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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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July - August
2017 - Issue 160
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Who is Helping
Volunteer-Based K-12
Tutor/Mentor
Programs Grow?
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 or
earlier.
I
encourage
you to
spend a
little
time
each
week
reading
these
articles
and
following
the
links.
Use the
ideas
and
presentations
in group
discussions
with
other
people
who are
concerned
about
the same
issues.
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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Almost anyone
can help
mobilize
volunteers and
donors to
support youth
tutor and mentor
organizations.
Who is helping?
With
school
starting
in
another
three to
five
weeks
every
tutor/mentor
program
will be
looking
for
volunteers.
Supporting
Youth
Tutor/Mentor
Programs
Throughout
City -
read
article
During the 35 years
I led a
volunteer-based
tutor/mentor program
in Chicago my July
was spent putting
the final touches on
my August and
September volunteer
and student
recruitment
campaigns. While
beginning a new
program aimed at
helping teens in one
neighborhood, I
started the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection (T/MC) in
1993 to help every
tutor/mentor program
in Chicago attract
volunteers, and
donors, not just
my own program.
This graphic is one
that illustrates the
intermediary role
the T/MC has taken.
It's also a role
that I hope people
in businesses, faith
groups, social and
alumni groups,
media,
entertainment,
sports and politics
will take.
Q: Who are
"Those who need
help?"
A: Any
organization that
involves volunteers in
organized tutor, mentor
and learning intended to
help k-12 youth succeed
in school and in life.
Since 1994, the T/MC has
maintained a list of
non-school tutor/mentor
programs operating
throughout Chicago ( see
list). The T/MC
goal has been to educate
volunteers and donors to
become shoppers, who
seek out youth
tutor/mentor programs,
based on where programs
are located, and what
programs show on their
web sites and social
media pages.
That means it's
important for
organizations to keep
their web sites and
social media pages
updated, with stories
showing what they do,
why they do it, who they
serve, how long they
have operated, and what
help they need. This
Shoppers Guide
offers some suggestions.
Not all programs
are equally good at
telling their story.
Thus, there's an
opportunity for
volunteers with
communications,
marketing, technology
and public education
backgrounds to help
programs do this work.
You might not have time
to be a one-on-one tutor
or mentor, but your
talent might enable
hundreds of people to
take that role.
Below are a
few links to
articles that expand
on this topic.
I encourage you to
read these and start
a conversation
within your
organization about
how to implement
some of these.
* Helping urban
youth: A shared
vision needed -
click
here
* Planning needed to
fight war on poverty
- click
here
* What are
candidates for
Illinois Governor
promising? - click
here
If you're
writing articles
like these and
sharing them on a
blog, please send
your web address to
tutormentor2@earthlink.net
so I can add you to
the T/MC web
library.
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Role of Organized
Tutor/Mentor
Programs in
Connecting Rich and
Poor Neighborhoods
of Chicago region
A
growing number of
articles are using
maps to show the
geographic
separation of rich
and poor in the
Chicago region.
See blog article
with map shown
above - click
here
This
image
was
in a
July
article
posted
in
Crain's
Chicago
Business,
under
the
headline
"Rich
neighborhood,
Poor
Neighborhood".
Maps
can
show
where
people
in
an
urban
or
rural
area
need
extra
help.
They
can
also
focus
attention
and
support
on
organizations
already
operating
in
these
areas.
For
this
to
work,
people
need
to
be
creating
stories
that
draw
attention
to
the
maps
and
motivate
actions
such
as
volunteering,
donating,
voting,
etc.
Youth
can
learn
to
create
and
tell
these
stories,
building
marketable
skills
for
themselves,
and
building
support
for
existing
youth
serving
organizations
in
different
areas.
Read
more
in
this
T/MC
blog
article
Browse
these
articles
on the
MappingforJustice
blog
to see
more map
stories
showing
the
geographic
inequality
in
Chicago.
Learning
from
others
is
on-going.
The
graphic
at
the
right
shows
some
of
the
types
of
learning
and
mentoring
that
takes
place
in
different
youth
serving
organizations
in
Chicago
and
around
the
country.
If a
youth-serving
organization
has
a
computer
lab,
an
arts,
writing
and/or
video
creation
program,
or
involves
volunteer
tutors
from
different
Chicago
area
businesses,
they
are
connecting
people
who
don't
live
in
poverty
with
youth
and
families
who
do.
Every
time a
volunteer
connects
with a
youth
he/she
is
learning
and is
informally
telling
others
in her
work/family/social
network
about
the
experience.
