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New Links - added 2025

New additions to Tutor/Mentor library - 2025

Since mid 2022 I've posted new additions to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Library on a page like this. Each listing includes a link to the sub-section of the library where the link was posted. Those links are in alphabetical order. New additions from 2024 are posted here. New additions from 2023 are posted here. New additions from 2022 are posted here.

6-26-2025 - IMPACT BORDERLESS DIGITAL (IBD) - AFRICAN MENTORING SUPPORT
https://impactborderlessdigital.com/
From the website: "Through mentorship and career development flora, IBD empowers youth with the knowledge, international exposure, and digital fluency they need to be emancipated global citizens with borderless influence for sustainable development." Based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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4-28-2025 - INDEPENDENT SECTOR - TRACKING THE POLICY LANDSCAPE FOR THE CHARITABLE SECTOR - 2025
https://independentsector.org/policy/tracking-the-policy-landscape/
With so much disruption coming from the new Federal administration, as a result of the 2024 election, funding for the charitable sector is in a state of chaos. The Independent Sector and partners are providing three trackers to monitor policy actions. 1) Tax and Federal Legislation Tracker; 2) Litigation Tracker; 3) Executive Action Tracker. Make sure your board, volunteers and donors are aware of this resource.
Find in this section

4-28-2025 - MAPPING JUSTICE - EMPOWERING YOUTH THROUGH GEOSPATIAL INNOVATION
https://www.trubel.co/
This is the flagship program of an organization called trubel&co, who's mission is to "champion diverse youth by integrating STEM education with civic innovation to tackle societal challenges. Through our flagship program, Mapping Justice, we empower students to use geospatial technology for social change, fostering data literacy, critical thinking, and community advocacy."
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4-28-2025 - COLLECTIVE FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT IN STEM AND SOCIETY (CYESS)
https://cyess.org/
CYESS is an initiative of the Afterschool Alliance which is "leveraging the potential of afterschool programs for civic engagement and STEM learning." Browse the website to learn more.
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4-28-2025 - CHILDREN'S FUNDING PROJECT - SUPPORT FOR STRATEGIC PUBLIC FINANCING
https://childrensfundingproject.org/
The Children's Funding Project "helps communities maintain equitable, coordinated, and sustainable funding for comprehensive programs and services so that all children thrive." View video of April 2025 webinar to understand the support and resources they offer. https://childrensfundingproject.org/resource/public-financing-in-times-of-uncertainty/

Read the article on the Wallace Foundation website about the Children's Funding Project. https://wallacefoundation.org/resource/article/investing-youth-cradle-career
Find in this section

4-28-2025 - GOOGLE MAPS MANIA - IS A BLOG SHARING GOOGLE MAPS CREATED SINCE 2005
https://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-action-day-2008-poverty.html
This blog is a huge, rich archive showing hundreds of ways maps can be used. I saw this link on BlueSky and searched to see if Tutor/Mentor Connection had ever been mentioned. I found this 2008 post where I'd introduced our mapping work with a comment.
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4-3-2025 - A BETTER CHICAGO - STATE OF OUR YOUTH 2025 REPORT
https://www.abetterchicago.org/reports-and-insights/state-of-our-youth-2025
This 2025 report provides extensive data showing the "Sate of Chicago Youth" and should be read by all who are concerned with the future of the city. In the summary the authors wrote "Chicago is among the major cities that continues to experience uneven investments and development across neighborhoods, resulting in inadequate access to essential services and disparities in economic, education and health outcomes. The data in this report reveals how these historical patterns continue to have a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color." Download the report from the A Better Chicago website.
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3-31-2025 - A 2025 UPDATE OF GENE BELLINGER'S SYSTEMS THINKING LIBRARY
click here
This site is related to the "And, It's all Connected" site. It is named "Gene's 2nd Brain" which is (as he says) "where I attempt to organize everything I touch that seems meaningful. Well, at least to me." This site uses an interactive concept mapping/visualization tool to organize hundreds, if not thousands, of links. Spend some time becoming familiar with it. Re-visit often. Create your own version. No password needed.
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3-28-2025 - EVERY HOUR COUNTS - A NETWORK OF LEADING INTERMEDIARIES BUILDING AFTER SCHOOL SYSTEMS
https://www.everyhourcounts.org/
From the website: "Every Hour Counts is a network of organizations from across the country that is leading a movement to expand learning beyond school so that all young people can thrive."
Find in this section

3-27-2025 - COUNSELLOR TALK - CREATIVE RESOURCES FOR COUNSELLORS, EDUCATORS AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
https://www.counsellortalk.com/blog
On this site, launched in 2025, two long-term psychologists and former school counsellors share a legacy of meaningful connections and creative counselling practices with the goal of inspiring a new generation of counsellors and educators. The blog is full of resources.
Find in this section

