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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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Planning for
2016-17 School Year
Tutor, Mentor and
Learning Programs.
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 blog
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.
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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Is Your Tutor,
Mentor and Learning
Program Building a
Network of Support
for Your Students?
Do you use
visualizations on your
web site to
communicate
your program design?
These graphics intend to
communicate the idea
that a non-school,
tutor/mentor program can
be a place where youth
from high poverty
neighborhoods connect
with a wide range of
adults and learning
experiences not common
in their neighborhood.
They also illustrate
the role of volunteers
in helping expand
support for programs
they are part of.
I've set up a page on
Pinterest, where I
share some of these
graphics. In
this set of graphics,
I show work interns have
done to create a new
understanding of ideas
I've shared.
I include graphics like
these in weekly blog
articles. I hope others
will do the same.
* What are youth
organizations doing to
meet all needs of
participating youth?
click here
* Who should be
reading Tutor/Mentor
blog -
click here
* My
Learning/Research
Process -
click here
This
link shows
visualizations done by
interns since 2005. As
you do your summer
planning, I
encourage you to develop
projects that involve
your students and
volunteers in activities
where they look at the
strategy ideas I share,
or that you share on
your own web site, and
then create their own
visualizations to
communicate your own
program design and
strategies.
It's a learning
opportunity for students
as well as a way to
build deeper engagement
and motivation and draw
greater attention and
support to your
organization. As you
create your own
visualizations, share
them on your own
Pinterest page.
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Become an
Intermediary.
Recruit Others to
Take This Role.
Each of these
graphics describes a
role that can be
taken by many
stakeholders.
During the 1970s and
1980s I held retail
advertising roles
with the Montgomery
Ward Corporate
Headquarters in
Chicago. Advertising
was one of many
functional teams
working to help over
400 stores in 40
states be the very
best they could be.
I started leading
the tutoring program
at the Wards
headquarters in
1975. At that time
we started the
school year with
about 100 pairs of
2nd-6th grade kids
and employee
volunteers. By 1990
that was up to 300.
By 1992 it was up to
440 kids and 550
volunteers.
As the program grew
I saw my role as an
intermediary,
helping connect kids
and volunteers to
each other, and to
information and
activities that
would help
relationships grow,
and participation
continue from year
to year. In this
role I recruited and
supported a growing
team of other
volunteers who took
on functional roles
in the organization,
similar to the teams
at the corporate
headquarters.
When I started the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection (T/MC) in
1993, I saw my role
as an intermediary,
helping every high
poverty neighborhood
in Chicago have a
mix of tutor/mentor
programs. I've
continued that
commitment since
2011 through the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC
If you look at this
strategy map, it
shows a commitment
to help kids move
through school and
into jobs, through
participation in
well organized,
mentor rich
programs. It also
shows the need to
enlist leaders from
every industry as
partners and leaders
in this strategy.
Chicago
still does not have
many leaders who
embrace this
concept.
Since every youth
serving organization
would benefit from
such leadership, I
encourage everyone
to take a role in
recruiting such
leaders, starting
with your own
volunteers and board
members and the
companies/places
where they work.
Recommended
Reading:
* Some focus on
the act of tutoring
or mentoring. I
focus on the
infrastructure
needed to support
volunteers and youth
in well organized
programs.
click here
* Follow up to
New York Times "race
related" story
-
click here
* Show how
you're using maps
-
click here
* Read about the
Power of Advertising
in program growth
-
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 wea
lth of ideas to follow
if they want to take on
this intermediary role.
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Who Needs to Be
Involved?
Turn the "It
Takes A Village to
Raise a Child"
phrase into a
picture of
leadership
supporting growth of
tutor/mentor
programs in your
neighborhood or
city.
If you visited the
strategy map that I
wrote about above,
then clicked in to
the box on the upper
left side of the
map, you would open
a " village
map" which is
shown on the left,
in the above
graphic. If you
clicked on the " skills
needed" box at
the upper right side
of the strategy map,
you'd see a
different version of
the graphic shown
above at the right.
