Our Vision: Because of the work we do, more youths born in poverty will start jobs and careers by age 25, and more volunteers will make a lasting commitment to tutor/mentoring.

Yes. There is a lot of information and it's difficult to navigate.
Complex problems do not have simple solutions. As you spend time learning what's available you'll find many ideas and resources that can be applied in Chicago or any other city.

You can go through the information in any sequence you choose. I encourage people to think of my web sites as a huge shopping mall. The first time you visit you just walk the mall and peek into every store to see what's there. Then you go back later to investigate stores that you were more interested in.  Some of these become your favorites and you repeat your visit over and over.

View this video to help you navigate the various sections of this web site.

This PDF presentation provides a tour of the website.

For your assistance, this concept map is a "learning path" you can follow.
This is the same learning path information, but communicated via a YouTube video format.

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Why do we do this?
We believe volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are the bridges that connect volunteers, donors and business leaders with the children, families and schools on the other side of the socioeconomic divide. However, we don't have all of the answers. When we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we said "Let's try to learn every thing that is known about this problem, and about solutions that work in some places that could be working in other places if the money and volunteers were available."

Thus, while you can go to five or six different web sites hosted by the T/MC, you can go to more than 1500 other sites hosted by other organizations, universities, businesses and government.  In addition, most of these sites were selected by the T/MC to be on our sites because they have libraries of links that point you to even more extensive networks of information.  If you spent enough time  in this network of web sites you could earn a Ph.D in this subject!!

This Web site is for:

• leaders of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs
• youth in tutor/mentor programs
• volunteers
• board members
• business leaders
• parents
• donors
• media

By exploring this Web site, and making a permanent resource for your own learning, innovation and decision making, we hope you and all visitors begin to understand where tutor/mentor programs are needed most, why they are needed, ways to get involved and approaches to improving existing programs.

We hope to connect you and a growing number of these stakeholders through an ongoing, dynamic exchange of ideas, and ultimately to improve the availability and quality of tutor/mentor programs throughout the world.