3-23-2025 - AMERICA'S VOLUNTEER-BASED U.S. GOV. DATA RESCUE PROJECT - 2025
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-data-hoarders-resisting-trumps-purge
This article in The New Yorker describes an effort by hundreds of volunteers to save data that is being wiped by people working for the GOP leaders in Washington, DC. This is a massive effort to preserve history and public knowledge. Visit the Data Rescue Project website to learn more and get involved. https://www.datarescueproject.org/
Find in this section

3-21-2025 - COMMUNITIES FOR JUST SCHOOLS FUND
https://www.cjsfund.org/
From the website: "Communities for Just Schools is a national collaborative that links philanthropy with the power of grassroots organizing to transform schools. It's a movement born to end the school-to-prison pipeline."
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3-19-2025 - CAREER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, INC - PROMOTES ACHIEVEMENT IN STEM PROFESSIONAL CAREERS - HOSTS STEM CITY USA
https://intouch.ccgmag.com/page/pre-college-program
CCG website shows a wide range of programs, publications and events that promote achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math careers. One program is STEM CITY USA, which is a virtual reality learning platform which you can see at https://stemcityusa.com/. The link provided above points to the CCG pre-college program that provides middle and high school students the opportunity to learn about STEM careers and acquire skills.
Find in this section

3-19-2025 - PICKLEBALL NOISE RELIEF - A GRASSROOTS EFFORT LAUNCHED IN 2023
https://www.pickleballnoiserelief.com/home
From the website: "Pickelball Noise Relief is a grassroots support network dedicated to addressing the issue of excessive noise from pickleball courts. We aim to inform, educate, and empower individuals affected by pickleball noise, providing resources and strategies to mitigate its impact." Take a look at the range of resources provided on this website. It's a model that other causes might duplicate.
Find in this section

3-18-2025 - A MIGHTY GIRL - DEDICATED TO RAISING SMART, CONFIDENT, AND COURAGEOUS GIRLS
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog
The website says "A Mighty Girls is the worlds largest collection of books, toys, movies, and music for parents, teachers and others dedicated to raising smart, confident, and courageous girls and, of course, for girls themselves." This link points to the Mighty Girls blog. Follow A Mighty Girls on Facebook and see how they share relevant information on a regular basis. https://www.facebook.com/amightygirl
Find in this section and in this section

3-14-2025 - VISUALLY RECORD A CONVERSATION
https://visualthinkery.com/project/visually-recording-a-conversation/
This article on the Visual Thinkery site provides steps for visually recording a conversation. It's part of the creative process ideas shared on the site.
Find in this section

3-12-2025 - SCHOLARSHIPS AND RESOURCES FOR MINORITY STUDENTS
https://www.publicservicedegrees.org/financial-aid/scholarships/minority-students/
This "Student Training & Education in Public Service" article includes a list of minority-focused scholarships and resources that focus on public-service degrees.
Find in this section

3-7-2025 - THE EDUCATIONAL POWER OF FILMMAKING FOR YOUTH
https://octaneseating.com/blog/film-educational-benefits
NAVIGATING THE ART OF BOOK-TO-FILM ADAPTATION
https://octaneseating.com/blog/book-to-film-adaptations/
These are two visually illustrated blog articles on the website of a company that sells residential and theater seating! Both have valuable tips that student and adult film-makers might learn from. Take a look.
Find in this section

3-7-2025 - UNLOCKING THE MAGIC OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND EDUCATORS
https://octaneseating.com/blog/childrens-literature/
This is a visually illustrated blog article on the website of a company that sells residential and theatrical seating. It offers many useful tips for parents, teachers, tutors and mentors.
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3-4-2025 - INCREASING STEM ENGAGEMENT THROUGH OPPORTUNITY LANDSCAPING - 2025 RESEARCH PAPER
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000186?via%3Dihub
This paper on Opportunity Landscaping, co-authored by Nichole Pinkard, with Sheena E., Caitlin K. Martin, Yolanda J. Majors, PhD, & Natasha Smith-Walker, explores how we can better understand and design learning ecosystems to ensure equitable access to STEM and out-of-school learning opportunities. An example of this work is the South Side STEM Opportunity Landscape described at https://www.southsidestemlandscape.org/
Find in this section

2-28-2025 - BEYOND AID: WHY GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS A MARKET-CREATING SHIFT - 2-2025 ARTICLE
https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/beyond-aid-why-global-development-needs-a-market-creating-shift/
The long-standing global development model has been overly reliant on foreign aid. That has decreased from 2019 to 2023 and now is being drastically cut by the new administration in Washington. This article makes a case for developing market-creating innovations to alleviate poverty.
Find in this section

2-28-2025 - FOM BLACK BOYS TO BLACK MEN - WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
https://www.hattieschild.com/mentoring
Visit this website and learn from educator, author and mentor, Steve White. Use the curriculum in your own mentoring programs.
Find in this section

2-28-2025 - THE MIS-EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO - BY DR. CARTER. G. WOODSON
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mis-Education_of_the_Negro
This book was published in 1993 but remains a fundamental resource for understanding Black history.
Find in this section

