I maintain three lists to help draw attention to Chicago area programs. The main one is on the Tutor/Mentor Connection website. Click here to view.

I also plot locations of these organizations on a map of Chicago, which you can find at this link.

The image below shows a list of the Facebook pages of most of these organizations - click here

You can also find a list of Instagram pages on the site - click here

Below are two of many graphics you can find on Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC websites and blogs. These visualize a goal of helping programs attract people with many different skills and talents, representing every business and civic sector, who help build and sustain well-organized, long-term, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reaching k-12 youth in high poverty neighborhoods.

Read series of blog article focused on "talent needed". click here

One of the best ways to build a relationship between a youth and an adult is to focus on an issue beyond their immediate life that they can learn about, and perhaps become involved with.

The Tutor/Mentor library has sub sections with links to many research articles, and to websites that are hubs of information for specific issues.

Dig through the T/M library often to find these sites.

One sub-section focuses on race, poverty and inequality. Help volunteers, donors and youth educate themselves, then educate others.

Find links to sections of the library in this article.

On the right side of the home page at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net are links to pages that will give you a deeper understanding of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and its founder, Daniel F. Bassill.

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.

If you're involved in advertising sales for local media, create a template and go to local companies to encourage them to post these ads, with their company logo shown in the middle, such as in this example.

In November a similar ad campaign could be repeated, but this time focused on year-end fund raising.

While individual youth programs could adopt this strategy to draw attention to their own programs, the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC seek to support EVERY volunteer-based youth tutor, mentor and learning program within a geographic area such as the Chicago region. Others can duplicate this strategy in cities across the world.

How well does your website or blog inform potential volunteers, donors or student participants?

I created this "shoppers guide" to offer suggestions for what you might want to show on your web site. These are also suggestions for information you'd want to connect to evaluate your program and constantly try to improve its impact.

If you're a communications professional, web designer, advertising writer, etc. you might offer your talent to help local programs build and maintain more powerful websites. Many don't have the money to hire people to do this work.

In late July the Chicago SunTimes pointed to 15 Chicago community areas as having the highest number of shootings and homicides in 2021, calling them "High Priority" areas.

The Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC created a presentation showing how the SunTimes maps, and the Tutor/Mentor Chicago Programs Map could be used in an analysis intended to build and sustain programs in each of these community areas.

View some of the maps in this article - click here

View each maps in this T/MI pdf - click here

On the right side of the home page at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net are links to pages that will give you a deeper understanding of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and its founder, Daniel F. Bassill.

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.

While individual youth programs could adopt this strategy to draw attention to their own programs, the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC seek to support EVERY volunteer-based youth tutor, mentor and learning program within a geographic area such as the Chicago region. Others can duplicate this strategy in cities across the world.

Visit this section of the Tutor/Mentor library and browse three sub-sections of training resources available for tutor and mentor volunteers, as well as parents.

View this concept map to find sections of learning resources in the Tutor/Mentor web library.

Categories include:

Volunteers who connect with youth in organized tutor/mentor programs can have a much greater impact beyond the regular time they spend with youth. Point them to libraries with information about poverty, segregation, structural racism, inequality, etc. and encourage them to read and discuss this information. The longer a volunteer stays involved, and the more informed she is, the more that volunteer will do to help the youth and the program.

Service learning loop video - click here

View Law, Justice, Poverty library map.

On the right side of the home page at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net are links to pages that will give you a deeper understanding of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and its founder, Daniel F. Bassill.