Vision: because of the work we do youth living in poverty today will be starting jobs and entering careers out of poverty by age 25

On TED.com rock music star Bono sets a goal of one million advocates and one billion page views, focusing on poverty in Africa. Our goal is to mobilize the same type of support, but to focus it on high poverty areas of inner city neighborhoods, using maps, and a Program Locator Database, to help volunteers, donors, parents and students connect with the programs which already operate in these areas, or to help build new programs in undeserved areas.

To achieve this goal, many people need to spread this message to people in their network, who become volunteers or donors. And many of these people need to spread the work in their own networks. The end result might be Bono or some other leader becoming a champion for tutor/mentor programs and the T/MC strategy . This chart illustrates the goal.

While a tutor/mentor program will always be seeking volunteers, at key times each  year, such as August/September, the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) organizes a Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign to raise awareness and recruit volunteers for any Chicago-area volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that help youth who are in need of educational, career, and life skills assistance.

The T/MC tried to do this work as part of a small non profit from 1993-2011. We were not able to raise consistent operating dollars nor nearly enough advertising dollars to spread the word about tutor/mentor programs. This PDF shows work done and challenges since 1993.  This pdf compares of resources available to the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago, vs mentoring partnerships in other cities.

Thus, in April 2011 the Board of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection decided to down-size to only support the Cabrini Connections site based strategy. The Tutor/Mentor Institute LLC was created by Dan Bassill in July 2011 to expand ways to generate revenue to support the innovations and operation of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago, while helping similar intermediary groups grow in other cities. This wiki shows the opportunities and work that needs to be done.

While we no longer operate under a 501-c-3 status we seek donations from people who share our goal and understand that their donation is invested in the work we do to help programs like Cabrini Connections grow in all poverty neighborhoods of Chicago.

In addition we seek To serve as a consultant to business, hospital and faith leaders in Chicago and other cities to help them form teams of talented volunteers, who become champions of this campaign, in their own networks. Such teams of volunteers can take on ownership, and leadership roles, as year-round advocates and spokespersons for volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring in Chicago, and in any location where a company, college, faith group or university has a facility, or has a reason to be involved. 

View the T/MC strategy map, and see how we can increase the number of volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs serving inner-city youth by building leadership teams in businesses, churches, colleges, hospitals, etc.

If you seek volunteer opportunities in other cities, search web sites like http://www.volunteermatch.org and http://www.1-800volunteer.org. If you'd like a Program Locator and T/MC for your city, contact the T/MC.

Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like to know more about the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Learn about the Cabrini Connections program, the inspiration behind the Tutor/Mentor Connection