If
programs
can
recruit
more
volunteers
from
different
business
backgrounds,
and
train
them to
systematically
share
what
they do
with
other
people,
those
volunteers
become
evangelists,
helping
others
to
understand
the
issues
youth
and
families,
and
tutor/mentor
programs,
deal
with
every
day.
This can
result
in a
growing
number
of
people
becoming
involved
with
tutor
and/or
mentor
programs
throughout
the
region...and
a
growing
number
of
people
helping
young
people
move
safely
through
school
and into
adult
lives. See
how this
graphic
is
described
in this
service
learning
Loop
video.
These
articles
relate
to that
goal.
Read:
* Urban
Youth As
Data
Scientists
and
Network
Builders
- click
here
* Mentor
Role in
Larger
Strategy
- click
here
*
Virtual
Corporate
Office -
click
here
*
Recruiting
Talent
Volunteers
- click
here
Visit
this page to see
how interns have
converted
Tutor/Mentor
strategy ideas into
videos and other
visualizations.
Youth and
volunteers from many
places are
encouraged to do
this. Focus the
ideas on your own
community if you're
not from the Chicago
region.
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The Birth to
Work Pipeline is
Clogged In Many
Places. Don't
Fix One Part and
Not the Rest.
With so much
attention
focused on
reducing
violence in
Chicago funding
is focused on
jobs programs
for a narrow
population and a
few targeted
areas.
Two new articles on the
Tutor/Mentor blog focus
on this problem.
July 2 - Make Sure
Pipeline to Careers has
Roots In Every Poverty
Neighborhood -
read
July 8 - WBEZ Cost
Analysis for Jobs
Program targeting 32,000
men, age 16 to 34,
living in high violence
neighborhoods of Chicago
-
read
These two articles, and
many like it on the
Tutor/Mentor blog call
on Chicago leaders to
build and sustain a
comprehensive
birth-to-work youth
development strategy
that reaches youth in
every high poverty
neighborhood of the
Chicago region, rather
than continue to roll
out programs that target
part of the problem, but
ignore other parts that
need equal attention.
Poverty growing
in suburbs.
Recent articles,
like this one,
emphasize the growing
number of people living
in poverty in suburban
areas of the US.
The map at the right was
created in 2007 when the
Tutor/Mentor Connection
hosted its Leadership
Conference in the South
Suburbs of Chicago. Our
goal then ( see
article) was to
recruit support from
suburban leaders to help
build a tutor/mentor
program network in areas
of the Chicago suburbs
with growing poverty.
New reports showing that
the poverty population
in the Chicago suburbs
now is greater than in
the city, but that there
is less infrastructure
in place to support
these youth and
families, just
re-emphasize something
that has been building
for more than a decade.
If you're in a
suburban area, what are
you doing about it? Here's
a
blog article that I
shared with leaders in
Cleveland. Read it and
ask yourself the same
questions.
If you're in one of
these communities, most
of the links in the he
Tutor/Mentor Connection
web library and the
strategies shared on the
Tutor/Mentor Institute,
LLC web site are
valuable resources
available for your use.
What you'd need to add
would be local data and
lists of existing local
non-school and
school-based programs.
Then you'd need to
develop a communications
strategy that draws
people to the
information and
encourages them to
support the growth of
existing, or new
programs. Don't start
from scratch.
Let's connect. I can
mentor you in this
process.
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Other Resources for
Summer Learning
Involve
your
volunteers,
youth and
donors and
build your
own learning
network.
All of the links
this newsletter
points to are part
of Step 1
in the
four part strategy created
in 1993 and followed
since then by the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
(1993-present) and
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC
(2011-present).
Here's a
new video that
shows these four
steps.
How are you
using Twitter? Are
you?
In July 2017 I
created a concept
map with links to
many of the #hashtag
conversations where
I've expanded my
network and gathered
new ideas that I
share in
Tutor/Mentor blog
articles and in the
Tutor/Mentor web
library.
I wrote about the
map in
this article.
While many Chicago
area tutor and/or
mentor programs have
Twitter accounts,
I'm not finding many
in these Twitter
chats. If you're
participating in
other chats that you
find valuable, send
a Tweet to
@tutormentorteam
with the #hashtag
and I'll join you
there.
Additional
resources to help
Chicago area
organizations and
supporters connect,
learn and work
collectively to help
build support
systems for youth:
* Chicago
Organizations in
Intermediary Roles -
click here
* This blog article
points to sub
sections of the
library and
frequently used
links -
click here
Dan Bassill (that's
me) is available to
discuss any of these
ideas with you, or
others, via Skype,
Google Hangouts or
in person if you're
in Chicago
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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
Read about a
Tutor/Mentor Connection
"do-over" - click
here
Click here if
you want to help me do
this work.
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