2-27-2025 - OTHERING & BELONGING INSTITUTE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/resources
From the website: "OBI advances groundbreaking research, policy, and ideas that examine and remediate the process of exclusion, marginalization, and structural inequality -- what we call othering -- in order to build a world based on inclusion, fairness, justice, and care for the earth -- what we call belonging." This link points to the resources page.
Find in this section

2-26-2025 - STEM LEARNING ECOSYSTEMS - CONNECTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES WITH A NATIONAL NETWORK OF PEERS AND STEM LEADERS
https://stemecosystems.org/
From the website: "Built on over a decade of research, the STEM Learning Ecosystems Community of Practice is a first-of-its-kind global collaboration of 114+ communities growing STEM collaborations that prepare all people for emerging opportunities. More than 70 million learners find themselves going from cradle to career within the space of a STEM Learning Ecosystem."
Find in this section

2-26-2025 - VISION FOR AMERICAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (VAST) - 2025
https://www.vastfuture.org/
This website shows the vision of individuals representing industry, academia, government, and the non-profit sector of a future state in which American science and technology can continue to serve America. Planning started in 2024.
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2-20-2025 - MELANIN MEETUPS - SHAPING THE AMERICAN BLACK COMMUNITY AND EXPERIENCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
https://www.melaninmeetups.org/about
From the website: "The mission of Melanin MeetUps is to Rewrite the Narrative. This means to create a better understanding of the African-American experience and overall story to create a more unifying identity due to the deliberate erasure of persons, culture, values, and beliefs from systems designed to do so." Visit the site to learn more.
Find in this section

2-20-2025 - FITFO NETWORK - "A NETWORK FOR NETWORKS"
https://www.fito.network/boosting-funding
This site was created in 2023, based on many years of previous experience. The network is made up of thousands of people, with leaders from Africa, India, South America and Europe. It's goal is to help networks get the ideas, connections and resources each needs to do their work well. One section focuses on boosting funding for networks.
Find in this section and in this section

2-20-2025 - FORWARD MOMENTUM CHICAGO - INSPIRES POSSIBILITIES THROUGH DANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS
https://www.forwardmomentumchicago.org/
From the website: "Forward Momentum Chicago programs are designed to increase dance skills and awareness, and to foster creativity, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning. Forward Momentum Chicago offers a variety of dance experiences for all ages and ability levels."
Find in this section

2-12-2025 - 'ORIGINAL SINS" - BOOK EXAMINES HOW EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO HURT BLACK AND INDIGENOUS STUDENTS
https://thetriibe.com/2025/02/eve-l-ewing-examines-how-the-education-system-is-designed-to-hurt-black-and-indigenous-students/
This link points to an interview of Eve L. Ewing, author of "Original Sins", published in Feb. 2025 in The Tribe.
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2-6-2025 - KEVIN'S MEANDERING MIND - BLOG BY CONNECTED LEARNING EDUCATOR
https://dogtraxwrites.com/blogging4life/blogging4life-the-platforms/
Kevin Hodgson is a middle school teacher from Western Massachusetts who I've followed since 2014. Several links on this blog list go to articles he wrote. I point to his blog many times from the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC blog. He launched a new blog site in 2025. Check it out.
Find in this section

2-5-2025 - AUTHENTIC CONNECTION PLATFORMS: THE FUTURE OF DISINTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA - 2025 ARTICLE
https://www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/social-media-2/2025/02/authentic-connection/
This article on the Conferences that Work blog focuses on the demise of traditional social media as a place to connect and share ideas and the rise of smaller platforms, that are part of the Fediverse, a network of servers interconnected via a common protocol. Mastodon is one of these.
Find in this section

2-4-2025 - 3 TOOLS TO HELP TEACH ABOUT BLACK HISTORICAL FIGURES IN A MODERN LIGHT
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64931/three-tools-to-help-teach-about-black-historical-figures-in-a-modern-light
This article on the KQED website offers tips for engaging children in learning about Black history throughout the year and beyond the surface level. Take a look.
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1-26-2025
LUV CITY - ENGAGES YOUTH IN MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION
ttps://luvcity.org/
From the website: "LUV City offers a 5-week Summer Institute where Chicago youth are immersed in workshops in filmmaking, editing, sound design, multimedia production, acting, storytelling and music production. Youth are invited to continue on with programming during fall, winter and spring semesters."
Find in this section

