
While I try
to send this only
once a month, I
write
blog articles
weekly. In
the sections below I
post links to a few
of the articles
published in the
past month. Spend a
little time each
week reading the
articles and
following the links.
Use in group
discussions with
people who are
concerned about the
same issues. Create
a blog like this
sharing your own
ideas.
Encourage
friends, family,
co-workers to
sign up to
receive this
newsletter. Click
here.
(If you
subscribe, don't
forget to
respond to the
confirmation
email)
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School Starts
Again in a Few
Weeks. Every Youth
Tutoring, Mentoring
and Learning Org is
Looking for
Volunteers.
What can businesses,
faith groups, media,
celebrities, etc. do to
help?
From 1995 to 2002 the
Tutor/Mentor Connection,
which I founded in 1993,
organized a Chicagoland
Tutor/Mentor Volunteer
Recruitment Campaign,
intended to help every
youth serving
organization in the
Chicago region attract
volunteers as the school
year was starting.
One strategy was to
develop sample ads, that
could be placed in media
by businesses, faith
groups, etc. In the
graphic above, I show
the ad in the EXTRA
newspaper, along with a
template that programs
could use in 2016. Such
ads can point to the
list of programs I've
been maintaining, or to
other places which also
host lists of programs,
or just to a single
program's web site.
This link points to
several different sites
where people can search
for volunteer
opportunities in the
Chicago region.
Since it's mid July
already, many volunteer
recruitment strategies
should already be in
place. It's time to
execute those
strategies. However,
since this is an annual
event,
this page on my web
site shows the
strategies I developed
in the 1990s.
While these focus on
Chicago, they can be
applied in any city.
I'd be happy to serve
as a consultant or
resource.
Here's
a blog article I
wrote in July, focusing
on volunteer recruitment
and the need to
collaborate, or work
collectively, to
mobilize more
volunteers, and donors,
to support youth serving
organizations throughout
a big city like Chicago.
If you'd like
PDF copies of sample ads
shown above, email me
using the address below.
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What's Happening
at Chicago area
Tutor and Mentor
Organizations?
How much do you
connect and learn
from your peers? How
do you tell your
story on the
Internet?
One way I stay
informed is by
looking at what
Chicago area
tutoring and/or
mentoring programs
are putting on
Twitter and/or
Facebook, as well as
what they are
putting on their web
sites.
Connecting
with other programs
on Facebook.
The easiest way to
learn what other
programs are doing
is to look at their
Facebook pages. The
way I've done this
is to look at web
sites of programs I
maintain on
this list. I
find their Facebook
link, and then visit
their page and click
on the "like"
button. I've created
a list of
programs on Facebook,
so this would be
easier for others to
do.
Then, on a regular
basis, daily or
weekly, I just click
on the Pages
Feed
button, on the left
side of my home
page, and scroll
down through the
listings to see
what's being
posted.
Several Chicago
youth organizations
are very consistent,
and creative, in
sharing photo
stories on a regular
basis. Spend time
looking at these and
add the ideas to
your own
communications
strategy.
You can also
follow what Chicago
and national youth
serving
organizations are
sharing on Twitter,
by clicking on my
TMPrograms list,
then scrolling
through what's being
posted.
Unfortunately, only
a few Chicago
programs are active
on Twitter. My list
includes
organizations from
around the country,
so don't limit where
you look to find
ideas for your own
organization.
Looking at
program web sites
( here's
my list)
provides the most
information about
individual youth
serving
organizations. I
organize my list by
sections of the city
and suburbs to make
it easier for
parents, volunteers,
donors, etc. to find
programs near where
they live or work.
Many of the web
sites are full of
information. Some
don't have as much.
Thus, most
organizations are
constantly
struggling to find
resources.
My vision
has been that a
program's web site
should serve as it's
grant proposal,
and that donors and
volunteers should be
educated to seek out
programs in
different parts of
the city and
suburbs, in response
to negative news or
other reminders. I
created this
SHOPPER GUIDE PDF
to show a list of
things that I feel
should be included
on a web site, to
fully inform site
visitors. Very few
organizations
actually include
most of this
information on their
web sites.
One
opportunity that
most programs miss,
is using blogs to
share their vision,
successes and
challenges with each
other and with the
public. If you
browse articles I've
posted since 2005,
I'm pretty open
about what I'm
trying to
influence. If you
look at
this blog on the
AllStars Project
web site, and click
into the video,
you'll see a clear
statement of some of
the challenges
non-school youth
development programs
face. I would
like to be able
expand this
list of blogs,
where leaders of
tutoring and
mentoring programs
are sharing their
own ideas in a
similar way. Send me
your blog address
and I'll add it to
the list.
