TutorMentor's Blog

Now that the election has been won, the real work begins.  I invite anyone who is involved in volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring, as a leader, volunteer, donor, youth, or concerned citizen, to view the agenda of the Nov. 21 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, that will be held at the Chicago Field Museum.  The links is http://www.tutormentorconference.org/agenda.asp>

This conference has been offered every six months since 1994, and was attended by President-elect Obama in 1999.  It's an effort to draw attention and resources to the organizations already offering volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring in Chicago and other cities, while helping the people involved connect and build support for each other.

If you cannot attend, connect with the T/MC and others in forums like http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com and use the resources at http://www.tutormentorconnection.org to support your own involvement, where ever you are.

If we connect enough citizens to youth who live in economic disadvantage with adults who can model a greater range of jobs and careers, and can help kids do the work needed to reach those careers, and keep these connections through the two terms of the Obama Presidency, the momentum build from such programs will continue in the years after Obama leaves office and will result in a significant closing of the economic and social gaps in this country.  Call 312-492-9614 if you'd like to know more, or email tutormentor2@earthlink.net.

Last week the cover of Time Magazine had Senators Obama and McCain and the focus was national service.  Members of the Tutor/Mentor Connection have written blogs about this which I encourage you to read.

Chris Warren is Public Service Fellow from Northwestern University. His blog is here

Mike Trakan is creating maps for the Tutor/Mentor Connection. His blog is here

If our leaders use maps to channel volunteer and donor resources to all of the neighborhoods where kids need extra  help, they can make the donations of public and private sector resource more have more impact.   If they just continue to draw donations to help them get elected, or re-elected, or to support friends in government or business, we'll continue to be poorly served by our elected leaders.

 

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune Metro Section featured the tragedy of Dantrell Davis, shot in October 1992 as he walked to school. This is the front page of the SunTimes from October 15, 1992. It calls on everyone to get involved to stop this violence.

Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection were created in the weeks following this and I look at this news editorial every day as a reminder of my commitment.

I encourage you to read the blog post at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2008/09/7-year-olds-de
ath-at-cabrini-requires.html where I wrote about this story, and called on others from the Chicago region to make the same commitment to use their time, talent and dollars to help reduce the violence by providing networks of hope and opportunity.

Today's Chicago SunTimes has an editorial titled "Schools must confront the root causes of violence".  I want to expand this so people who live beyond the high poverty areas of Chicago, including leaders of our business community and faith organizations, begin to take greater responsibility for how this problem is understood, and what people in LaGrange, Hinsdale, Winnetka and Lake Forest can be doing ...beyond what they area already doing... to support the effrorts of schools and parents.

I wrote about this on the Tutor/Mentor blog and provided links to the SunTimes editorial and some additional resources from the Tutor/Mentor Connection's  library that would expand reader understanding of this problem, and of its solutions.

This map shows locations of poorly performing schools in Chicago, as an overlay to high poverty neighborhoods.  There certainly are a lot of these and thus, Rev. Meeks has a good reason to be mad and to want to see something changed.

However, I'm not sure that anyone has a plan of what happens after a boycott, if there is one. 

What I do know is that school will start in a couple of weeks, and kids in every neighborhood with poor schools could benefit if there were a comprehensive volunteer-based tutor/mentor program that they could go to once a week to connect with volunteers who might help them build career aspirations, help with study skills, or give them a safe place to be during the non school hours.

There are not enough programs like this in the city , and those who do operate in various neighborhoods are not only looking for volunteers, but they are also looking for donors to help cover the rising costs of operating a program, or to make up for the loss of other donors who have stopped giving because of their own financial woes.

If you're reading this, I encourage you to reach out to people in your own personal and business network and encourage them to seek out tutor/mentor programs in Chicago to offer help.

This won't be a quick fix, but it will be a step in the right direction, and one that can assure extra help, right now, for kids lucky enough to find a program where they can participate.

Read more on my http://tutormentor.blogspot.com blog

School starts in a few weeks and hundreds of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs are launching marketing campaigns to recruit volunteers.  In Chicago we have been updating our Program Locator database and Program LINKS library, so that volunteers visiting our http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site can shop by zip code, or sections of the city, to learn about volunteer opportunities.

On August 21, we’ll be hosting a Volunteer Recruitment Coffeehouse Night at the ING Direct Cafe at 21 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611. It will go from 5-8pm. There will be coffee, tea, and pastries for a discounted price. Potential volunteers will meet representatives and other volunteers from Cabrini Connections,  Cabrini Green Tutoring, Chicago Lights at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Working in the Schools, and other organizations as well.

Everybody is encouraged to bring a friend to this and forward the information about it to all of their networks.