1-21-2025 - LANDLORD MAPPER - NATIONAL LANDLORD DATBASE INITIATIVE
https://landlordmapper.org/chi/home/
Landlord Mapper is an initiative to advance research into urban property ownership networks. We seek to address the problem of ownership obscurity by leveraging data science techniques to uncover networks of taxpayer records. The goal is to provide tenants with easy access to information about landlords. We also seek to assist and collaborate with other researchers to improve the overall access to landlord data. The site uses network analysis and interactive GIS maps to share information about property owners in Chicago, Milwaukee.
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1-18-2025 - SEGREGATION ACADEMIES: DECADES AFTER DESEGREGATION, PRIVATE SCHOOLS STILL DIVIDE US
https://www.propublica.org/series/segregation-academies
This ProPublica series includes "a Private School Demographics database, which ProPublica launched in 2025, that anyone, anywhere can use to look up a school and view the years of data we were relying on for our reporting." The research shows that "Hundreds of the private schools that opened for white children fleeing the arrival of Black students still operate across the South. And they play a key role in persistent segregation."
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1-18-2025 - BACKBONE LEADERSHIP IS DIFFERENT: THE SKILLS AND MINDSET SHIFTS NEEDED FOR COLLECTIVE IMPACT
https://collectiveimpactforum.org/resource/why-is-backbone-leadership-different/
This page on the Collective Impact Forum shares a new podcast discussion of how backbone leadership in collective impact efforts is different from traditional, more hierarchical leadership styles. The site has links to reports and is the result of over 10 years of work.
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1-18-2025 - DEEPER LEARNING ARTICLES ON TERRY ELLIOTT'S BLOG
Unflattening. Unfurling. https://impedagogy.com/wp/blog/2024/11/06/unflattening-unfurling-unflattening-nick-sousanis-unfurling-stuart-kaufmann/
Invisible Practice - https://impedagogy.com/wp/blog/2025/01/11/ye-will-know-them-by-their-practices/
These are links to two long articles on Connected Learning (clmooc) member Terry Elliott's blog. Both focus on deeper learning. One includes podcasts created using Google Notebook LM's artificial intelligence product. These point to habits that teachers, tutors and mentors need to help students learn.
Find in this section

1-18-2025 - GOOGLE NOTEBOOK LM - AN AI-POWERED COLLABORATOR
https://support.google.com/notebooklm/answer/15724458?hl=en
It's described as a tool that "helps you do your best thinking". Look at the podcasts that I point to in this article to see ways this has been used in 2025.
Find in this section

2024 T/MI Newsletters

The Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) have been
sending newsletters to a wide range of stakeholders in the youth development, tutor and mentor
ecosystem, since 1993. The newsletters are intended as study guides, for all who are working
to help youth in high poverty areas move more safely through school and into adult lives, jobs and careers.

On the left side of this page you can open links to all 2024 newsletters. Links to each are also shown below.

Dec 2024 - click here
Nov 2024 - click here
Oct 2024 - click here
Sept 2024 - click here
Aug 2024 - click here
July 2024 - click here
May-June 2024 - click here
April 2024 - click here
March 2024 - click here
Feb 2024 - click here
Jan 2024 - click here

View 2023 Newsletters at this link
View 2022 Newsletters at this link
View 2021 Newsletters at this link
View pre 2021 Newsletters at this link

Jan 2025 TMI eNews

January 2025 - Issue 238

National Mentoring Month - Celebrate. Focus on Building Infrastructure.

Happy New Year! Once again it's National Mentoring Month, when mentoring in all forms is celebrated.

In this newsletter I'll point to where you can learn more about celebrations and also point to articles where I focus on segmenting our understanding of who is being mentored and by what type of programs. I'll also focus on ways to draw operating resources to every volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning program, not just the most visible.

I only send this once a month.

It's full of links, so save it and refer to it throughout the month. Use the ideas and resources to help you build and sustain mentor-rich, school and non-school, tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach K-12 youth in all areas of persistent poverty. These resources can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Website

Learn about January National Mentoring Month activities

Last January I led off the month with this article, where I shared the US Postal Service Mentoring Stamp, released in 2001.

The first photo shows the introduction of the Mentoring stamp at a spring 2001 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, organized by my organization every six months from May 1994 to May 2015.

The article also included the second graphic that shows the range of young people who might benefit from having a mentor. At the top of this graphic I show my focus on helping organized, long-term, volunteer-based, tutor, mentor and learning programs reach K-12 youth in every high poverty area of Chicago and other places with concentrations of persistent poverty.

In another article I ask "How many youth programs exist in your area?" and urge research programs in every city begin to answer this question, using maps to show where programs are most needed, and where programs already exist.

If you agree that connecting youth in areas of concentrated poverty with adult tutors and mentors and extra learning is a good thing to do, then understand how organized non-school programs are needed in big cities like Chicago to support on-going connections between youth and volunteers. If you look at a map of your city that shows high poverty areas, and provides a number of youth living in these areas, you begin to see that many organized programs are needed. Read this logic model article on the Tutor/Mentor blog.

Instead of depending on organizers to build programs AND raise money to pay the bills, why can't we motivate business and philanthropy to provide on-going, flexible, operating funding and volunteers to help programs grow in more places? Read the "Virtual Corporate Office" and "Role of Leaders" visual essays in this article.

I urge people to build marketing plans, using this research, to draw needed dollars, volunteers, technology and trained staff, to EVERY ONE of the exiting programs, and to help new programs where research show more is needed. In this article I encourage you to "borrow" from year-round strategies I piloted since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.

I hope you'll spend time looking at these ideas in January and implementing your own solutions during the rest of 2025. Next January, report what you've done!

