January is National Mentoring Month and you'll see much about the roles of youth and volunteers in various forms of mentoring.

As you read this newsletter many will be preparing to celebrate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. I'll be spending my time this weekend curating my library and sharing the resources.

Service needs to be more than one day in order to reach K-12 youth in economically disadvantaged areas, with life changing opportunities. Daily actions are needed to help all youth serving programs attract a consistent flow of operating and innovation resources.

The ideas and resources shared in this monthly newsletter point to a library of resources that can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world, to help mentor-rich youth programs thrive in all of the neighborhoods where they are most needed.

Encourage others in your city to find and use these resources!

Are volunteers in your youth-serving organizations doing this?

A few years ago a donor told me that he no longer read my newsletters because I repeated the same information over, and over. I told him a lesson I learned from a marketing executive at the Montgomery Ward Corporation many years ago.

I had asked him "Why do we keep repeating the same type of ads, with the same merchandise, at the same time each year?" He replied, "There is always a new customer looking for what we offer in our stores and if we don't have an ad showing that information, that customer might shop in another store." Then he said "We'll get tired of delivering the message before we run out of potential customers.

That applies to my work.

In the 1970s and 1980s I shared this information with volunteers in the tutor/mentor program I led, via weekly newsletters printed on a duplicating machine (remember those?)

In the 1990s I shared information via a printed newsletter. The first issue in June 1993 reached 400 people. The last printed issue in 2003 was sent to nearly 14,000. I never sent these more than 4 times a year.

In 2003 we switched to email marketing and in 2005 we started a blog. Our list of 14,000 people did not transfer to our email list so we lost contact with many people. Our email list never reached more than 2500. Thus, millions of people have never heard any of the messages I've sent.

Due to fund raising challenges ever since founding the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011, I've never been able to do more.

Thus while you may have seen the information I send, you may not have acted upon it. And you may not have shared it with other people.

That's the purpose of the graphic shown above. Share the information. Help it reach more people.

Last January my newsletter included many sub sections that asked readers to "think about needed infrastructure" and other things we need to be thinking about when we see an image of a mentor with a youth. Rather than repeat that same information in January 2024, I urge you to read last year's newsletter again.

Until we build a segmented understanding of who is being served, by what type of programs, and where more programs are needed, we'll never reach even a third of all the young people who might benefit from being part of an organized tutor/mentor program.

As you look at the articles in last year's newsletter, ask "Who is doing this research?" and "Who could be doing this research?"

Share your own research, ideas for building stronger programs and building hope and opportunity that propels more youth through school and into adult lives. Connect with me on Twitter (x), Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads and other platforms.

If more people get involved, more organized programs will reach youth throughout Chicago and other cities

When I use the term "volunteer-based" I don't just mean that volunteers serve as one-on-one and group tutors and mentors. I mean that many volunteers use their talent and engage their networks to help build and sustain organized, on-going, mentor-rich programs in more place where they are needed.

Think of all the different talent and skills needed to build a successful sports team, or a successful business. Those skills and talents are needed at every single tutor/mentor program. They are needed at the neighborhood level. They are needed at the city level.

I wrote this article in December 2023, titled "Building Great Tutor/Mentor Teams"

We need to grow more leaders and supporters - view this "tipping point" article.

What are you doing to build great teams that support youth tutor, mentor and learning programs?

• See latest additions to the Tutor/Mentor Library at this link.

About this newsletter.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

View current and past newsletters at this link.

Encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

If you recruit volunteers from diverse backgrounds many do not have much understanding of Black History and/or Social Justice issues. The Tutor/Mentor library points to dozens of websites where you can learn the history of slavery and racism in America. While I focus on Black History, many websites also point to discrimination against other minorities.

I also point to on-line learning resources that can be used by educators, tutors, mentors and parents, and by students, throughout the year.

Building awareness of these resources and motivating people to use them is an on-going challenge.

What type of information is available on the http:/www.tutormentorexchange.net website? View this PDF and see what the site offers. Bookmark this link and use it as an on-going resource.

Create your own visualizations and Concept Maps. Share with blog articles, videos and social media!

This animation was created by an intern from South Korea in 2012 to show that mentoring offers hope and opportunity. See it in this article.

