Tutor Mentor Connection

Voices of DePaul students

2009-11-22T14:31:00.002-05:00

One workshop at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference was hosted by students from a first-year class at DePaul University. A group of about 30 freshmen was divided into teams, and each team researched a different section of Chicago using the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator and other resources at their disposal.

As they did their research they wrote blog articles to show what they were learning. The final assignment was to draw conclusions and provide recommendations for how another group of students could continue the project.

I read the blog articles and conclusions this morning. I've been posting comments and coaching the group since September 09 when the project started. The cartoon above was posted on one of the blogs.

I encourage followers of the Tutor/Mentor blog to visit and read these stories yourself. They are calling on others to be involved, to help tutor/mentor programs serve inner city youth in more places. Post your own comments and feedback to the group, on their blogs, and you can add to this understanding.

They are demonstrating a form of leadership that could be coming from youth groups in high schools and colleges all over the country. If you have a project like this going on right now, or in the future, please share your link with us, and come to a future conference to share your story.

Two Days of Network Building

2009-11-22T11:05:00.002-05:00

Here are links to two of the keynote presentations from the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, held at Northwestern University last Thursday and Friday.

Thrivable Networks - building networks of purpose, by Valdis Krebs and Jean Russell.

How Business and Non Profits Can Work Together, by Timothy Hogan, Partner, Creative Director, The Royal Order of Experience Design.

These were just two of more than 30 presentations that connected more than 145 people who want to help inner city youth have brighter futures with ideas and each other. You can see the list of speakers, and attendees, at the Conference web site. Because we keep this list published, the networking started at the conference can continue on Monday, and for the next six months and following decade.

When Arne, Duncan, Secretary of Education, says "This is the time to look in our collective mirror and ask whether we like what we see or whether we can do better together." .. this is what the conference is enabling.

Now it's time for those who want to help inner city kids, but cannot be directly involved as tutors/mentors, to look for other ways to help, such as making financial contributions to one of the organizations who attended the conference, or to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, who organizes this conference, and maintains a list of Chicago tutor/mentor programs so that volunteers, parents, and donors can shop and choose which program, in what neighborhood, they will support.

Networking Conference - Starts Thursday

2009-11-18T14:03:00.002-05:00

I created this graphic when designing the program for the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. It illustrates how each tutor/mentor program is drawing from a network of volunteers, donors, ideas, and peers to support the youth who participate in their own programs.

Bradley Troast, our Public Interest Program Fellow from Northwestern, has posted a list of speakers on his blog. These are some of the people we are connecting to us, and each other. By writing this story on his blog, Bradly is encouraging people in his network to get involved with tutoring/mentoring.

Eric Davis sent an email blast to people in his network today. I posted it here. This is another example of how one of our peers is using his own media to draw people he knows into this network.

Imagine if thousands of people were doing this?

You can follow the conference on Twitter, and connect your own network to the people who will be attending. We're using hash tag #TMC09

Leadership and Networking Conference - Thursday and Friday

2009-11-17T19:50:00.002-05:00

Every six months since May 1994 I've hosted a leadership and networking conference. The next one starts Thursday. We already have pre-registration of close to 150 people so this is the best turnout for a November conference in almost 10 years.

Take a look at the agenda and the attendee list. Maybe there are some people you'd like to meet.

It's tough organizing these events without much money. We'll be providing about 50 scholarships and reduced rate entrance fees. We could not do it without people volunteering their time as speakers and workshop presenters.

Thus if you'd like to help with a donation, you can send it to us at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, 800 W. Huron, Chicago, Il. 60642, or use our on-line donation form.

Free the Non Profits - read more

2009-11-15T16:23:00.001-05:00

Dan Pallotta is a leading expert on innovation in the nonprofit sector and a pioneering social entrepreneur. I encourage you to take a look at some of his ideas.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/pallotta/2009/11/pallotta-six-todos-for-the-whi.html

Ben Wilson memorial in Trib. Sports Section. Why so little change after 25 years?