Visit these websites to learn more about National Mentoring Month

* Registration now open for 2025 National Mentoring Summit, Jan 19-31, 2025 - click here

* National Mentoring Resource Center - click here

* Chicago Mentoring Collaborative - click here

Changes to Constant Contact email address. Due to a new policy, all email coming from services like Constant Contact will have a different format. This may cause email to go into your spam box.

This is the address that will be on the email for this newsletter. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Get to know the resources available in the Tutor/Mentor library.

I started building the Tutor/Mentor Library in 1973 when I first became a volunteer tutor/mentor and was looking for ideas for what to do each week with my student. When I began leading that program in 1975 I expanded my search for ideas, connecting with leaders of other programs, to get ideas I could use in my own efforts.

In 1993 when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection, we expanded our search further to find ideas for bringing programs together and for changing how programs are funded. I began sharing this information with other programs from our offices in Chicago, then in 1998, began putting the library on the Internet. I've added to it every year for the past 25 years. You can find the library at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

The concept map below shows the four main sections of the library and sub-sections within each main section. On this page I show new links added in 2024.

Below are resources to use. View latest links added to tutor/mentor library, click here

Resources & Announcements

(New additions are at top of this list)

* ACT Now - Championing Quality Afterschool Programs in Illinois - click here

* BlueSky - the growth of charity on BlueSky - click here

* Trust Talks - podcast by The Chicago Community Trust highlights the Trust's strategic priority to close Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap - click here

* Why Philanthropy Needs to Invest in Social Capital - click here

* International travel opportunities provided by Farther Foundation - click here

* Unlocking the Power of Systems Thinking - click here

* Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) - click here

* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory. click here; visit the website - click here

* To & Through Project website - click here: Follow on Twitter - @UChiToThrough

* Center for Effective Philanthropy - click here

* Forefront -Illinois' statewide association of nonprofits, foundations and advisors. click here

* AfterSchool Alliance resources - click here

* Chicago Public Schools locator map - click here

* Chicago Health Atlas - click here

* Digital Divide resources - click here

* Proven Tutoring clearinghouse - click here

* Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative - click here

* South Side STEM Asset maps - read about using maps - click here

* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here

* Prison Policy Initiative - click here

* ChiHackNight - remote and face-to-face civic technology meet-up; every Tuesday evening in Chicago - see weekly agenda

Recent Tutor/Mentor Blog articles:

(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media)

Inequality. So much data. So little change - click here

President Jimmy Carter - 2008 message - click here

The Six Triple Eight movie - watch it! Reflect. - click here

Long term tutor/mentor connections - click here

Deeper Learning and Lost Digital Archives - click here

Who uses Slideshare or Scribd? - click here

What comes after the election? - click here

Bookmark these Tutor/Mentor Resources

* Lists of Chicago area, volunteer-based tutor, mentor programs - click here

* Homework help and volunteer training resources - click here

* Resource Library - click here

* Strategy essays by Tutor/Mentor - click here

* Work done by interns in past - click here

* Maps and Map-Stories from past 30 years - click here

* Political Action resources - click here

* Featured collections on Wakelet - click here

* Tutor/Mentor Institute Videos - click here

* About T/MI articles on blog - click here

* History of T/MC - T/MI articles - click here

* Create a New Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

* Inviting Universities to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy - click here

* Chicago Youth Serving Organizations in Intermediary Roles - click here to view a concept map showing many organizations working to help improve the lives of Chicago area youth. Follow the links.

Thank you for reading.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.

I encourage others to duplicate what I'm doing. Write a blog and share your own vision, strategy and challenges. Share your link and I'll add it to this list in the Tutor/Mentor library.

View current and past newsletters at this link.

Please encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

Thank you to the small group of people who sent contributions in 2024 to help me keep this resource available to the world.

Please continue in 2025.

Visit this page and add your support.

Tutor/Mentor Connection, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Serving Chicago area since 1993

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

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Feb 2025 T/MI News

February 2025 - Issue 239

Make Learning about Black History and Social Justice a Year-Round Activity

It's February, which is Black History Month. I point to my library of resources in this issue, but also emphasize that with this information on the Internet, learners of any age and any place, can access it throughout the year.

It's also a month when volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs who started in September are looking for new volunteers to replace those who dropped out over the year-end break. And it's time to begin expanding volunteer involvement so you have help when you start your program again next fall.

I only send this newsletter once a month.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Website

These concept maps shows learning resources in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC library. Use them throughout the year.

The top concept map (at this link) shows the resources in the "homework help" section of the Tutor/Mentor Library. One node points to my list of Black History resources (click here).

The second concept map (click here) shows another section of the Tutor/Mentor library, with links to websites that provide a deeper understanding of the systemic barriers put in place over many decades that make it more difficult for Black Americans, poor people and other minorities to have equal opportunities.

Many of the websites I point to are extensive libraries themselves. Think of this as a vast on-line shopping center for information that you can use to help people overcome challenges and help make the world a better, safer, healthier place for everyone.

