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.

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