2009-11-15T12:07:00.003-05:00

After I read my Chicago Tribune today I intended to write a blog focusing on the lack of change in Chicago 25 years after the death of Ben Wilson in 1984. In previous articles I've created maps showing media stories. See one here, and here.

In writing these, I go to the Tribune web site to get links. When I opened the site there was a new headline, saying "Mayhem spreads throughout city overnight after meetings to end violence"

Why is this happening?

One reason is that we compartmentalize these stories. Yet they are part of a complex problem that needs many solutions, in many places, at the same time. The people controlling the main media don't use their stories to point people to "web hubs" where they can learn about the problems, and be part of the solutions. All of this is part of building public will to solve problems.

For instance, the sports section devoted a full page to the Ben Wilson story. But where are stories showing how athletes are leading tutor/mentor programs, or raising money to support one or more programs in the city? We provide examples in the articles El Da'Sheon Nix, former NU football player, is writing on his blogs. The media could find these and use the concepts in their own stories.

The Tribune devoted full page coverage two two related stories today. One was the Chicago Public Schools strategy to provide paid mentoring and other support to about 300 of the most at-risk youth.

Another was the CEASE Fire effort to get students at Finger to talk to each other.

None of these is posting to the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference being held this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19 and 20. None are pointing at the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, which enables readers to see where tutor/mentor programs are needed, and what existing programs are operating, who also need funding in order to connect youth with volunteers and safe places and learning, so they don't become new kids on the CPS list in the future.

I posted an article from the Youth Mentoring Network of Australia's email newsletter on the T/MC web site this morning. It was steps programs who have lost funding, and are going out of business, should take to inform mentors and mentees.

We are still having this conversation 25 years after the death of Ben Wilson because the writers of all of these articles don't focus on connecting their stories to each other and the leaders in Chicago and the US and Australia, don't focus on ways to build a consistent flow of operating dollars to help constantly improving youth serving programs be in all of the neighborhoods where kids need this help, for dozens of years, not just for one workshop to get kids talking to each other, or for one intensive intervention with kids who are already well on the way to killing each other.

DePaul Class Learns about Chicago... update

2009-11-14T11:51:00.001-05:00

Part of my reading this weekend will be a review of articles written by first year students at DePaul University who are learning about the demographics of Chicago and the need for tutor/mentor programs in different areas.

I wrote about this assignment here. You can read the current blog articles written by these students here.

Meet students from this class Friday morning at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.

Building Networks of Support for Inner City Youth

2009-11-13T10:40:00.008-05:00

I encourage you to read this article on network building. It's titled "You may find yourself... living in a large network, and you may ask yourself... well, how did I get here?

Come to the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference next Thursday and Friday, and you can meet Valdis Krebs, Jean Russell and myself, and more than 100 other people who are involved in some way or another with helping at-risk kids stay in school and move to jobs and careers. You can view the speaker list and attendee list on the conference web site.

Connecting youth and volunteers in a tutor/mentor program is all about building networks. These two photos show me with Leo Hall, who was the first student I was introduced to, back in 1973. The second photo is of me with Tangela Smith Marlow, who graduated from Cabrini Connections in 1998. Both are connected to me on Facebook, along with more than 100 other former students and volunteers. We're still trying to help each other.

I've led a tutor/mentor program since 1975, where my role has been to enlist people from different companies, colleges, faith networks, to be tutors/mentors so that more people would connect with more kids. I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to help programs like Cabrini Connections grow and operate in all parts of the Chicago region, not just at our single location near Cabrini Green.

The graphic below shows how I reach out to people I know, point them to Cabrini Connections, and information that I've collected, and then to maps where they can choose what part of the Chicago area they want to help, what zip code, and then what tutor/mentor program in that area.

Teaching people to use this information, or just getting more people to find it and think about it, is a huge challenge. The chart below illustrates how I reach out to other people who then can reach out to people they know. These people can use information created by the T/MC, or hosted on our sites, to choose where, why, and how to get involved.

