This map shows where May 19 and 20 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference will be held.
 

Image created by Tutor/Mentor Connection

Since 1994 the Tutor/Mentor Connection has created a space in the Chicago region where people who share a concern about poverty, education, workforce development and/or social justice can network and share ideas. Our goal is that this leads to collective actions that help more tutor/mentor programs reach youth throughout the Chicago region.

The next will be hosted at Victory Apostolic Church in Matteson, IL on May 19th and 20th. 
This is a grassroots effort without any money for marketing and advertising, so now we need your help to build workshops and panels that provide opportunities for leaders to exchange ideas and strategies for recruiting and training volunteers, finding donors, recruiting students and providing effective, on-going tutoring and/or mentoring. 

See http://www.tutormentorconference.org and use the on-line forms to submit a proposal for a workshop or panel.  Registration is now open. You can also see the attendee list from past conferences and use this to expand your network and find potential partners.

Read case for collaboration:
http://tmcpip.blogspot.com/2011/02/case-for-collaboration-from-cochabamba.html

Bring handouts or set up a display table at the May 19 and 20 conference. One goal of this conference is to identify and give recognition to tutor/mentor programs operating in the South part of Chicago, the South Suburbs and Northern Indiana. If you operate a program in this area please make sure you're included in the Program Links library at http://tinyurl.com/ChiTM-Program-Links . If you would like to host a display table and use the conference to help draw attention to your tutor/mentor program,  use this form. http://www.tutormentorconference.org/displaytables.asp

Share you ideas about the conference, networking, and challenges facing tutor/mentor programs in the groups at http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/groups
 

How do volunteers and donors choose where to get involved?  Do you consider your tutor/mentor program to be a "neighborhood store" with products and services that help youth learn and connect with mentors?  Do tutor/mentor programs in every neighborhood of Chicago or other big cities offer a range of services such as illustrated in this diagram: http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/images/PDF/tmprogramstore.pdf
 

The Tutor/Mentor Connection hosts an on-line map-directory showing locations of more than 180 non-school, volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs operating in the Chicago region. Each green star on the map represents one site where some form of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring is taking place. Volunteers and donors can use this to shop and compare and to find out if there are programs in specific neighborhoods. This program locator can be seen at http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/InteractiveMap.aspx

Volunteers, parents and donors can also browse the list of links to the nearly 200 Chicago area youth organizations that we know of at: http://tinyurl.com/ChiTM-Program-Links

We're constantly updating this information and we don't have much money or manpower to do this. Thus we need help from each program to keep their information up-to-date, and to help draw volunteers and donors to the site so all programs benefit. This is a form of collective action that the T/MC seeks to encourage.  Read about this at http://tmcpip.blogspot.com/2011/03/spring-cleaning-of-chicago-area.html

See new map info showing 2010 homicides in Chicago. Another indicator of where non-school youth programs are needed. http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-layer-of-info-on-tmc-maps.html

T/MC strategy for use of maps is described at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/mapping-the-programs

With each newsletter we try to highlight some of the information host on our web sites. We're constantly adding new links, and the people we point to are also adding information to their own sites. Thus, you need to build an understanding of what's in the Tutor/Mentor Connection web network and re-visit sections that have information important to you. 

Graphic provided by Tutor/Mentor Connection -

Thanks to a volunteer based in the United Kingdom we've learned to create videos that provide a different way to share the ideas on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site. This graphic is from a video created after Rahm Emanuel was elected Mayor of Chicago in February. See this at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/cabrinivideos/188-imagine32011

If the Mayor, business leaders and celebrities were creating versions of this video, they could be helping to mobilize people to look at the information in the T/MC library, and to help other people understand how to apply that information to help kids in poverty areas get more of the help they need to move through school and into adult jobs and careers. See more of our videos at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/video
 

by Daniel F. Bassill

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is part of a two part non-profit. Learn about the T/MC 4-part strategy at  http://tinyurl.com/TMC-4-Part-Strategy

We also operate a site-based tutor/mentor program called Cabrini Connections, http://www.cabriniconnections.net. 

If you've valued this newsletter and the resources of the Tutor/Mentor Connection or the work being done at Cabrini Connections, we need your donations in order to continue in 2011. Please use this form and our PayPal button to send your donation. http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/donate
 

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