Issue 251
Build your understanding. Recruit new leaders!
I'm also showing new examples of what you'll find if you explore the Kumu.io map created by IVMOOC students at Indiana University to better understand participation in the May 1994 to May 2015 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences that I hosted in Chicago.
I've streamlined the number of links that I share each month. I hope it makes the newsletter more readable.
Visit https://tutormentorexchange.net/
While a majority of what I share is from my work helping Chicago tutor/mentor programs grow, the resources I share come from all over the USA and from other countries. The actions I've piloted since 1993 need to be duplicated in every area with concentrations of persistent poverty, where access to opportunity is consistently lower than in other places and where funding is scarce.
Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!
Have you tried to find your tutor/mentor program on this map showing 1994-2014 Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences that were held in Chicago?
Above I is a view created by zooming in on 1997 conferences. I've circled the Midtown Center, which is one of the green nodes. In this LinkedIn post they show that they are celebrating their 60th year of service.
If you hold your mouse over any of the green nodes you'll get a view that shows all conferences that they attended. Below is what I found for Midtown Center.
Actually, they attended at least five conferences.
This shows that they attended the May 1997 and November 1999 conferences. However, the Metro Achievement Center is also part of the Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers. I looked at the May 2002 conference and found the green node for Midtown Education Foundation. By holding my mouse over that node I can see that they attended the November 1996, May 2001 and May 2002 conferences. So actually, this organization attended at least five conferences.
I'm now working with a Spring 2026 IVMOOC team at Indiana University to update this visualization. In February I went through the Excel spreadsheet (6518 lines) that was used by the Fall 2025 team and tried to combine listings where an organization registered under more than one name, or changed its name over the 20 years that we offered the conference. I'm hoping they will create an updated map, that better reflects total conference participation. In addition, Ihope that you'll be able to search by organization to find a view showing all of the conferences they attended. I won't know if this happens until late April.
In the meantime, have some fun digging through the current interactive map. See what organizations you can find that you know and then share a jpg on social media, just as I've been doing.
What are the strategic reasons for business to adopt this strategy?
Over the past few weeks I've used Google Gemini to create a fresh perspective and new understanding of some of the strategies I've shared with my concept maps, blog articles and visual essays. I've been pleased with the results.
The graphic above is from an article titled "R&D for Business Support of Tutor/Mentor Programs" which you can read at this link.
Here are other articles using Gemini
* "Can You Champion this Idea?" - click here
* "Tipping Point. Fixing the Distribution and Infrastructure Problem" - click here
* "From Blueprints to Careers: A Unified Strategy for Chicago's Future". It includes a sample speech that a CEO might give to a group of business leaders, showing her commitment to the ideas shared in this Tutor/Mentor Strategy Map. I posted this article on Medium. If you have an account you can "listen" to the post. - click here
* "Message from Faith Leader". I asked Gemini to provide a similar speech, but this time delivered by a faith leader. You can read that on this page.
You, or students and/or volunteers, can use AI to give you a better understanding of any of the ideas I've been sharing in my blog articles since 2005. Then, you can use what you learn to help build support for youth-serving programs in your city or state. I hope you'll try, then share links with me on social media.
"We are not very good as a country in dealing with long-term problems, except when they present themselves as a crisis."
The quotes in the above graphic are from the early 1990s. You can see them in this article.
Most of what I've been doing aims to generate greater on-going visibility for EVERY volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region, to help attract more consistent support from business, philanthropy, faith groups, political leaders and more.
In the above article where I show sample speeches generated by Gemini I've shown how business and faith leaders can use their own positions of leadership and influence to draw others to the information I share on my website and blogs. My lists of youth-serving programs are the most valuable part of the library, because by maintaining a list I'm enabling others to help draw attention and resources to programs in EVERY part of Chicago and its suburbs.
By sharing this on the Internet I'm inviting people in other cities to use the resources and duplicate my strategies, if they don't already have someone doing what I've been doing.
"It takes a village to raise a child" is true. But it takes consistent, on-going outreach to bring people together to do the work and build the resources. In these trouble times, it's more and more difficult to get this message distributed. That's why it's more important than ever before that some people adopt these ideas as their own.
Note: If you find broken links or organizations that no longer operate, or know of other organizations that should be included, please share that information with me.
Steps to start and sustain a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program
Most of the resources in the Tutor/Mentor library are intended to help people start and sustain, on-going, mentor-rich, non-school programs that reach K-12 youth in high poverty neighborhoods and build long-term connections between youth, the program and its volunteers.
In this blog article, and this section of the Tutor/Mentor website I share three visual essays with "Steps to Start a Program"; "Operating Principles"; an an "Annual Planning Calendar".
Use these ideas to help existing programs constantly improve and to help new programs grow where more are needed. If you're posting similar information on your own website or blog, based on your experiences, please share the links with me on social media platforms.
View latest links added to the Tutor/Mentor library - click here
Resources and Announcements.
* Chicago NonProfit Formation - Digging Deeper into the Data - click here
* "The Time Has Come for Youth Development". Wallace Foundation article - click here
* Prison Policy alternatives - click here
* "Talent is Evenly Distributed. Opportunity is Not." "National Education Opportunity Network aims to change that. - click here
* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory - click here; visit the website- click here
Read These Tutor/Mentor blog articles
(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media.)
* Mapping Black History using Kumu.io - click here
* Many Leaders Needed - click here
* Tribute to a Larger-Than-Life Leader - click here
* No Coding. Just a Vision - click here
* Expand "Who-you-Know" networks for K-12 kids in high poverty areas - click here
Visit this page to find a list of highlighted resources that I usually have included in this newsletter.
click here
Thank you for reading this month's newsletter.
For those who don't want to receive this newsletter in their email, a copy of this and past issues can be found in my www.tutormentorexchange.net website.
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.
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