This concept map shows how interns who worked with me between 2006 and 2015 spent time reading my articles and viewing my websites, then creating visualizations that shared their understanding.

Your students and volunteers can do the same!

This is one article where I describe this potential. I posted another article this week showing a role students could take.

Do you remember the "Circle of Life" song in the "Lion King" movies? Its message reminds us of the annual repetition of events as we and our students grow older.

In the school-year cycle we still have three full months before Summer break. In a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program, many are in the "can't wait" mode of thinking.

Yet this is the time for leaders to be collecting feedback, looking at what other programs do, and recruiting volunteers to help them start the school year again in the fall.

This planning should lead to a constant improvement in what programs do to help kids and volunteers connect and build relationships.

The ideas and resources shared in this monthly newsletter point to a library of resources that can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world, to help mentor-rich youth programs thrive in all of the neighborhoods where they are most needed.

Encourage others in your city to find and use these resources!

The President supports tutoring. He needs to dig deeper.

President Biden called for more tutors during his March 2024 State of the Union address. In the early 2000s President Bush also issued a call for tutors, as part of his "No Child Left Behind" plan. I created a presentation titled "Defining Terms" to call for a more sophisticated strategy that matched the type of tutoring and/or mentoring support provided to the person who was being served, and the social/economic environment where he/she lives. View the PDF in this article. Share it with policy-makers, donors and business leaders.

Create future leaders who LEAD and SUPPORT

As you look at the maps and identify where volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are most needed and what programs already exist you'll soon realize that a lot of programs are needed. Every program needs visionary, innovative, persistent leaders and staff, which means every one also needs a core of dedicated volunteers and donors.

Read this article from the Tutor/Mentor blog that points to the need for one, or many, universities to set up "pipeline" programs that draw students into college level courses that teach some of them habits and skills that enable them to lead constantly improving programs and teach the rest of them habits of consistent, on-going giving, that leads them to provide the support each program needs over many years. If you are in a position to make a billion dollar gift to a university (as someone recently did) why not endow a tutor/mentor connection type curriculum at your favorite university.

Planning Calendar and Steps to Start a Tutor/Mentor Program

On-going volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs work on a cycle that repeats from year-to-year, with recruitment of youth and volunteers at the start and celebrations and graduations at the end. In that cycle there needs to be constant data collection and learning that enables programs to improve what they do so they have a greater positive impact on youth and volunteers from year-to-year. In this section of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website you can find ideas that I learned from leading a tutor/mentor program for 35 years which you can borrow to help build your own program or start new programs where more are needed.

About this newsletter.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

view current and past newsletters at this link.

Encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

During May and June volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs that operate on a school year calendar will be holding year-end celebrations with students and volunteers. Follow these programs on social media, or visit their websites. Celebrate with them.

As this happens, leaders are already collecting ideas and making plans to operate through the summer and launch their programs again with volunteer recruitment campaigns in the fall.

Use the ideas and resources shared in this monthly newsletter to help you build and sustain mentor-rich, school and non-school, tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach K-12 youth in all areas of persistent poverty. These resources can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

How Many Tutor/Mentor Programs are needed in Chicago?

I've been trying to ask, and answer, this question for nearly 30 years. "How many tutor/mentor programs are needed in Chicago?" First, we need to know how many already exist, and how many kids and volunteers are involved. Second we need to know how many kids live in areas of persistent poverty. The Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I formed in 1993, launched its first survey in January 1994 and updated that information annually through 2010. We plotted the location of programs on maps and were able to sort by age-group served (elementary, middle and high school) and type of program (pure mentoring, pure tutoring, combination tutor/mentor).

The only time a survey was done to determine the number of youth in these programs was in 1997, by the Associated Colleges of Illinois, in partnership with the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The maps above were included in this report.

Sadly, far too few people ever saw that report because we had no means of mass distribution and I've never had funding to repeat it every few years, or to ask additional questions about the number of volunteers involved and what their backgrounds were.

I asked the "How many" question in this blog article. I invite new leaders to come forward and rebuild this effort in Chicago and launch it in other cities. If you know people already doing this type of survey, please share the links on social media.

What you can do to help end poverty

Tap into Manpower and Brainpower of Local Universities.