This concept map (click here) points to Chicago area volunteer based tutor, mentor and learning programs in the Tutor/Mentor Library and to other resources that you can use to find volunteers for programs in any city in the country.

In the middle of the concept map I show lists that point to accounts of Chicago tutor/mentor programs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. So far I don't find many programs using Mastodon, or BlueSky, but I encourage you to read this Edutopia article about using BlueSky.

Or, read this article titled "The growth of charity BlueSky - November 2024"

Who is doing capacity-building research about youth serving programs in America? Where is this being discussed in on-line forums?

What did Chicago area tutor/mentor program leaders tell us were the "most critical resources needed in their programs"?

From 2000 to 2003 a survey was provided during the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences, held in Chicago and organized by the Tutor/Mentor Connection. This PDF is a summary of findings. "People" and "Resources" were the most needed resources.

"People" included tutor/mentor volunteers, and other volunteers who help programs operate and grow, along with paid staff.

"Resources" included paid staff, money/funding that supports the program, technology, training materials, space for operations, etc.

By building and sharing a list of Chicago area volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs since 1994 the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC have been trying to help programs throughout the region get these resources.

But we never have had the resources needed to continue this survey or dig deeper into the information we were collecting. In this blog article I show how we were reaching out to universities to take that role. So far, without consistent success.

Changes to Constant Contact email address. Due to a new policy, all email coming from services like Constant Contact will have a different format. This may cause email to go into your spam box.

This is the address that will be on the email for this newsletter. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Get to know the resources available in the Tutor/Mentor library.

Below is the first page a visual essay in the Tutor/Mentor library that provides a tour of the website which I've used since 1998 to share ideas and information that anyone can use to help kids and families in high poverty areas and to solve complex problems.. Click here to view.

This link points to a set of Google slides that who sections of the resource library on the Tutor/Mentor website. This includes a list of more than 150 volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs serving the Chicago region.

I've created these since the 1990s to try to help people understand the strategies I was sharing. From 2006 to 2015 interns from different colleges spent time looking at these and creating their own interpretations. This page has links to some of the work they did.

Students in any city, state and country could be doing the same type of investigation with the goal of applying the ideas to help youth in their own communities.

What's a Personal Learning Network? Where do you connect and learn on line?

Since the early 2000s I've tried to build on-line conversations where these issues were being discussed but again, with limited success, since staff, leaders, board members and donors of the majority of programs can't be found in the on-line platforms where many programs post information.

I think these habits need to be learned, beginning at an early age. Below is a concept map that I created in the late 2000s to visualize learning goals of the tutor/mentor program I was leading. Unfortunately I had to leave the program in 2011, too early for these habits to become embedded. Yet, I share them because in the world we're now living in it is more important than ever that young people and adults have sources of learning and communities of support. Those habits need to be modeled, mentored, taught and reinforced. Do you have this strategy embedded in your school and/or your own youth-serving program?

What's your planning calendar look like?

My email today included this article from the Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring, titled "Rates of volunteerism are declining: What can mentoring programs do?" Start by reviewing your own program statistics. Are you growing? Declining? What do your volunteers tell you about why they stay, or why they leave? Then visit the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website and look at the idea categories under 'Leadership strategies', 'Business involvement', 'Collaboration and Capacity Building' and 'Planning Strategies'.

Between now and June share these with your staff, volunteers and supporters. Start an on-going conversation, asking "What ideas can we apply to our own program?" and "How can we work with other programs in our city to increase business involvement, volunteer engagement and donor support?"

As you go into the summer you should have a list of ideas to apply as you start your program again in the fall and a few more people helping you implement those ideas. As you go through the next year, and the following years, build on what you are learning and constantly improve the impact of your organization.

Finally, share your own strategies, via a blog on your website, videos, social media and in person conversations. Help others learn from you while you learn from them.

Below are resources to use. View latest links added to tutor/mentor library, click here

Resources & Announcements

(New additions are at top of this list)

* ACT Now - Championing Quality Afterschool Programs in Illinois - click here

* Chicago Engineering Week - Feb 2025 - click here

* CASEL - "State of the Field 2025: Skills that Last. Impact that Endures." webinar recording - click here; resources shared in webinar - click here

* World Economic Forum - global risks - 2025 - click here; read report - click here

* Trust Talks - podcast by The Chicago Community Trust highlights the Trust's strategic priority to close Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap - click here

* Why Philanthropy Needs to Invest in Social Capital - click here

* International travel opportunities provided by Farther Foundation - click here

* Chicago Mentoring Collaborative - click here

* Landlord Mapper - National Landlord Database Initiative - click here

* Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) - click here

* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory. click here; visit the website - click here

* To & Through Project website - click here

* Center for Effective Philanthropy - click here

* Forefront -Illinois' statewide association of nonprofits, foundations and advisors. click here

* AfterSchool Alliance resources - click here

* Chicago Public Schools locator map - click here

* National Mentoring Resource Center - click here

* Digital Divide resources - click here

* Proven Tutoring clearinghouse - click here

* Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative - click here

* South Side STEM Asset maps - read about using maps - click here

* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here

* Prison Policy Initiative - click here

Recent Tutor/Mentor Blog articles that point to Tutor/Mentor Connection archived files:

