John L. Hosteny, Corporation for National and Community Service and Ted Gibbs, Office of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, and Director of Service Learning for the State Board of Education, will lead this discussion on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago.

If you'd like to join this conversation on line, just introduce yourself and post your question or comment.

315 to 445 ­ Collaboration with Local, State and Federal Partners
This session will:

o Provide participants with an opportunity to hear practitioners
discuss the successes and challenges involved in supporting mentoring
programs.

o Give participants the opportunity to:

1. offer advice on how the Nov. 30 conferenc's discussions can and will be continued.

2. share promising practices that capture every aspect of a mentoring program, from identifying a community need to building collaboration to recruiting an adult mentor who was once a young person whose life changed because of a mentor.

o Detail how participants can build new partnerships and generate more publicity for their programs



Open-ended Questions

o What must be done to ensure that meaningful collaboration is part of every discussion?

o Let's work on the premise that funding (either public or private) is not available to develop or expand existing programs or networks. What can be done to build sustainable projects that work together to solve community needs?

o What must be done to build a culture of mentoring in all of Illinois?

o What needs to be present for a person to be a lifelong volunteer?

o How do tutoring and mentoring programs help to instill an ethic of service? How can we do a better job of building an arc of service, which takes students from their school days into their professional lives?

o How can we begin to build a critical mass of practitioners/ supporters in tutoring and mentoring as a methodology?

o What models can be used as examples for increasing tutoring and mentoring programs in Illinois?

o What new state policies could be enacted to benefit tutoring and mentoring programs? For example a new policy, which allows state and local workers to become mentors by allowing employees to use time during the workday, such as lunch breaks or flexible work schedules, to mentor young people. Would this policy be helpful for tutoring and mentoring programs?

To register for the conference in Chicago, go to http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com

Questions from the conference:

1) I'm a new teacher (high school) who's looking to involve at least 35 of my seniors in a service learning project. Can you explain a little about the process of setting up the project (the steps I should go through)?

Response: In the links section of this web site are sub sections on service learning. There are many web sites with examples of service learning programs and with ideas for setting up such programs.  There is even an on-line K-12 Service Learning Discussion list.  Ted Gibbs, who leads the Illiniois School-based Service Learning Program from the Lt. Governor's office, also offered to act as a resource. 

T/MC NOTE: Post other questions here and Ted will be one of the people who will respond.

2) How do we unleash the talent of students and the resources of alumni groups in an effort to build the capacity and effectiveness of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other parts of Illinois and the USA?

T/MC NOTE:  This was a question that could not be answered at the conference. It's a question that we hope others will answer with their own comments and suggestions.