Until we can click
into web sites of
companies, faith
groups, colleges and
others represented
on these concept
maps, and see
versions of these
maps, showing their
own leadership
commitments, we'll
not have enough
leaders doing the
every-day needed
work of helping
great tutor/mentor
programs reach k-12
youth in every high
poverty neighborhood
of Chicago, or other
cities.
Recruiting such
leaders is a role
many need to take.
Recommended
reading:
* Connecting
with Chicago area
Universities - Since
1994 -
click here
Search Google for
"tutor mentor" and
any of the words on
this tag cloud.
Click here
to see graphic.
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Programs Can
Compete for Scarce
Resources, or Work
Together to Expand
the Pool of
Resources.
What can leaders
be doing to look for
programs to support?
Research keeps
showing that many
youth serving
organizations are
struggling to find
the resources needed
to build and sustain
on-going connections
to youth and
volunteers. The
Tutor/Mentor
Connection (T/MC)
was created in 1993
with a goal of
helping every
tutor/mentor and
learning
organization in the
Chicago region get
needed resources. I
continue that
mission through the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC,
created in 2011.
In countless
articles and events
I've encouraged
others to duplicate
what I've been
doing, so more
voices were being
raised to attract
the attention of
volunteers and
donors. Too often
leaders have said "I
like what you're
doing, and I'll help
when I get my own
house in order." I
always walked away
thinking "They will
never help, because
they can't solve the
resource flow
problem on their
own."
This is still true
today, even though
we have more tools
available to share
our messages and
draw attention to
each other.
Don't wait.
Spend a little time
every week trying to
help build the
infrastructure you
with were
consistently
supporting your own
efforts.
Recommended
reading from recent
blog articles.
* Follow up to Dr.
Robert Putnam talk
in Chicago -
click here
* Use Maps to
support Local/Global
collaboration -
click here
I've been writing
stories like this in the
tutor/mentor blog
since 2005. However, I
started sharing ideas
like this in
printed newsletters
, in 1993.
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Create
August-September
Advertising That
Draws Volunteers to
All Programs in the
Region
A Rising Tide
Raises All
Boats.
If dozens of
Chicago tutor,
mentor and
learning
programs, and
intermediaries
take this
action, every
program
benefits.
Encourage
businesses, faith
groups, colleges,
media and others to
place advertising
during August that
motivates volunteers
to shop and choose
programs to support
as school starts in
the fall.
Use these
lists to find
contact information
for non-school
tutor, mentor and
learning programs in
Chicago region.
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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Where Am I
Getting My Ideas
While I attend
events hosted by
different groups in
Chicago, I spend
much of my time on
the Internet,
looking at web sites
of Chicago area
tutor and/or mentor
organizations,
connecting via
Twitter and Facebook
and Slack, and
reading ideas shared
by people throughout
the World.
Here are a
few other places
where I've been
connecting:
*
Collaborative
Curiosity:
Designing
Community
Engaged
Research.
Hosted
by VCU.
Continues
through
July 18.
-
click
here
*
Connected Learning MOOC.
Begins July 10 -
click here
*
ChiHackNight weekly
meetings at
Merchandise Mart -
click here
Webinars and
online events from
past month
Promise Chat
- hosted by
America's
Promise -
click here
for review
FutureChicago
- hosted by
Crain's Chicago
Business -
click here
to join Facebook
Conversation
Education
Disparities
webinar summary,
hosted by the
Brookings Institute
-
click here
Upcoming
Conferences and Events
Illinois Conference on
Volunteer Administration
(ICOVA), August 10,
2016,
see details
View more Chicago events
on Thrive Chicago
calendar. Add your own.
see calendar
Events hosted by
Intermediaries in
Chicago. To be
fully aware of
networking and learning
events in Chicago, you
need to visit web sites
of organizations shown
on this map to stay
informed of other
networking events
available to youth
organizations and
supporters in Chicago
region.
Browse the
Tutor/Mentor Connection
web library.
On the web page, click
on the line that says
"More featured
properties" and you'll
get a list showing most
recently added links.
You can also sort the
library in different
ways, or search for
specific topics, by key
word.
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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
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