(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media)

Super Bowl articles - expanded role for athletes - click here

Stay focused. Do what you can every day - click here

Do you host conferences? Map the network to enhance connections - click here

If it is to be, it is up to you and me - click here

Use AI to Build Deeper Understanding of Ideas I and Others Share - click here

Tutor Program? Mentor Program? Tutor/Mentor Program? What's the Difference? - click here

What comes after the election? - click here

Bookmark these Tutor/Mentor Resources

* Lists of Chicago area, volunteer-based tutor, mentor programs - click here

* Homework help and volunteer training resources - click here

* Resource Library - click here

* Strategy essays by Tutor/Mentor - click here

* Work done by interns in past - click here

* Maps and Map-Stories from past 30 years - click here

* Political Action resources - click here

* Featured collections on Wakelet - click here

* Tutor/Mentor Institute Videos - click here

* About T/MI articles on blog - click here

* History of T/MC - T/MI articles - click here

* Create a New Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

* Reaching out to Universities to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy - click here

* Chicago Youth Serving Organizations in Intermediary Roles - click here to view a concept map showing many organizations working to help improve the lives of Chicago area youth. Follow the links.

Thank you for reading.

I encourage others to duplicate what I'm doing. Write a blog and share your own vision, strategy and challenges. Share your link and I'll add it to this list in the Tutor/Mentor library.

View current and past newsletters at this link.

Please share this newsletter with people you know who work in non-school youth serving programs. If they are not receiving these newsletters then we have no way of engaging them. Also encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter.

To subscribe, just Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

It costs $44 a month for me to send these newsletters and another $51 a month to host the web library.

Please help me pay these expenses.

Visit this page and add your support.

Tutor/Mentor Connection, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Serving Chicago area since 1993

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March 2025 T/MI eNews

March 2025 - Issue 240

Make sure you have alternative sources of information as some websites shut down.

Where are you and your leaders finding information to support youth and volunteers in organized tutor, mentor and learning programs? Or to support your everyday lives?

Are your normal sources of information still working? Do you have other places to turn to for ideas and information?

The Tutor/Mentor library is one alternative source. Take a look.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Website

While I send this newsletter once a month, I post one or two blog articles each week. Read my "Why I started blogging" article.

In my Tutor/Mentor blog I have posted more than 75 articles pointing to a group of Connected Learning (#CLMOOC) educators who I met in on-line learning groups in early 2013 and have continued to interact with since then.

Recently they encouraged me to answer some questions about "Why I Blog." My first article focused "Why I started blogging in 2005". Those reasons are why I still write one or two articles a week and why I encourage others to do the same. We need alternative sources of information and friends who can help us understand complex problems and potential solutions.

You can read my first #Blogging4Life post at this link.

My blog articles point to information on the www.tutormentorexchange.net website. That's where the library I started building in the 1970s is now hosted.

I've used concept maps since the mid 2000s to visualize strategies and to show information in the Tutor/Mentor Library. The top concept map shows the full library, which has four main sections. You can view it here.

The lower concept map shows how I embed links in some of my blog articles, as updates when I find newer information. Some of these links go into the main library but many do not. Thus, these articles are sort of a 'mini library'. You can open the link here.

In this article I show other ways to visualize the information in my libraries.

These two concept maps show a different way to visualize information and what I've done using cMapTools. The top concept map (click here) is from a Mapping History of Western Philosophers project. It was built using Kumu.io which is an interactive relationship mapping tool.

The lower concept map is from a project that maps the teams involved in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The interactive map has many sort features and the ability to zoom in and learn about specific teams and individual players.

I show these and other ideas about using visualization tools in this concept map.

Know your network. Nudge your network. Map your network.

In early March I participated in two webinars about networks. The graphic shown above is from a presentation by June Holley, titled "Exploring Multiscalar Networks".

June has been helping people and networks connect for more than 40 years. I've followed her since the mid 2000s. The three images above show uses of tools like Kumu as well as geographic maps to show "who" is in your network, "how" they are interacting, and "where" they are located.

The second webinar was titled "State of STEM ecosystems" and showed how community-based STEM networks in many cities are connected to each other in a much broader national network.

Links to both presentations can be found in this article, where I've added my own history of trying to connect leaders, volunteers and supporters of Chicago tutor, mentor and learning programs in an on-going learning and problem-solving community.

I mentioned the Connected Learning (#CLMOOC) group earlier. It's another example of an idea sharing network that I think is a way to connect people who share a common interest.

Furthermore, in this section of the Tutor/Mentor library I aggregate links to blogs about learning, networking and fund raising. Some of these blogs are people I've been following since the 2000s.

One section shows blogs from tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other cities. I wish more of the programs I host on my lists were actively blogging. Many of the blogs on my list have not been updated for several years, but they do provide ideas for you if you're thinking about starting a blog.