However, I need more people helping me at the front end, to get people involved, and mentor them so their involvement grows, and has a greater impact. And I need people at the back end, helping maintain data, organize conference, publish maps, raise money, and all sorts of other activities.

I've been doing this work for more than 30 years and the number of people I've touched is extensive. However, I've had no simple ways to communicate these ideas.

That's why I'm so excited to have Valdis Krebs and Jean Russell do a workshop at the November 19 and 20 conference. Valdis understands social network analysis, and tools to map networks, much better than I do. Valdis wrote this article to show how he, Jean and I connected as a result of work started by Pierre Omidyar, The Omidyar Network, several years ago.

If we can apply this thinking to map the Tutor/Mentor Connection's network, and share our network, and this process, with others in Chicago, and other cities, we can teach more people to take the "network building" role that I have taken.

This will result in more and better tutor/mentor programs helping more youth born in poverty move through school and into jobs, using their own networks of friends, family and mentors.

Poverty, Poorly Performing Schools, High Drop Out Rates

2009-11-11T12:08:00.005-05:00

This map is one that the Tutor/Mentor Connection has created to show where poverty is most concentrated in the Chicago area, and how this contributes to poorly performing schools (see more).

I encourage you to visit this PDF to see maps showing the distribution of high school drop outs in Illinois. These maps were created by the Midwest Education Laboratory of Learning Point Associates, and were distributed at the High School Drop Out Summit held on Nov. 4th, in Bloomington.

The maps show where the problem is most severe. Volunteer-based Tutor/Mentor Programs are one strategy that can enlist more people who don't live in poverty, and may not have kids in school, but who need to be involved in making schools in low income areas more effective at helping kids move to college and 21st century careers.

If you want to enlist your church, business, college, fraternity of civic/social group in making more volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs available in urban areas, then come to the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference next week at Northwestern University in Evanston.

If you can't come to the conference, connect with the T/MC on Ning, or Facebook, or visit our web site and begin to use the material to support your own understanding and involvement.

We're giving scholarships to more than 40 people at next week's conference. Can you make a donation to help offset that expense?

Building a Non-School Strategy

2009-11-07T11:19:00.005-05:00

Over the past few day's I've reviewed the handouts I received at the Nov. 4 Drop Out Prevention Summit in Illinois. Here are some articles about the "drop out crisis" that I've posted on this blog. You can see that this is not a new crisis to me.

Most of the material I've looked at calls for a "school centered" strategy. However, the paper titled, Ensuring Workforce Skills of the Future: The Birth to Work Pipeline, talks about the disconnect between education strategies and workforce development priorities.

One report Titled "Closing the Graduation Gap: Cities in Crisis" focuses on the 50 largest cities in America where the size of the school age population, and the size of the geography, makes the solutions more complex than what faces smaller communities. Here's a link to a article I wrote in January 2008 about "locating the drop out crisis".

In Chicago and these other cities we need business leadership strategies that focus on other channels than public schools for connecting kids with adults who help build aspirations, and motivations, that help keep them in school, and point them at 21st century jobs and careers.

These channels can be non-school tutor/mentor programs, or they can be the Internet, or both. However, without devoting a part of the funding pie to making these programs available, as "distribution centers" for business and career mentoring ideas, there won't be enough programs reaching kids in high poverty areas, and the programs won't have enough experienced, motivated leaders, able to facilitate the involvement of business volunteers, and the integration of eLearning, mentoring and tutoring at each location.

Using the Chicago Program Links and Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, business leaders can build giving strategies that support one or more programs on an ongoing basis, and assure that each program has multiple sources of volunteers, and of operating dollars.

If your business, faith group, social or alumni group would like to create a strategy to support tutor/mentor programs, contact the T/MC at 312-492-9614, or attend the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference on Nov. 19 and 20.

