Numbers

[Dan Bassill]

My organization has been building a database of organizations in Chicago who
provide tutoring/mentoring as part of a mix of services.  In 1997 a research
firm surveyed this group and received 272 responses.  These programs, in
total, served less than 35,000 kids, out of an age 6-18 population of over
500,000 in Chicago.

Most of these programs were heavily recreation based. Of those who said their
primary purpose was tutoring/mentoring, less than 14,000 kids were
participating.

We use GIS maps to show where these program are in Chicago, with overlays
showing where poverty is, and where poorly performing schools are located.
This serves as a "focusing" system for public awareness efforts intended to
draw volunteers, dollars, business partners, technology, etc. to each
program, and to help new programs form where there are voids.

We don't think our list has every tutor/mentor program in Chicago, but we do
think we've most of the large programs, and a good percent of smaller ones.
The city is not nearly as well covered with these programs as it needs to be.
 I suspect if other cities were able to duplicate this survey process, they'd
find the same to be true.

You can view samples of these maps and how we use them at
www.tutormentorconnection.org.  If you're a researcher looking for an
on-going project we're looking for help in tabluating this data on an annual
basis.  Once we're able to do that more reliably, we'll break it down by age
group served, by time of day the service is offered, and begin to make these
tables available on our web site for Chicago organizations to use in their
own strategic planning.  As a small non-profit, we've not yet found a partner
willing to take on this role.  Maybe there is one (or more) on this list.

Dan Bassill
Cabrini Connections
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Chicago

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