Tutor/Mentor Connection NEWS
Linking ideas, programs and people to help inner city kids since 1993. A Program of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, a Chicago non profit organization.
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May 2008, Issue #64
- May 29 and 30 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference
- Recommended Reading
- Chicago Programs - Nominate Lawyers for MY HERO Awards
- Network and Share Ideas on the Internet
- On-line Volunteer Recruitment Resources
- President's Message - Planning for 2008-09
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May 29 and 30 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference -
at the Northwestern University School of Law, 365 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago.
The Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking conferences are part of a 14-year strategy intended to help volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs grow in the areas where there are too many poorly performing schools, too much violence, and too few programs helping young people stay in school and prepare for 21st century jobs and careers.
The next conference is May 29 and 30. Please try to attend. If you can't attend, encourage someone you know to attend. Use this as part of your own strategy of helping kids have access to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.
Keynote speakers:
Margot Pritzker, CEO of http://www.womenoncall.org will be our keynote speaker at 12:50pm on Thursday, May 29.
Marilyn King, a two-time Olympian (Munich 1972 & Montreal 1976) in the grueling five event Pentathlon, will be the keynote speaker on Friday, May 30, from 9am to 9:20 am. http://www.waybeyondsports.com/
Glen "Max" McGee, President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy will be the keynote speaker at 12:50 pm on Friday, May 30. http://www.imsa.edu/
Technology and Evaluation Workshops:
While there is a wide range of workshops and panels (see entire list at http://www.tutormentorconference.org/descriptions.asp ) a few are focused on evaluation and uses of technology:
Measuring the Success of your Tutor/Mentor Program, presented by Debra Natenshon, CEO, The Center for What Works, http://www.whatworks.org
Using Thinkfinity for Tutoring/Mentoring, presented by Debbie Potts, State Coordinator for Thinkfinity, Verizon Foundation, http://www.ioes.org/thinkfinity.cfm
Mapping Collaborative Strategies. An overview of the way Tutor/Mentor Connection uses maps to draw volunteers and donors to tutor/mentor programs in specific zip codes of the Chicago region. Presented by Dan Bassill and Mike Trakin, GIS Mapping Coordinator of Tutor/Mentor Connection (http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com).
Where's the Evidence? A Practical Guide to Using Evaluation to Improve Program Quality, presented by Dr. David DuBois, School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, http://www.cade.uic.edu/sphapps/faculty_profile/facultyprofile.asp?i=dldubois
(This will be a 3 hour, double session).
What Brains Do When They Learn: Reach Them to Teach Them, presented by Sara Sawtelle, Ph.D., Director of Scientific Affairs, Learning Enhancement Corporation and Betsy Hill, President & COO, Learning Enhancement Corporation, http://www.MyBrainWare.com Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of BrainWare Safari, the revolutionary software program that develops cognitive skills in an engaging video-game format, and three free user accounts.
Creating a Program Website Using Free Online Tools, presented by Dan Hogan, Mentoring Program Coordinator at Circle Urban Ministries in the Austin community, http://circlerockmentoring.googlepages.com
View the on-line Attendee List to see how has already registered. Add your name to this list and use it to connect and network with others: http://www.tutormentorconference.org/RegistrationList/ . You can register on-line. Scholarships and group rates are available upon request.
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Recommended Reading:
We maintain an extensive library of research and articles that show where and why volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed, and the challenges communities face in building and sustaining such programs. A list of articles can be found at http://tinyurl.com/6763wz
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Chicago Area Programs - Nominate a volunteer for the 2008 MY HERO Awards
Nominations are now being accepted for the 5th Annual My Hero Awards Luncheon, to be held in Chicago on July 30, 2008. Tell why a law firm or attorney who serves as mentor, volunteer or board member makes a difference for your kids. Deadline is June 16, 2008. Those who have participated in the past will tell you that this is a wonderful way to honor your attorney volunteers. To receive an application, email Karina Ayala, at Kayala@chicagobar.org. Learn more at http://lawyerslendahand.org/lawyerslendingahand
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Network and Share Ideas On the Internet
Here are some places on the Internet where you can connect with Tutor/Mentor Connection and others to network and share ideas about education, dropout prevention, NCLB, and philanthropy
Mentoring Articles on Tutor/Mentor Connection web site
If you are part of a lively on-line community where issues related to tutoring/mentoring, volunteerism, or philanthropy are being discussed, why not submit an article for the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site? More than 7,000 visitors view the site every month so this can help drive traffic to your own groups. Click here to read articles submitted in the past. http://tinyurl.com/2gqu4l
Volunteer Recruitment links - One of the goals of the May Conference is to stimulate business, church and media involvement in August and September volunteer recruitment activities. This is intended to help more volunteers and donors find tutor/mentor programs in different parts of Chicago and other cities. Here's a section of links you can use to post volunteer opportunities, or to find tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago and other cities- http://tinyurl.com/yqkacz
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President's Report
What will your tutor/mentor program look like next year? Will your church, or company have a volunteer-mobilization strategy that supports multiple volunteer-based youth organizations?
The aim of the conferences is to help all volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs become great programs, not to support just one or two good programs in a few neighborhoods. We can do that by helping the leaders of hundreds of small non profits learn to compete more effectively with each other for limited resources.
Or we can increase the pool of available resources by enlisting leaders from business, universities, hospitals and faith communities to use their own marketing and communications tools to encourage volunteers to donate time, talent and even dollars to tutor/mentor programs in communities where these programs operate and are most needed.
Visit the Tutor/Mentor Blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2008/05/engaging-student-talent-to-solve-social.html and you can see how students from Indiana University created a presentation that we're using to help business leaders in Chicago and other cities understand and respond to our message. This is an example of how volunteers from many places can help us build and sustain volunteer-based non profits in many other places. Imagine if employees of big companies were using their talent and technology to support the infrastructure of all tutor/mentor programs in the country!
Thus, the Conferences and other on-line learning resources of the Tutor/Mentor Connection are designed to help each non profit become better at recruiting, training and supporting youth and volunteers in neighborhood based tutor/mentor programs, while helping the other stakeholders in these communities become more strategic in how they support the growth, and long-term operations of multiple programs in big cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles.
By attending the conference, or encouraging others to attend, you help us create greater public visibility for tutoring/mentoring. You can help many different programs get the volunteers and resources needed to turn the ideas from conference into more effective volunteer-recruitment in August and September. You can help the program you lead. You can help a business or church or university become more active in supporting the growth and long-term operations of volunteer based tutoring and/or mentoring programs.
If you would like to know more email tutormentor2@earthlink.net or call 312-492-9614.
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Daniel F. Bassill
President
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Cabrini Connections
800 W. Huron, Chicago, Il. 60622
312-492-9614
Read the blogs at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com