Nicole White is organizing this event. Read her blog to learn more and see what programs will be participating. http://nicolecabrini.blogspot.com/

This week the Chicago SunTimes is hosting a series of feature articles to show the impact of violence on inner city kids.

In April a story titled Hidden Wounds of Violence focused on the same issue. I wrote about it here on the Tutor/Mentor Connection blog . I included a quote from the article in which a parent said "she has enrolled him in tutoring, mentoring and other programs to give him an outlet for his energy in a safe, indoor environment."

Mike Trakan, who works for the Tutor/Mentor Connection posted an article on his blog showing locations of poorly performing public schools, along with "succeeding schools" which may just be steps away from being on the poorly performing list. He overlayed this list on a poverty map, and then a demographics map, showing high concentrations of African American and Hispanic populations in the city. Mike's questioning some assumptions and asking for feedback, so I encourage you to read the article.

I followed up with an article on my own blog, using maps to show where tutor/mentor programs are currently available.  We need to move beyond sensationalizing violence to forming learning groups in businesses, churches, hospitals, universities, beyond poverty neighborhoods, so that more people understand the problem and become personally involved in providing time, talent and dollars for solutions.

Here's a link to some involvement steps that any group might use.

Volunteering in America: 2008 State and City Trends and Rankings, has been released.

This year's report is the most comprehensive set of data ever assembled - offering detailed information on volunteering trends and demographics from all 50 states and 163 U.S. cities over a six-year period. The Volunteering in America profile data is available online in an easy-to-use, interactive web tool located at www.VolunteeringInAmerica.gov.

This report shows that Illinois ranks 30th in volunteer involvement. What has the Senator done in his past to change this that we can believe he will do in the future that increase volunteer involvement and service all over the country. He certainly has inspired millions of people to be part of this campaign. Can he inspire them to be volunteers in places throughout the country where many volunteers and many talents are needed to help bridge the social and economic divides of this country?

School is starting in a few weeks.  The map below show Chicago and the near suburbs. It indicates where poverty is greatest, which is where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are most needed.  This is one of several maps found in the Program Locator at http://www.tutormentorconnection.org.  Others show locations of poorly performing schools, or youth-on-youth violence. These are also indicators of where programs ar eneed.

 

This specific map shows more than 140 organizations who offer various forms of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring. During August each of these programs will be searching for volunteers. We hope that businesses, churches, colleges, media, and even polititians, will encourage volunteerism and service, and point to the Program Locator, as they have public speaking, advertising and leadership opportunities over the next month.

By looking a locations of programs, vs location of poverty, we can quickly see that there are too few programs, especially in some of the high poverty neighborhoods. While we want to encourage volunteerism in August, we want to encourage leadership in businesses, churches, hospitals, etc. that leads to the growth of new programs over the coming school year.

The result will be that a greater number of Chicago area kids will be connected to tutor/mentor programs by this fall's volunteer recruitment, and a much greater number will be connected starting in 2009, because of the planning and leadership that uses these maps as a resource. 

If we get this kind of leadership Illinois can move up on the lists for Volunteering in America.

This map shows Lutheran Churches in the Chicago region. Imagine if each church had a small team of people building a mobilization program intended to connect the resources of that faith community (members, the companies, colleges they attend, family, friends, etc.) with tutor/mentor programs operating in high poverty neighborhoods of the city and suburbs?

I wrote about this on the Tutor/Mentor blog and showed maps of Catholic and Baptists churches.  We've created maps of nine different faith groups and encourage members and faith leaders to use these to plan a long-term strategy that bridges the economic and social divides in our region, and creates a true pipeline out of poverty to careers.

Visit the map gallery and use the zip code map to find contact information for tutoring and/or mentoring programs throughout Chicago.

"If medical researchers were to discover an elixir that could increase life expectancy, reduce the burden of illness, delay the consequences of aging, decrease risky health behavior, and shrink disparities in health, we would celebrate such a remarkable discovery. Robust epidemiologica evidence suggests that education is such an exlir. Yet, health professionals rarely identified improving school graduation rates as a major public health objective, nor have they systematically examined their role in achieving this objective."

This is a quote from an article by Nicholas Freudenberg and Jessica Ruglis which is posted at http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htma> . I wrote about this in a previous blog article here and here.

If there is such a benefit, how can we encourage hospitals and teaching universities around the Chicago area to set up leadership and learning circles, with a goal of building youth development, tutoring and/or mentoring programs in the area around each hospital, and throughout the region?

Read more on the Tutor/Mentor Connection's maing blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2008/07/supporting-vol
unteer-based-tutormentor.html

I encourage you to view the new map at the http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com blog. This shows the location of different universities in Chicago, in relation to high concentrations of poverty and poorly performing schools.

