T/MC’s six goals
T/MC filed every activity in its log under one or more of these goals.
Public awareness
Drawing the attention of the public, the media and leaders to the need for tutoring and mentoring in high-poverty neighborhoods: Tutor/Mentor Week, volunteer recruitment campaigns, press releases, op-eds and media coverage.
1,053 itemsEvents
The events T/MC organized or took part in: the Leadership and Networking Conferences held each spring and fall, fairs, forums, summits and celebrations that brought program leaders, volunteers and supporters together.
686 itemsResearch
Gathering and sharing knowledge: program surveys, the Program Locator, maps of need, studies of what works, and the library of research collected for program leaders.
982 itemsResource building
Helping volunteers, money, ideas and talent reach tutoring and mentoring programs in every part of the city: work with businesses, foundations, donors, congregations, hospitals and universities.
1,343 itemsTraining
Helping program leaders, staff and volunteers learn from each other and improve: conference workshops, training sessions, orientations and shared best practices.
692 itemsTechnology
Using the internet and data to connect people with programs: T/MC’s websites, the Program Locator, OHATS, email newsletters, online libraries and mapping tools.
1,129 itemsTopics that come up most in the files
Chosen by how often each subject appears across the documents, slides, news stories, activity log and planning files.
Networks and collaboration
Building a connected network of programs, supporters and leaders, the idea at the heart of T/MC’s strategy: coalitions, partnerships and the social-network maps of who worked with whom.
1,225 itemsSchools and education
Schools, the Chicago Public Schools and educators: school-based programs, school data on the maps, and the link between tutoring, mentoring and school success.
857 itemsBusiness involvement
Asking companies and their employees to support programs near their workplaces and customers, from Montgomery Ward, where the tutoring program began, to the businesses on T/MC’s maps.
617 itemsVolunteer recruitment
The yearly Chicagoland Volunteer Recruitment Campaigns, Tutor/Mentor Week and the work of drawing volunteers into programs across the city.
413 itemsCabrini-Green and Cabrini Connections
The Cabrini-Green neighborhood where the tutoring program began in 1965, and Cabrini Connections, the teen program T/MC’s founders started there in 1992.
395 itemsViolence and poverty
Why T/MC’s work mattered: poverty, violence and the neighborhoods where young people needed more caring adults. Dan Bassill tracked the news and mapped shootings and poverty against the programs that existed.
602 itemsUniversities and colleges
Universities and colleges as partners, sources of volunteers and interns, researchers, and hosts of conferences and network-analysis projects.
585 itemsMapping and GIS
Using maps to show where programs were and where they were missing, set against poverty, schools, violence and businesses. Mapping was one of T/MC’s signature tools.
818 itemsCareers and jobs
Helping young people move from school into jobs and careers, the long-term goal of tutoring and mentoring.
430 itemsFaith communities
Congregations and faith leaders as supporters and hosts of tutoring and mentoring programs, and the maps of churches set against need.
252 items