Visit this Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC YouTube channel to see videos where we explain our ideas and talk about how mentoring transforms the lives of volunteers and youth who become part of well-organized, long-term tutor/mentor programs.

Essays in this section are roles leaders in business, religion, health care, universities and politics might take to support the growth of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs  in all high poverty areas.

Read most current blog article on leadership

Network Building - Role of leaders (PDF updated 11/11)

Maximizing Value from Civic Engagement, A Consulting Role PDF

T/MC: A Business Model PDF

Tutor/Mentor Programs as Workforce Development

Leadership Hub - point to places where others can become involved

General Colin Powell, A Leadership Primer (this is not a T/MC created essay).

Many people say "It takes a Village to Raise a Child".  This map shows how we think of "village".

Read current blog articles about collaboration. 

Most don't think about the money and manpower it takes to enable each member of the village to do his/her job properly.  Most funding of non profits is "random acts of kindness" or charitable giving that is restricted to a specific geography, based on where the donor is located, or a limited number of years, based on donor guidelines.

No business could succeed with such restrictions on revenue. For non profits working to help kids grow from pre-school to first job, a 20 year journey, such funding strategies actually work against the ultimate goal, of kids in careers. 

The T/MC library has links to many articles that illustrate challenges and opportunities.  We show how volunteer involvement in a tutor/mentor program is an important form of civic engagement. It expands the network of adults supporting youth development and education strategies.

T/MC also has done surveys with program leaders to understand their most important challenges.   A discussion of challenges is hosted on the Tutor/Mentor Connection's Ning.com forum.

We encourage you to read and understand these, and build giving strategies that provide on-going and flexible funding to organizations working to help kids to careers. 

Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference held in Chicago since May 1994.   Next Conference June 7 at Metcalfe Federal Building in Chicago.

Every six months since May 1994 a conference has been hosted in Chicago with a goal of bringing people together to share ideas and expand resources available to volunteer based tutor/Mentor programs in every high poverty neighborhood of the Chicago region. Since 1998 this strategy has been shared with people in cities all over the world via the Internet and a variety of T/MC hosted web sites. Maps like the one at the left show conference participation and demonstrate our ability to bring people together. See more on the conference strategy here and conference maps here.

This strategy recognizes that no organization can attend every conference that is offered. Few  people will ever attend the T/MC conference. Thus, our goal is that before and after the May and November Conferences people connect through the Internet.

There are a growing number of ways to connect. Facebook, Linked in, Twitter, and on-line groups like http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com are now available.  In the past few years MOOCs, or 'massive open on-line courses" have grown in popularity and scope. Read more about MOOCs.

Blogs can be stand alone web pages, or part of on-line communities.  The Tutor/Mentor Connection blog is http://tutormentor.blogspot.com. On this page you can see blog articles written by interns working with us in Chicago.