Engaging students in learning

2009-11-06T12:30:00.003-05:00

We'll be hosting another Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference at Northwestern University on November 19 and 20. It's goal is to connect people involved, or interested, in volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring with each other, and with ideas they can use in their own programs, or to strategically support such programs in different places, or different cities.

Nicole White of the T/MC is conference organizer, and is writing about speakers on her blob.

We have links to more than 200 Chicago area youth serving programs on the T/MC web site. The goal is that leaders, volunteers and donors browse these sites to build their own opinion of best practices, and to borrow ideas that can be implemented in more places if donors provide the resources of time, talent and dollars.

One of these is the Cabrini Connections program that I've led since 1993 (and before that the Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, that I led since 1975).

We're trying to engage our teens and volunteers in learning, through a variety of tactics. One is that we have blogs that focus on each of our special learning activities. The blogs have become much more active this fall, and I encourage you to read them to see how kids are becoming engaged.

Art Club
Writing Club
Tech Club
Video Club
PIP Blog - Student/Volunteer Profiles
Cabrini Blog

Together these show a wide range of volunteers mentoring kids in a wide variety of learning and enrichment activities. I hope you'll visit these at least monthly and follow the growth of our students and the Cabrini Connections program. If you see ideas you'd like to adopt for your own tutor/mentor program, feel free to borrow and improve upon them.

If you are blogging your own work, why not share the link with us, so we can point people to your blog, as well as the Cabrini Connections blog.

Birth to Work Pipeline - White Paper

2009-11-06T09:45:00.004-05:00

One of the papers I found as a result of attending the Nov. 4 Drop Out Prevention Summit was one titled Ensuring Workforce Skills of the Future: The Birth to Work Pipeline, written by Rick Stephens, Senior Executive Vice-President of The Boeing Company and Elane V. Scott, Leadership Strategist for Developing a Capable Workforce.

The call to action says "It is vital that business, media, government,health, community and education leaders come together and align their visions as never before. No one sector has the responsibility, capability or capacity to operate alone."

This is what I've been writing about, and trying to achieve for the past 15 years. My voice is just a whisper in the wilderness. Hopefully some of these business leaders will read the articles on leadership and strategy that I've written, and adopt some of these ideas in their own messages, for their own self interests.

They don't use graphics in this paper, but here is a T/MC graphic that I feel expresses the goal of this paper.

You can see the strategy map, and follow the links, on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site.

I urge readers of this blog to read the white paper, and respond to the call to action. Share this with leaders in your own business, faith group, college, alumni network. Then contact me to help you understand what you're looking at, or come to the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference on Nov. 19 and 20 and begin to connect your network and your ideas to the T/MC and the people in our network.

Network Building - Expanding the Choir

2009-11-05T15:47:00.005-05:00

Below is a map I made of people who were in a Chicago area breakout session at the Illinois Drop Out Prevention Summit who I already knew. This map also shows others in the session with me who I did not know. There's a link to an attendee list showing that more than 200 people were signed up to attend the summit from the Chicago region. There were less than 70 in the breakout room I was in, so maybe the rest were in some of the other breakout rooms.

This map also shows the potential of expanding the number of people who look at th is information if we each share this information in our networks. Since my mission is to help tutor/mentor programs grow, and be in every high poverty neighborhood, this means I need the business, media, faith group and philanthropy people to use their own communications to point their networks to the Tutor/Mentor Connection library and list of more than 200 Chicago area youth serving organizations.

See map here.

Kicking off the Summit on Wednesday morning, Ed Rust, Chairman of State Farm Insurance Company make the following statements:

"This is an economic issue for all of us. But most of all, I'd say it is a moral imperative."

"We all must leave (this meeting) with an understanding that we all have a critical role to play to assure that all children leave school ready for careers."

"Assuming that someone else will fix this problem is negligence."

When Alma Powell, Chairman of the Board of America's Promise spoke she said about being a mentor, "don't start unless you plan to be there for the long term"

She ended by saying, "I know I'm preaching to the choir. You need to go out and tell the rest of the congregation what we need to do."