While I have had help from interns from many universities in Chicago and beyond, this was never part of a consistent strategy from any of these universities, aimed at helping more kids from high poverty areas come to their universities, then build lives in careers in the cities where they are located.

In one of the graphics above I show that the Tutor/Mentor Connection was born in a single Chicago tutor/mentor program in 1993 and was part of a two-part strategy until 2011. The media stories and public attention helped our own program grow! Thus, it could do the same for any youth program who wants to take the lead in duplicating what I started 30 years ago.

However, there's too much work that needs to be done. That's why I keep pointing to universities as potential leaders of a Tutor/Mentor Connection-type strategy, with funding from local and national benefactors.

This article on the Tutor/Mentor blog shows roles interns have taken over the past 30 years. These can be duplicated in dozens of cities for the same purposes.

Share this in your network and help find donors who will bring this strategy to colleges and the cities where they operate.

About this newsletter.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

View current and past newsletters at this link.

Please encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

By mid July leaders of volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are already beginning to launch volunteer recruitment campaigns for the start of the 2024-25 school year. Is your program working alone to attract attention? Or is it part of a coalition of similar programs all working toward a common purpose?

How do you find peers who are doing similar work?

That's the purpose of this newsletter and the library that I've maintained for the past 30 years.

Use the ideas and resources shared in this monthly newsletter to help you build and sustain mentor-rich, school and non-school, tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach K-12 youth in all areas of persistent poverty. These resources can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

Use links in this concept map to find youth programs in Chicago and around the country.

Every time someone in Chicago, or in your own community says, "Help kids" or "Be a Volunteer" or "Be a donor", they should be able to point to a concept map like this, or a web page like this, with resources to help them find programs in different parts of the city or suburbs. Our collective challenge is motivating more people to use their own media and personal influence to make that call-to-action.

Keeping a list up-to-date is one of the big challenges. If you find broken links on my websites, please report them to me. If you know of programs that should be added, or deleted (no longer operating), report that to me also.

If you're a university or institution that would like to take ownership of this resource and keep it available for the next 10 to 20 years. please reach out to me. I'm now 77 and new leaders are needed.

Get to know the resources available to you

About this newsletter.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

view current and past newsletters at this link.

Please encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

During the last two weeks of September, volunteer-based tutor and/or mentor programs across the country will be hosting orientations and training for volunteers and students in organized tutor, mentor and learning programs. By the first week of October most volunteers will have had their first meeting with students they are assigned to work with through the 2024-25 school year.

That was the what happened every year from 1975 to 2011 in the Chicago programs that I led.

Use the ideas and resources shared in this monthly newsletter to help you build and sustain mentor-rich, school and non-school, tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach K-12 youth in all areas of persistent poverty. These resources can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

This graphic was created several years to show the potential growth of volunteers in organized tutor/mentor programs. Visit this Tutor/Mentor blog article and view the graphic, then look at animations created by interns to provide their own interpretation.

One of the reasons I'm passionate about volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs is that they connect people who don't live in high poverty areas with kids, families and schools that are in these areas. As volunteers learn more of the challenges many will do more to help the kids, their programs and their communities overcome these challenges.

Increasing the number of people who care is essential. That requires an on-going effort.

This won't happen unless individual programs have an on-going volunteer support and learning strategy in place with these goals in mind. When you view a program's website, see if there is an explanation of how they support and retain volunteers.

And, unless programs have on-going operating dollars to hire and retain staff, few will be able to provide the continuous support this strategy requires.

The second lesson from the article I'm sharing is that interns from Chicago universities spent time reading my article then created their own interpretation. This is an activity that could be duplicated in hundreds of schools, throughout the world, with the end result that more people become personally involved in trying to solve the problems facing people living in areas of persistent poverty.

Visit this Tutor/Mentor blog to see work interns did between 2005 and 2015. If you have students doing similar work, do you have a blog or website that shares their projects?

Tips for volunteers and staff based on my own leadership of tutor/mentor programs

Thank you for reading.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

I encourage others to duplicate what I'm doing. Write a blog and share your own vision, strategy and challenges. Share your link and I'll add it to this list in the Tutor/Mentor library.

view current and past newsletters at this link.

Please encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).