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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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March - April
2017 - Issue 156
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As One School Year
Comes to Close
Planning for Next
Begins.
Apply
what works.
Learn from what
did not work.
Borrow ideas
from others.
Annual Process
of Program
Improvement.
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.
If the
newsletter
does not
format
correctly
in your
email,
or if
you want
to
return
to it
for
future
reading
or to
share
with
others,
use this
link. http://www.tutormentorconference.org/newsletter.asp
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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If You
Agree That
Connecting Young
People with
Extra Adults and
Learning
Opportunities is
a good idea....
Then
making
organized
programs
available to
youth in
high poverty
areas where
such
opportunities
are needed
should be a
strategy you
focus on.
This
thinking
is what
has
guided
the work
of the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
and
Tutor/Mentor
Institute,
LLC
since
1993.
See this
graphic
in
this
blog
article.
We all
want the
same
positive
outcomes
for
kids.
However,
making
more
non-school
learning
and
mentoring
programs
available
in every
high
poverty
area of
the
Chicago
region
and
other
cities
requires
work
shown at
the
bottom
of this
pyramid.
In the following
sections of this
month's newsletter
I'll focus on the
bottom three steps
of this graphic.
When more people
have a better
understanding of
needs and
opportunities, their
actions will
increase the flow of
resources to every
high poverty
neighborhood, to
help organizations
build constantly
improving support
systems for kids.
It's only when
there are better
programs in more
places that we begin
the long-term work
of helping kids stay
in school, stay safe
in non-school hours,
and move toward
graduation and
careers.
Want to get
started? Read
"Steps to Start and
Sustain a
Tutor/Mentor
Program".
click here
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What Does a
Non-School
Tutor/Mentor Program
Look Like? How Do
You Show Program
Design?
Actually,
non-school,
volunteer-based
programs have many
different designs,
which makes it
difficult for a
clear message that
educates donors to
support programs in
every high poverty
neighborhood.
See this graphic in
blog article
at this link
I worked for the
Montgomery Ward
corporation from
1973-1990 and we
had 400 stores
located in 40
states. Each
store had more
than 60
different
merchandise
categories, each
with a wide
selection of
items, appealing
to many
different
consumers.
I think of
non-school
programs as a
form of "retail
store for hope
and opportunity"
with many forms
of learning and
mentoring
intended to
attract youth
and adult
participants.
Many people keep
asking me, "What
kinds of
tutoring or
mentoring do you
do?" I keep
trying to
explain, we're
trying to create
a support system
that expands the
range of career
opportunities
kids might
aspire to, and
provides the
support each
youth needs over
many years to
pursue those
opportunities.
See article.
I created this
graphic in the
1990s to
visualize a
program design
that involved
volunteers from
different
business
background,
offers a safe
place to meet
during
non-school
hours, and
supports youth
for multiple
years. I called
this Total
Quality
Mentoring (TQM),
implying that
it's more than
just "tutoring"
or "mentoring".
The
graphic
at
the
top
of
this
section
shows
a
wide
range
of
mentoring
and
learning
opportunities.
So
does
this
TQM
graphic.
I
created
this
PDF
presentation
to
further
explain
this
idea.
I point
to web
sites of
more
than 200
Chicago
non-school
programs
in this
section
of the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
web
site. In
other
sections
of the
library
I point
to
youth
programs
in other
cities,
or who
don't
have a
volunteer
tutor/mentor
strategy.
I
encourage
volunteers,
board
members
and
staff to
spend
time
looking
at what
other
programs
are
doing,
with the
goal of
borrowing
ideas
that
might
work in
your own
programs.
Unfortunately,
very few
youth
programs
actually
use
visualizations
to show
program
design,
or
include
a set of
links
pointing
to other
organizations
who they
feel are
ideal
models
to
duplicate.
Volunteers
could
help
programs
do this
more
often.
These
articles
are part
of a
knowledge
base
that is
available
to
anyone
working
to help
youth.
Read:
*
Creating
opportunity
for
urban
youth:
Resources
-
click
here
*
Helping
urban
youth
move
through
school.
What do
we need
to know?
-
click
here
* Focus
on the
WHY and
draw
more
people
into
your
youth
development
efforts
-
click
here
Nothing happens
until someone reads
these articles, then
invites others to do
the same. This is an
on-going process,
where many can take
leadership roles.
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Community
Organizing.
Follow Negative
News With
Network Building
Actions
Bringing people
together,
raising money,
recruiting
volunteers, etc.
are activities
that require
constant
communications
and
advertising....resources
that few
non-school
programs or
community
organizers have.
Build a Rest of
the Story
strategy. Engage
youth.
This
video shows
work Interns
have done to
help communicate
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
ideas.
Youth in area middle
schools, high
schools, colleges,
faith groups and
non-school programs
could be creating
stories and
presentations that
duplicate work I've
been doing, and that
interns have done,
focusing on their
own section of the
city, as part of
their own learning,
and as part of a
strategy intended to
bring more people
together to help
build and sustain
needed non-school
programs in
different places.
See more work by
interns
here. Create a
space on your own
web site to share
work young people
are doing to help
tutor/mentor
programs grow in
different places.
YOU
do not need to
be part of an
existing
nonprofit youth
organization to
take this role.
Imagine yourself
as the red ball
on this "ping
pong" table.
Every time you
post an article,
a Tweet or a
video you are
creating a chain
reaction that
can touch people
throughout your
neighborhood,
your city and
the world. See
this graphic in
this "collaboration
goals"
presentation.
Other resources
to look at
* Sports star reflects
on violence in Chicago -
click here
* Dig Deeper into
Tutor/Mentor Connection
articles and ideas -
click here
When you look at my blog
articles, think of how I
have written similar
stories every wee for
more than 10 years. If
many others do the same
we might be able to
capture more public and
donor attention to
support the work
non-school tutor, mentor
and learning programs
do. Read
this article about a
Tutor/Mentor Connection
"do-over".
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Educate Business
Leaders so They are
More Proactive in
Supporting Volunteer
Involvement in
Non-School Programs
Located in Multiple
Locations
The Tutor/Mentor
web library
includes
articles for
resource
providers as
well as program
leaders and
volunteers.
See this concept
map in article
titled +R&D for
Business Support
of Tutor/Mentor
Programs" -
click here
There is a huge
amount of
information in this
monthly newsletter,
and on Tutor/Mentor
blogs. It's not
intended to be read
and digested in a
single sitting. It's
intended to be part
of on-going learning
and process
improvement.
Finding time to
look at this
information
regularly, and share
it with others, is a
challenge. One
solution is to
recruit students to
take on this
learning as a "web
quest" or online
"scavenger hunt".
This image was part
of an animation I
created to encourage
others to take this
learning journey.
Read more.
Additional
resources to help
Chicago area
organizations and
supporters connect,
learn and work
collectively to help
build support
systems for youth:
* August 2017
Illinois Conference
on Volunteer
Administration -
click here
* Chicago
Organizations in
Intermediary Roles -
click here
* Tutor/Mentor Blog
article with
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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