What we offer is HOPE and OPPORTUNITY.  

Volunteer based tutoring/mentoring programs connect youth from high poverty areas with people, experiences, ideas and opportunities from beyond poverty. They offer HOPE and OPPORTUNITY for young people in areas where too many young people fear they will not be alive past age 21.

The goal of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, is to help make high-quality volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs available in more of the high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other big cities and that volunteers who become involved in tutor/mentor programs have a life-changing impact as a result of many years of involvement, and growing levels of leadership.  

We are not a 501_c_3 non profit that seeks charity to fund our work. We are not a manufacturer of widgets, apparel or other products that we can sell for a profit and fund our work. What we offer is HOPE and OPPORTUNITY certificates. You can purchase as few or as many as you want.

We don't seek to make a profit. We are building a "social problem solving platform" that can be used by anyone in the Chicago region, and can be duplicated in every major city in the world.  We seek to cover our expenses, pay reasonable salaries, and innovate products and services that help tutor/mentor programs grow in more places. Everything you see on this and other Tutor/Mentor Institute web sites is made possible by our sale of HOPE and Opportunity Certificates. 

Invest in Tutor/Mentor Connection Mapping and Visualizaiton

Maps are worth thousands of words. They focus attention on all of the neighborhoods where donor support is needed to help kids stay in school, stay safe in non-school hours, and have the expanded network that helps kids move to jobs and careers.

We use maps and an Internet Library listing more than 200 different organizations in Chicago who offer various forms of tutoring and/or mentoring in an effort to encourage donors to choose programs in many parts of the region, based on where poverty or poor schools show the need to be greatest.  Our Links Library points to more than 1400 other web sites, many which are also non profits seeking donations.

We point to the GIVE Five Campaign, and to articles on the T/MC web site, to help volunteers and donors learn ways to be more strategic in using their time, talent and dollars to help long-term programs create long-term impact.

Financial support and volunteer talent are needed by the Tutor/Mentor  Institute throughout the year to support the data collection and use of the maps and Program Locator.  

However, what makes the Tutor/Mentor Institute so unique is that we want to help all tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region find the dollars they each need.

Thus, you can visit the web site of any of these other programs, to learn what they do, and make a donation to them.

Unless we increase the level of revenue available to youth serving organizations, tutor/mentor programs and others working to help youth grow up safely and be prepared for 21st century jobs and adult responsibilities, we will continue to have two worlds, one of opportunity and hope, and one with disadvantage and despair. 

We hope you'll use these resources to build your giving strategies, and become a long-term partner in reducing the gap between these two worlds.

Stay informed by reading the Tutor/Mentor Blog each week.