This chart illustrates this role. However, unless America's Promise and the others who organized and participated in this conference point to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, and this essay, too few people will see this and think of ways they can connect people in their network to this information, and to places where they can use time, talent, dollars, technology, jobs and facilities, to help kids move through school safely, and then enter 21st century jobs and careers.

Mrs. Powell said, "Children don't vote" ....

To me this means that the adults we connect to them via tutor/mentor programs need to be advocates and resource providers who vote for them.

Lowering the HS Drop Out Rate - Heavy Lifting to Do

2009-11-05T11:13:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, I attended a High School Dropout Prevention Summit in Bloomington, Ill. I was one of several hundred people from around the state. You can see the complete list of attendees here.

Ed Rust, CEO of State Farm Insurance Company, was the host of the event. Alma Powell, Chairman of America's Promise was the keynote speaker.

Mr. Rust led off the meeting with statistics that showed the negative economic impact of high drop out rates, and the cost-benefit to Illinois if we could reduce this by even a small percent. You an see the statistics here. Many employees of State Farm, and of Boeing, helped facilitate the sessions of this event. It shows how volunteers can do more to support tutoring/mentoring than just being tutors/mentors.

He led off the meeting saying, "we have some heavy-lifting to do" to reduce the drop out rate in Illinois, and prepare more youth for 21st century jobs and careers.I agree and look forward to working with people who attended, and who organized, this event, to make that happen.

The T/MC has created maps showing where there are concentrations of high poverty, and poorly performing schools. These are areas with some of the highest drop out rates. We overlay business locations on these maps, to encourage companies to develop communications strategies that get volunteers involved from all of the places where they do business. These volunteers can support technology, be board members, help with human resources and planning, in addition to being tutors/mentors. They just need to be coached to take these roles.

I hope that some of the people attending the summit will follow up on the challenges of the Drop Out Summit, and will attend the Tutor/Mentor Conference in Chicago on Nov. 19 and 20, where they can move a step forward to engagement with the different programs already in this battle and who need reinforcements to continue doing their work.

You can read more about the drop out crisis in this section of the T/MC library.

I'll post more articles about this DropOut summit over the next few days.

DePaul Student Killed. Lost Opportunity.

2009-11-03T13:38:00.003-05:00

The Chicago Tribune has an article today, titled "DePaul mourns a slain student". Every shooting is a tragedy. This one is even greater because the student killed was one who showed so much promise and leadership. Read the story. Morn with me. Then read The Rest of this Story.

This map shows where the shooting took place. It was created using the Tutor/Mentor Interactive Program Locator.

We post these stories following negative news, because we want readers to go beyond the angst cause by how media report, to become researchers and social activists, who take actions that reduce this type of tragedy in the future.

We've tried to encourage the formation of "learning circles" at colleges, hospitals, faith groups, high schools, etc. and it's been a slow process. Thus, I was excited this fall when a professor at DePaul asked how she and her first year students could work with the T/MC. I encouraged them to divide into teams and learn about the different neighborhoods of Chicago, and about how different levels of poverty and non-school tutor/mentor programs, give some youth more hope and opportunities than others.

They have been doing that. You can find the class blog here.

Some of these students grew up in inner city neighborhoods, so they understand what's going on in the city. Most did not, so they only understand the impact of poverty through what they see in the papers. This story hits home for this group. Now as they write about poverty, and look at our maps and tutor/mentor program info, it becomes more real.

What if this neighborhood had a wide range of mentor-rich programs, with arts, technology, career development and leadership opportunities, with people from many business background personally involved in helping youth make positive choices that might lead them to futures out of poverty? What does it make for such programs to be available in this neighborhood, or other neighborhoods?

As teams learn the answers to these questions, and propose their own solutions, and share what they are thinking and learning on their blogs, they become part of the solution. They can tell The Rest of The Story and try to get adults, businesses and elected leaders more consistently involved.