In the article that describes the map, Mike provides quotes from the home page of various universities, which show their commitment to their community. For instance, on the University of Chicago web site they say U. of Chicago is "uniquely positioned to contribute to, and draw from, the strength and diversity of this world-class metropolis." They write that, "At Chicago, campus and community are interconnected in partnerships that serve both to support the community and train future policymakers, social workers, artists, and social and political leaders."

On the DePaul University web site is a statement saying DePaul University "emphasizes social engagement and service to others," and has "formed lasting partnerships with community organizations."

The major universities in Chicago have mapping capacity.  Can we ask them to create maps that show where they have volunteers, faculty, and alumni providing time, talent and operating dollars to help youth participate in volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring, or technology, or arts programs?

You would think that around each university you'd see dozens of flags indicating such support, as part of the organization's commitment to its community, and to creating pipelines from poverty neighborhoods to their universities?

Let me know if you ever find such a map on the web site of a college or university in Chicago, or in another major city.

Three more teens were shot and killed in Chicago this weekend. Once again ministers are in the streets trying to stop the violence. These marches attract media attention, such as stories like this one in the Chicago Tribune.

Why is it that ministers don't follow through with this evangelism to set up study groups that link city and suburban members with each other, and with knowledge, that people can use to learn new ways to create youth serving programs in high poverty neighborhoods that can compete with gangs and poverty?

Last  year I wrote a blog article following a headline in the SunTimes, titled "Enough is Enough" following another shooting.  Here's the link

To me, this reflection needs to be taking place in businesses, colleges, hospitals and faith groups, not just in poverty neighborhoods, but in suburban neighborhoods where such acts of violence are as distant as though they were in Iraq.

I use maps to help people search neighborhoods to locate tutor/mentor programs, or to see if any exist. I show the expressways on these maps, so people living in the South, West and North suburbs, but work in the city, can understand how they go right past these poverty neighborhoods every day during the work week.

Leaders can use maps like these to assure that comprehensive youth-serving programs are in every neighborhood with high poverty, not just in a few  high profile places, or high profile programs.

If the people traveling through these neighborhoods every day would just spend some time thinking of ways they can use their time, talent and dollars to help volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring, enriched learning and jobs programs be more available to k-12 youth in these neighborhoods, the pastors might be able to channel these reinforcements into programs and relationships that not only help reduce, or end, some of this tragedy, but bridge some of the other social, racial and economic issues that divide us.

The media have a role, too.  When  you cover these stories, post a link to web sites where people who want to get involved, can learn more about tutoring/mentoring and other youth services.  When you editorialize, use these same links to show how and where readers can get involved.

Maybe we can even get the people running for public office to point to these links when they  talk about what kind of leaders they are, and how they want to make life better for people in America.

 

The shootings continue in Chicago.  No strategy yet emerges. No general is using maps to point volunteers, donors and needed resources to all of the high poverty areas where media stories use images of kids and quotes like "You guys have been so nice to me. When I die, I'm going to miss you" , which is what Josue Torres, a 2nd grader at Lafayette Elementary School in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, told doctors after he was shot in a drive by shooting.

We created a map showing where this shooting took place, to draw attention to non profit youth serving organizations in the area who are working to prevent such tragedies.

We added overlays showing Catholic, Baptist and various Christian Churches in the area, along with major access routes like Grand Avenue, to illustrate how a faith based strategy might emerge to help support existing tutor/mentor programs, or help new ones form throughout the neighborhood, or in o ther parts of the city where poverty and violence are as related as fireworks and the 4th of July.

As you celebrate freedom with friends and family, we hope you'll spend a few moments looking at these maps and this information, so that you can begin to take a larger role in making freedom from violence be available to kids living in inner city neighborhoods.

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.

 

It was another weekend of shootings in Chicago neighborhoods.  This is not a problem with a quick fix.

That's why I encourage people to connect with the Tutor/Mentor Connection and look for ways to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs operating in different parts of the city, while also looking for ways to create new programs to fill voids.

Getting a youth and volunteer connected is the first step in a long process of helping that mentor, and the tutor/mentor program where the youth and volunteer were introduced, have a life changing impact on the decisions and choices that young person makes as he/she grows up.

There are too few of these programs in the city, and many who operate are in various stages of development. It takes many years for a group of people to build a great organization, and then it takes continued support, and constant improvement, to keep that organization great.

Chicago needs great tutor/mentor programs in every high poverty neighborhood.  To make that happen we need the involvement of business, faith, college, hospital and other community stakeholders.

If anyone cares about this, and is reading this, I'm hosting a conference on May 29 and 30 at Northwestern University School of Law.  I encourage you to attend and begin to connect with the programs who are already operating in the city.