Changes to Constant Contact email address. Due to a new policy, all email coming from services like Constant Contact will have a different format. This may cause email to go into your spam box.

This is the address that will be on the email for this newsletter. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Building long-term support for programs in many locations is the challenge.

I saw a post on Facebook last week from one of the students who was part of the tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago in the 1990s. Her message was "I'll receive my Masters in social work in 30 days!"

The top graphic is one I created over 20 years ago to show the goal of building and sustaining volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach kids as early as elementary school and help them through high school and into adult lives. I'm still connected to most of those in that photo and many have college and advanced degrees! That was the goal.

The bottom part of the graphic shows how the typical foundation grant only provides a small percent of operating money a typical youth serving program needs each year. That means each organization has to constantly reach in many directions to find all the "fuel" it needs to provide a full year of services. In addition, most grants are for only one to three years. That's like saying to a child, "I'll raise you for the first three years. You find someone else to take you the next three years." And the three years after that!

That's why I wrote this article, titled "Want to make a difference? Re-Think Philanthropy". If you can find people in your community who care about these issues, and draw them together into an on-going learning network, maybe you can begin to innovate new ways to support long-term youth serving programs. Or solve other problems that the world is facing.

Build lists of youth serving programs. Draw attention to them daily.

The articles in this newsletter have focused on networked learning. The first step is "knowing your network".

When we published the first Chicago Tutor/Mentor Directory in 1994 we did not just list the volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs who had responded to our first survey. We also included a broad list of others who were involved in one way, or another, with the work these programs were doing. When we hosted the first Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in May 1994, we invited everyone from our list to attend.

I still host an extensive lists of Chicago and national youth serving programs and use my blog, newsletters and social media to invite them to connect and share ideas. You can find my lists on the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net website. That's where you can also find my library, with more than 2000 other resources, representing people from throughout the country who need to be connected in an on-going learning network. As I send this newsletter monthly my goal is that it influences people in other cities to duplicate my entire strategy, including building their own libraries and then connecting to me and each other in on-line networking.

Is someone already doing this in your community? Please send their link to me and I'll add them to my library.

Below are resources to use. View latest links added to tutor/mentor library, click here

Resources & Announcements

(New additions are at top of this list)

* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory. click here; visit the website - click here

* Chicago Mentoring Collaborative - click here

* Chicago Learning Exchange supports OST community in Chicago - click here

* ACT Now - Championing Quality Afterschool Programs in Illinois - click here

* Trust Talks - podcast by The Chicago Community Trust highlights the Trust's strategic priority to close Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap - click here

* Why Philanthropy Needs to Invest in Social Capital - click here

* International travel opportunities provided by Farther Foundation - click here

* Landlord Mapper - National Landlord Database Initiative - click here

* Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) - click here

* To & Through Project website - click here

* Center for Effective Philanthropy - click here

* Forefront -Illinois' statewide association of nonprofits, foundations and advisors. click here

* AfterSchool Alliance resources - click here

* Science of Social Capital - Community Commons website - click here

* Chicago Public Schools locator map - click here

* National Mentoring Resource Center - click here

* Digital Divide resources - click here

* Proven Tutoring clearinghouse - click here

* Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative - click here

* South Side STEM Asset maps - read about using maps - click here

* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here

* Prison Policy Initiative - click here

Recent Tutor/Mentor Blog articles that point to Tutor/Mentor Connection archived files:

(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media)

Mapping Ideas, information and networks - click here

NCAA Basketball Tournament starts. What's your game plan for helping kids? - click here

STEM and Networks - Share these resources - click here

Protest music for these times - click here

Building Great Tutor/Mentor Teams - click here

Retaining Volunteers in Tutor/Mentor Programs - click here

How would you visualize this problem solving cycle? - click here

Bookmark these Tutor/Mentor Resources

* Lists of Chicago area, volunteer-based tutor, mentor programs - click here

* Homework help and volunteer training resources - click here

* Resource Library - click here

* Strategy essays by Tutor/Mentor - click here

* Work done by interns in past - click here

* Maps and Map-Stories from past 30 years - click here

* Political Action resources - click here

* Featured collections on Wakelet - click here

* Tutor/Mentor Institute Videos - click here

* About T/MI articles on blog - click here

* History of T/MC - T/MI articles - click here

* Create a New Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

* Reaching out to Universities to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy - click here

* Chicago Youth Serving Organizations in Intermediary Roles - click here to view a concept map showing many organizations working to help improve the lives of Chicago area youth. Follow the links.

Thank you for reading.

Please share this newsletter with people you know who work in non-school youth serving programs, or in sectors that should be strategically supporting such programs, such as business, philanthropy, education and public policy. If they are not receiving these newsletters then we have no way of engaging them. Also encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter.

I encourage others to duplicate what I'm doing. Write a blog and share your own vision, strategy and challenges. Share your link and I'll add it to this list in the Tutor/Mentor library.

View current and past newsletters at this link.

To subscribe, just Click here.

(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).