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[Dan Bassill]

Lars,

I encourage you guys to take a look at www.tutormentorconnection.org.  We've been doing an annual "search" for tutor/mentor program since 1994 and publishing that information in a Directory which we circulate to all media and about 2000 businesses. The goal is for those with resources to find programs while programs are working on finding resources.

We organize events every three months to draw media attention to this list of programs, such as a citywide volunteer recruitment campaign, a November conference and Tutor/Mentor Week, a March Video Festival, a May Conference, a May Art Festival, etc.  Each of these repeats from year to year and builds from one to the next, generating a more consistant flow of media attention to the entire movement, and to web sites where people can find information about specific programs, along with information on how they can make any program better.

You could duplicate this in DC as could anyone elsewhere at a very low cost to you since we've done all the work over the past 6 years of creating the template.  I lobby Digital Divide groups on other lists, such as the Benton Foundation's Digital Divide list, encouragin those with technology to use maps like we show on our web site to equally distribute technology to every neighborhood, not just to those areas who have good grant writers or high profile leaders.

When that happens, we'll get more youth programs into this conversation; we'll create greater access to knowledge and additional resources; and we'll create an opportunity for kids in tutor/mentor programs to get into this conversation in an on-going and meaningful way.

Dan Bassill
Cabrini Connections
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Chicago
CabriniC at aol.com