Recommended
Reading:
* Some focus on
the act of tutoring
or mentoring. I
focus on the
infrastructure.
click here
* Reducing
poverty and
inequality. Four
strategies to repeat
daily -
click here
* All Lives
Matter. Black Lives
Matter.
click here
* War on
Poverty. A Role
Anyone Can Take
-
click here
As we enter the second
half of 2016 the
conditions that
motivated us to create
the T/MC in 1993 still
exist. However, because
we have a 20 year
history, new leaders
have a wealth
of ideas to follow if
they want to take on
this intermediary role.
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Are You Part of
On-Line Learning
Communities?
In order to
overcome the huge
challenges we face
as we try to help
youth move through
school and into
adult roles free of
poverty, we need to
be learning from
many others.
I started
connecting with
peers in other
Chicago tutor/mentor
programs in the mid
1970s
because I was
looking for more
ideas to help me
lead the program at
Montgomery Ward.
I started connecting
with people from
around the world,
via the Internet, in
1997, for the same
reason. I've been
trying to bring
peers from
Chicagoland into
this on-line
learning environment
since launching my
first Tutor/Mentor
Connection web site
in 1998.
As we
connect, build
relationships, and
learn from each
other, and
identify common
challenges, my
vision is that we
learn to work
collectively to
overcome those
challenges.
The home page of
that first
www.tutormentorconnection.org
web site included
this graphic,
illustrating the
goal of connecting
people and ideas
from many different
sectors. If you
browse the
four sections of
the current
Tutor/Mentor web
library, you'll find
ideas from more than
2000 web sites. If
you click here,
you'll find a " talent
needed" map,
similar in purpose
to the graphic shown
above.
The amount
of information
available on the
Internet is
overwhelming.
The time available
to spend learning is
still limited by a
24 hour day, with
sleep, eating, work
and family taking up
most of those hours.
Thus, finding
other people who can
help you find what
you're looking for,
when you are
looking, is a really
valuable skill.
The
map at the top
of this section
shows participants
in a
2016 Connected
Learning MOOC, #clmooc.
It's an on-line
network of educators
and learners from
around the world.
We connect in a
Google group, on
Twitter, on Facebook,
and in a wide range
of other mediums. I
first joined this
group in 2013 and
have participated
each year since
then, building
stronger
relationships with a
few other
participants each
year. View blog
articles showing
some of these
connections, at
this link.
For the past
couple of years,
I've been concerned
about how few people
from Chicago and
other big cities
show up on the
CLMOOC map.
I've also been
concerned that I
cannot find other
on-line gatherings
with a large
participation of
Chicago youth
serving
organizations,
donors, evaluators,
etc. If only a few
of us from Chicago
are participating in
these online
communities, and
connecting with each
other, how can we
impact the lives of
thousands of youth
who need extra help
to overcome the
challenges of
concentrated
poverty? So, if
you're reading this,
and interested, I
encourage you to
visit
this site, learn
more, and sign up.
It is FREE.
Then, I hope a few
will visit the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC web
site and read about
the
eLearning goals
that I first posted
in 2004 and which
still drive my
efforts. I'd like
to see a cMOOC type
on-line event held
at four key times
each year, such as
during
August/September
when we're all
looking for
volunteers, with
maps showing
hundreds of
programs,
volunteers, donors
and business
volunteers, involved
in the sharing and
learning.
If you'd like to
help make this
happen, please reach
out to me.
Recommended
reading:
* Building
Knowledge Base to
Support Youth
Development -
click here
* Learning from
Others. Web
Libraries -
click here
* Connecting
with Chicago area
Universities - Since
1994 -
click here
* Asking the
Right Questions.
Using Map Stories -
click here
Search Google for
"tutor mentor" and
any of the words in
the tag cloud shown
on
this page
. Find many more
ideas I've shared in
Internet
communities.
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Resources to Help
You Locate Tutor
and/or Mentor
Programs in the
Chicago region.
Use these
lists to find
contact information
for non-school
tutor, mentor and
learning programs in
Chicago region.
Chicago Program list
- http://tinyurl.com/TMI-ChiProgramLinks
Map showing
locations of Chicago
Programs -
click here
Facebook pages for
Chicago area youth
programs -
click here
Map showing
intermediaries
supporting Chicago
youth serving
organization -
click here
Facebook list of
intermediaries - click
here
Map pointing to
other resources to
use in finding
volunteer
opportunities in
Chicago, and other
cities -
click here
To add,
correct or update
information email me
using the address
shown below.
Is anyone else
maintaining this
type of resource
library in Chicago,
or in other
cities? If you're
not in Chicago, and
have someone
maintaining program
lists like I do, you
can duplicate the
same actions and
strategies as I'm
sharing with people
in Chicago.
If you'd like my
help to develop your
strategy, I'm
available.
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Tutor/Mentor
Connection, Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC
Merchandise Mart PO Box
3303, Chicago, Il 60654
tutormentor2@earthlink.net
| http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Want to
contribute to help keep
this resource available?
Click here.
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