If they continue doing this learning and network building for the next four years, many will leave DePaul prepared to be leaders of tutor/mentor programs, or of business and philanthropy strategies that make consistent resources more available to operate these programs. They can change the future.

If you would like to duplicate this project, at your school, faith group, or company, here's the outline of goals set for the class. You can also meet some of the students at the Tutor/Mentor Conference on Nov. 19 and 20.

Students as Leaders - Treats for Cabrini

2009-11-01T11:22:00.006-05:00

While there are many negative stories about young people and violence in Chicago neighborhoods, this photo illustrates the way some teens are trying to have an influence in what their futures will be.

As we started the 2009-10 school year at Cabrini Connections, we were uncertain we'd have the money to operate all year. Many of our volunteers and staff have responded with various fund raising campaigns, and one of our student leaders, Melissa Young, suggested that a bake sale be held on Saturday, October 30. She and her mentor, Elena Lugo, (shown with Ashaunti Roby and other volunteers) organized the event, recruited other students and volunteers, and then stood out on the street in 40 degree cold to lure customers to come in and buy some baked goods. More than $300 was raised, and a new sense of teamwork emerged.

You can see from this photo, that I'm getting old. I'll be 63 in December. It is critically important that young people, who are in Cabrini Connections now, or were involved in past years, and our volunteers, take ownership of the ideas in this blog, and the vision of Cabrini Connections, so that they will be willing to spend many Saturdays and Sundays for many years, to assure that programs like this are in their lives, and in the lives of many other youth living in high poverty, inner city neighborhoods.

We have more than 100 former students, volunteers and staff in our group on Facebook, plus another 600 friends. This can be an "army of good" if during the next 8 weeks, and in the coming year, each person makes just one personal donation, and makes one effort each week, to introduce one more person to the work we are doing and the information we share on our web sites.

This is "network building". We all have networks. We need to learn to map them, and use them to do good, and to help each of us overcome the challenges we face in life. On November 20 the Tutor/Mentor Conference will host Valdas Krebs and Jean Russell, who will talk about how to map your network and engage it in purpose driven activities.

Enlist Entertainment Industry as Partners

2009-10-31T17:05:00.002-04:00

Here's a discussion on A. Fine's blog that's worth following. How do we enlist the sports and entertainment industry so they distribute messages through their own channels that result in a greater, and more consistent flow of volunteers and donations to non profit charities in Chicago and other citeis?

Illinois Schools 2009 - Poor Kids Still Lag

2009-10-30T14:38:00.005-04:00

Early this morning I attended a kick off meeting of the annual Combined Charities Campaign at the US Postal Facility in Naperville, Il. I had about 2 minutes to make my pitch, so I tried to get the words "tutor mentor" and "search Internet" in my delivery. That was enough for one young woman, who wrote a $25 check on the spot. Thank you!

Then I took a look at the Chicago newspapers. The front page of the Chicago Tribune had a photo of a minority youth, with the headline "Gap in Low-Income Kids' Scores Eludes Fix. The Chicago SunTimes also used a picture of African American kids to focus attention on their "Measuring Success in Illinois Schools" story. Inside the message was "City is home to many of state's top schools, but still plagued by poor performers."

I read the reports, and you should too. What bothers me is that the writers are not including non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs, in their articles, or pointing to maps we've been providing showing the lack of such programs in many areas. Rather than a long-winded speech, I created a time line of my thinking. See it below.

Because there is so much information being generated on these issues, and because some really good ideas were published in past years, that are still relevant now, I've been looking for ways to map knowledge both from a relational aspect, and a chronological aspect.

The chart above starts at the upper left, and moves clockwise to a conclusion that I hope more people who are reading today's news will reach.

