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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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May - June 2017
- Issue 158
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Celebrate
Connections Between
Youth and
Volunteers. Plan for
Next School Year.
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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As This
School Year
Ends, Celebrate,
Reflect, Plan
Ahead
What
are you
doing to
recruit
volunteers
and
students
to be
involved
in
program
development?
How can
we do
this
better?
The goal of the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection, started
in 1993, has been to
help every
non-school
tutor/mentor program
in the Chicago
region get the
talent, ideas and
resources needed to
constantly improve,
so they all become
"great" and then
stay "great" for
many years.
To support this goal
I have been building
a list of Chicago
area non-school,
volunteer-based
tutoring and
mentoring programs
since 1993. See
list here. See
list
on Facebook, here.
For the past few
weeks my Facebook
feed has included
pictures showing
youth and volunteers
celebrating year-end
events. In a few,
programs are already
inviting volunteers
to sign up for the
coming school year.
Have you
ever heard the
saying "I can't
drain the swamp
because I'm up to my
neck in alligators"?
That saying applies
to most non profits, and
many tutoring and
mentoring programs, who
face on-going struggles
of finding operating
dollars, talent and
volunteers to keep the
doors open. Spending
time networking and
learning from others, as
part of an ongoing
process of quality
improvement, just is not
possible for most.
Collaborating, or
working with others to
increase the flow of
resources to all
programs, is not deemed
possible, when finding
enough resources for
their own programs is so
difficult.
That's why I
focus continually on
strategies that
engage volunteers in
program development.
Such strategies
should include
students and alumni,
too.
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.
* Building,
connecting villages
of hope and
opportunity - click
here
* What if
billionaires were
adopting Chicago
neighborhood? -
click
here
* Innovating in the
world wide coffee
shop - click
here
* Can't drain the
swamp? Up to your
neck in alligators?
click
here
* Resources in
Tutor/Mentor web
library that I point
to frequently -
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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Think of Your Web
Site as A "Shopper's
Guide"
Does your web site
provide enough
information to
convince a
volunteer, donor,
journalist, youth or
parent to want to
support you, or join
you?
If youth
organizations
can
recruit
volunteers
from
different
companies,
with
different
skills,
these
volunteers
can help
recruit
additional
volunteers
and
financial
support
from
their
companies
and
industries,
as well
as their
faith
groups
and
college
networks.
They can
also
model
different
careers
that
youth
might
aspire
to, and
can help
organize
extra
learning
opportunities
that
allow
students
to
sample
what
different
careers
might
offer,
and to
begin to
build
skills
related
to those
careers.
A
volunteer
corps
that is
linked
to
different
industries
can even
help
open
doors to
part
time
jobs and
internships.
That
does not
happen
by
accident,
or if
recruiting
volunteers
from
multiple
sources
is not a
program
goal and
part of
program
design.
You need
to show
this on
your web
site,
and show
what
success
you are
having.
Your
best
recruiter
is a
satisfied,
motivated
current
volunteer.
Not
every
program
is as
successful
at this
as
others,
which is
why the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
strategy
has
always
been to
reverse
the
process.
Instead
of
programs
constantly
seeking
volunteers,
what if
there
were
teams
within
companies
working
to
engage
other
volunteers
in
support
of
programs
near
work
sites,
or along
transit
routes
that
employees
take as
the come
to and
from
work?
When the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
was
being
developed
in 1993
many
companies
had a
long
history
of
supporting
the
annual
United
Way
campaign.
Many
companies
had
campaign
coordinators
and
teams of
employee
volunteers
who
organized
company
fund
raising.
Why
don't
companies
have
similar
teams
intended
to
support
volunteer
involvement
in
non-school
tutor/mentor
programs?
These
articles
relate
to that
goal.
Read:
*
Birth-to-work
requires
new
thinking
about
resource
flow -
click
here
* Mentor
Role in
Larger
Strategy
- click
here
*
Intentional
Influence
- click
here
*
Leadership
strategies
for
resource
providers
- click
here
Use these and other
ideas shared in this
newsletter, and on
Tutor/Mentor web
sites as a resource
for your own
planning and
involvement.
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What Might You
Offer Your
Students?
Non-school
programs, who
can recruit
volunteers with
a wide range of
talents, are
unlimited in
what types of
learning they
might offer to
youth.
When I write about
learning, I'm often
talking about the
learning volunteers,
youth program staff
and leaders, donors
and policy makers
need to do so that
mentor-rich learning
opportunities might
be available to
youth in high
poverty areas of
every city and
state.
However, the next
couple of months,
program staff,
volunteers and
students might look
at the links below
and consider
expanding the range
of learning
opportunities
offered in coming
school years.
Sustainable
Development Goals
(feature image
above).
click here
While the poverty
and inequality in
Chicago
neighborhoods is a
focus of our
attention, there are
problems all over
the world, that are
just as severe, and
maybe more. Students
and volunteers could
be reviewing the
United Nations'
Sustainable
Development
Knowledge Platform
and developing
strategies to engage
themselves and
others in solving
these problems.
What are the
21st Century Skills
Every Student
Needs?
The graphic above
focuses on three
areas of learning
described in this
World Economic
Forum
article.
Are these included
in your youth
organization?
See article
Other resources
to look at
* Leaders needed to
solve complex problems -
click here
* Pope Francis' TED talk
- click
here
* Social media and civic
engagement - click
here
As you look at my blog
articles, I hope many
readers will think of
how they could do these
stories better than I
do. Or maybe you already
write articles like
this? I have written
articles on the
Tutor/Mentor blog every
week for more than 10
years.
I encourage others to
duplicate these, or
re-do them, making them
better and reaching more
people. 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.
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Visit the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC Video
Library
Videos
created
between 2006
and 2017
show
strategy and
share work
done by
Interns.
Were you
part of the May
#onthetable2017
event
hosted by the
Chicago Community
Trust, which drew
together nearly
100,000 Chicago area
residents? Here's
a video with my
reflections. I look
forward to reading
what others have to
say about their
participation, and
their vision and
strategies for
fixing problems
facing Chicago.
Videos, too.
While Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC and
Tutor/Mentor
Connection web sites
and blog articles
share many ideas and
strategies for those
willing to read,
videos share some of
these strategies in
a different format.
Many were done by
interns. Some are
from past
Tutor/Mentor
Conferences. Some
were done by Dan
Bassill.
Some were done
recently to show
Flash animation work
that can no longer
be viewed on many
browsers. They all
could be remixed,
over and over, by
youth and volunteers
who seek to apply
the ideas to their
own cities.
See videos
at this link.
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.
Additional
resources to help
Chicago area
organizations and
supporters connect,
learn and work
collectively to help
build support
systems for youth:
* May 30-31 #ILGive
fundraising event -
click here
* 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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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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