TutorMentor's Blog

In the last week two more inner city kids have been shot.  In today's Sun Time I read a line that said, "teens in the area turn to crime only because of poverty and a lack of support."

There will be marches. There will be editorials. Will there be a comprehensive strategy with leadership from public and private sectors willing to make a long-term commitment to helping Chicago kids?

Volunteer based tutoring/mentoring programs can provide that support if they are available in high poverty neighborhoods. We hosted a conference to help tutor/mentor programs grow in Chicago on May 29 and 30. Here's a video showing some pictures from the conference, and web site addresses of some tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. This presentation was created by two student interns from Korea who attended the conference. You can meet them and learn more about what they are doing with the Tutor/Mentor Connection if you visit this forum.

For the past 14 years I've been mantaining a database of Chicago tutoring andor mentoring programs and using maps to show where they are and where they are needed. A Nov. 2006 donor gave me money to help upgrade this capacity and  you can see new maps showing where tutor/mentor programs are needed, based on poverty and poorly performing schools, or locations of youth on youth violence, if you visit http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com

We'll be updating maps weekly, so visit that site often for "the rest of the story" and a strategy of how you can help build programs that give kids hope and opportunity and a reason not to join the gang culture in inner city neighborhoods.

I encourage you to read more about this at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and see how you company, church, college, hospital and civic/social group can take a strategic role in helping comprhehensive,  tutor/mentor programs grow all over the Chicago region.