For instance, while today's papers are writing about the challenges of improving outcomes for low income kids, I attended a presentation in December 2008, titled "Is Great Teaching Enough?", where researchers talked about how the non-school hours and community resources influence learning. Dr. Michael Wooley of the University of Chicago, showed "When students report an increased number of supportive adults in their lives they have:
 Fewer behavior problems at school
 More positive attitudes toward school
 Better academic performance

This suggests that connecting kids in low-income neighborhoods with volunteer tutors/mentors in tutor/mentor programs could have a positive impact. However, as we show on the maps we create, there are too few programs for each age group, they are poorly distributed in different parts of the city, and funding is too little, and too inconsistent to help great programs grow.

Furthermore, there is a great amount of difference between the 200-plus tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago. They vary in size, in number of kids served and age group served, in what they do, and the strength of their organizations. I wrote an article in 2008 to illustrate what it takes for a tutor/mentor program to become a "great" program.

This all leads to funding.

Without consistent funding from many sources, programs like Cabrini Connections cannot attract and retain quality leaders, or build the organizational history and culture needed to attract and retain students and volunteers. If you follow our success steps, you see that getting(and keeping)regular attendance is the first challenge of any non-school program because the kids are volunteers, as are the adults. Until a program builds regular participation, and keeps kids with the program, for 2-3 years, it's not likely there will be significant long term impact on aspirations, which are the motivations that drive student ownership in the learning process.

If the thousands of people who read the stories in the Tribune or SunTimes today, or read those about violence in Chicago neighborhoods in past days, will reach these same final conclusion, perhaps more will begin to think of ways they can help provide funding for volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs to operate and grow in low-income neighborhoods.

One way is to make a donation through your company or school's workplace fund raising campaign, and to choose Cabrini Connections, the Tutor/Mentor Connection, or another tutor/mentor program in your community, to receive your donation.

You can find us in the alphabetical listing at the back of most campaign books. Or you can go directly to this donations place and make a contribution.

Try mapping the stories in your own newspapers. If you're doing this and posting your maps on a web site, post your web address on this blog and share it with others.

"Their Blood is on Our Hands" - Rev. Meeks

2009-10-29T11:56:00.005-04:00

I encourage you to read the Opinion article titled, Their blood is on our hands, posted by Rev. James Meeks, in the Chicago Tribune.

Then read these blog articles I've written in the past responding to the messages of Rev./State Senator Meeks. See here, and here.

I met with a pastor at Salem Baptist Church last spring and provided an introduction to the T/MC and our map strategy. I've posted other articles on this blog about what faith leaders might do to support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in the city.

There's a story in the Bible about "many are called, but few are chosen".

The ideas we share can be used by anyone who wants to really build a network of programs that prevent problems before they occur, and help release the potential of kids living in poverty.

If you'd like our help to use these ideas, just call 312-492-9614, or introduce yourself via this forum, Facebook, or some other place where we can meet.

Food for Thought - Grocery Stores in Chicago area

2009-10-29T11:34:00.003-04:00

Mike Trakan (he works for the Tutor/Mentor Connection) posted a new set of maps on his blog, showing grocery store chains serving the Chicago region. These are part of a series of business maps we've created. They are intended to be used as planning tools by corporate leaders, to use their resources and assets (people, jobs, dollars, technology) to PULL kids through school and into jobs.

Check his blog, or the Tutor/Mentor Connection Map Gallery, and you can see maps for

* banks,
* insurance companies,
* hospitals,
* universities,
* faith groups

Here's an essay titled "role of leaders" that we'd hope is being used in each of these business sectors.

Engaging the Media

2009-10-27T18:38:00.002-04:00

There are more than 170 tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago. We can't all be in the media every day. Thus, the Tutor/Mentor Connection hopes to help as many programs as possible tell their story with blogs, so that some get into the media and point to a network of bloggers and program web sites where readers can give time, talent or dollars.

Last week, Genita Robinson, Executive Director of Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth was able to get a letter in the Chicago Tribune. Since the newspapers don't like to post web links, readers would need to do a Google search for the Lend A Hand web site.

If they do, they will see that this organization raises money for volunteer based tutor/mentor programs, and has a list of programs on their web site which readers could use to build their own involvement.

