Our Mission:The mission of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (T/MI) is to gather and organize all that is known about successful volunteer-based, non-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region.
Under the "Educate Yourself" theme I've been building a web library since 1998, including links to blogs that share important information for leaders, volunteers, donors, policy makers, etc. In early 2017 I was introduced to Inoreader as a tool to use to easily follow these blogs and read new updates daily.
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 isan 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.
The words tutoring and mentoring mean different things to different people, based on the social-economic status and age of the youth being served, and of the different goals being served. Some times our pictures and videos help people understand how a tutor/mentor program connects kids from high poverty areas with adults and learning experiences from beyond those neighborhoods.
The Tutor/Mentor Institute (T/MI) has published more than 1000 blog articles, focusing on a wide range of issues, illustrated by this graphic. Do a Google search for the words "tutor mentor" plus any of these words, and several links on the first page will point to articles posted about that topic. Use these to expand your own understanding of problems and potential solutions. T/MI has also created over 60 short PDF essays, such as one, titled Tutor/Mentor, Same Words, Different Meaning - defining the terms , to help leaders understand the different forms of tutoring and/or mentoring that exists.
Understanding Issues and Benefits
Under the "Educate Yourself" theme I've been building a web library since 1998, including 
Many people say "It takes a Village to Raise a Child". This 