Another Killing. What's your strategy?

2009-10-26T13:59:00.003-04:00

Here's another story about a Chicago Teen killed. This was a 17-year old sitting in a car on Saturday night.

This village graphic is intended to show the different groups of people who need to be talking to each other, sharing the same ideas, and working in the same places, to help prevent this.

I've no money for advertising, or I'd have ads in the business publications, and other Chicago media every week, drawing potential volunteers, donors, leaders, etc. to this blog, so that more people would be following the links to the maps, charts and web sites we point to.

This would get more people involved in tutor/mentor programs, where they make personal connections with kids living in poverty, and begin a journey of understanding that make many of them more sophisticated in what they do to help kids stay in school and move to jobs and careers.

Without a dramatic growth in the number of people involved, and the flow of resources to all high poverty neighborhoods, not much will change.

Well, I don't have money for advertising, so one strategy that I try to use is a "blog exchange" strategy. Here's the link to a story I wrote in March 2008 that is posted on the blog of a Stanford University Professor. Here's a link to a another blog written about the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Find more like this here and here.

Last week was "blog action day" where thousands of bloggers wrote about the environment. I think there ought to be "blog action day" every day, where people all over the country are writing about poverty, violence, poor schools, racism, workforce development, etc. and posting links to this and other sites that provide a path to more information, and to places where they can volunteer time, talent and dollars.

If you're writing blogs on this topic, link to me, or email me, or post your link in the comments section. Together, we can create a roar that gets the attention of the thousands of people who need to be involved in this journey.

Thanks to Matt Ulrich, Northwestern University alum, and many friends of the TWR Organization, for hosting the Soldier Field Charity Hill Challenge yesterday to raise funds for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Does the Mayor of a Big City need to be Black?

2009-10-24T09:52:00.003-04:00

Here's an article from the Black Agenda Report that offers some challenging ideas for voters in Chicago and other cities with large minority populations.

Here's an essay titled "No General Goes to War without a Map" . To me, we need effective leaders, who can distribute needed resources and support to all of the neighborhoods of a city, based on where they are most needed. Being such a leader is not dependent on race, sex, or religious affiliation.

Doing Good is Good for Business

2009-10-23T13:19:00.002-04:00

"Despite the recession, consumers are still spending with companies and brands that have a social purpose." That's the lead in this article on the Small Business Blog of Crain's Chicago Business.

I followed the article to a GoodPurpose community page, hosted by Edelman.com

The information shows that a business benefits from doing social good. Thus, what's it take to enlist every sector of Chicago's business and professional community to focus a part of their strategy on helping kids to careers?

If a company, or industry, is already doing this, reaching youth near all of their business facilities, we hope you're sharing this on your web site, and that you'll also share this by speaking at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.

We want to recognize those who are doing "more good" than others.

More Statistics about negative impact of dropping out of school

2009-10-23T12:50:00.002-04:00

Here's a news report with the headline of New report says black male Dropouts lead nation in incarceration

This report was created by The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. It can be found in a list of publications, which show the consequences of dropping out of school.

We host a conference every May and November to bring together people who are reading this research, and concerned with these issues, so they will take strategic roles in helping volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs reach kids who are at high risk of dropping out, starting as early as elementary school.

What if someone were mapping all of the departments of a university where students and faculty and alumni might be doing work related to this topic? If this were happening, the map and list of contacts, could be used to invite representatives of those groups to our conference, and to on-line forums, so that they begin to work together to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs grow in the area around the university, and in cities where alumni live, or where they want to recruit students.

Here's a map of groups at Northwestern University who might be interested in attending the conference in November. Since we're hosting this on NU's campus, I hope that some of the faculty and students on this chart will attend. See the blog article that describes this map.

Do you have a map like this for your own university? If you do, can you invite the people on your map to the T/MC conference, or to one you might host, and point them to ideas they can use to help tutor/mentor programs grow in cities where there are high drop out rates?