[YL] Tutor/Mentor NEWS -- How to find resources when everyone's looking at a national disaster

[Dan Bassill]

Tutor/Mentor Connection NEWS
Linking ideas, programs and people to help inner city kids since 1993.

Sept. 20, 2005

T/MC REPORT ON-LINE, Issue #35

How to find resources when everyone's looking at a national disaster
Tutor/Mentor Conference in Chicago, Nov. 17 and 18
e Conference strategy
Handbook of Youth Mentoring, NEW Resource!
e-learning, a volunteer training strategy
President's Message - Volunteers as Evangelists

This email newsletter is being sent to people who are volunteer
tutors/mentors, leaders, staff, board members of tutor/mentor and youth
development programs.   If you would like to be removed from this email
list, just reply and say "remove".

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If you are the leader of a volunteer-based charity, or responsible for
marketing, volunteer recruitment or fund raising, I wonder how much ou have
been struggling to draw attention, and resources, to your organization over
the past few years as media attention has primarily focused on the war on
terror, the war in Iraq, the national election, the Florida Hurricanes of
2004, the Tsunami, and now Hurricane Katrina.

If this is an issue that concerns you, then I encourage you to participate
in the networking, information sharing, and capacity building efforts hosted
by the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1994.

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Next Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference will be held at St. Joseph's School
(1065 N. Orleans) in Chicago, on November 17 and 18, 2005

The November conference will be held just four weeks following the White
House Conference on Youth
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady/helping-youth.html)  and just a few
months after Hurricane Katrina created a renewed public indignation about
the divide between the extremely poor in America, and the rest of America.
Our host for this conference is Highsight, http://www.highsight.org .

The Tutor/Mentor Connection, and many of the volunteer based tutor/mentor
programs that participate in Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking
Conferences, focus their services on youth living in extreme poverty.  We
know that connecting volunteers and youth in long-term mentoring and in a
variety of learning and enrichment activities, can have a profound affect,
not only on the youth, but of the adult volunteer.

We also know that in the past five years an unprecidented string of human
and natural disasters, a poor economy, and a hotly contested national
election, have made it much more difficult for small tutor/mentor programs
to attract the volunteers and consistent flow of operating dollars needed to
sustain their work.

During the November Conference we will host a 2-day symposium to talk about
why volunteer based tutor/mentor programs are important, where they are
needed, and what ideas can be shared that lead to a more consistent flow of
flexible dollars and trained staff to support the on-going operations of
such programs in cities all over the country.   We want to go beyond the
research on what works, to focus on ways to make resources available so that
good programs are able to be implemented in more places!!

By holding this conference after the White House Conference, and before the
year-end holidays, we hope to create extra public awareness that can help
improve year-end fund raising for all volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring
programs in Chicago and other major cities.

We can only reach this goal if many of you step forward and help make it a
reality.

Each topic of the symposium will require a facilitator, and a minimum of
three program leaders to serve on a panel.  In addition, we will present 12
workshops on each day, where experienced people will present information on
tutor training, volunteer recruitment and recognition, evaluation and fund
raising strategies.
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Internet Version of Tutor/Mentor Conference and Symposium.

While the conference and symposium will be held in the auditorium at
Highsight (http://www.highsight.org), all of the proceedings of the
symposium will also be hosted in the T/MC Internet portal (at
http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php ),  so that people who don't
attend a session can participate in the discussion of any topic that
interests them. 

We would like some of our workshop presenters to also host a question and
answer session following their workshop in the portal. As you plan to host a
workshop, please consider this request.  Read more about the eConference
strategy at http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com/generic54.html

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You can read details about the Nov. 17 and 18, 2005 Conference Design and
find workshop presenter and registration forms at
http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com/generic25.html

We only have 4 weeks to put the agenda for this conference together, so if
you are interested in being on a panel, or doing a workshop (or both),
please email tutor/mentor2 at earthlink.net.

In exchange for your participation on a panel or as a workshop presenter,
you will not be charged to register and participate in the two-day
conference.Email tutormentor2 at earthlink.net, or call 312-492-9614, to
discuss the conference and your participation.

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Resources to help you find volunteers, donors,  and find volunteer-training
tools

http://www.ServeNet.org
http://www.volunteermatch.org
http://www.NetworkforGood.org
Points of Light Foundation - http://www.pointsoflight.org
Mentor! The National Mentoring Partnership.This organization supports
mentoring mobilizations in more than a dozen cities and has tons of great
information on its web site.  www.mentoring.org
The National Mentoring Center located at the Northwest Regional Education
Laboratory, extensive support to tutoring and mentoring organizations.  
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/
PEER RESOURCES....Canada's Leading Authority on Peer Program Development and
Mentoring for Schools and Business.  www.peer.ca/peer.html
State of Illinois - Volunteerism & Community Service
http://www.illinois.gov/volunteer/
Chicago's Community Resource Network http://www.chicagovolunteer.net
Use the Program Locator at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net to find
Chicago Tutor/Mentor Programs
Visit the Resource Section of http://www.tutormentorexchange.net to find
links that you can use to train volunteers, leaders and staff.

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HANDBOOK OF YOUTH MENTORING
For those who do not get the bulletin, here's a message that's posted on the
National Mentoring Center web site:

The National Mentoring Center has just released the latest issue of the NMC
Bulletin. This issue features an interview with prominent mentoring
researchers Dr. David Dubois and Dr. Michael Karcher, whose Handbook of
Youth Mentoring is redefining what we know, and don't know, about the
practice of mentoring youth. The issue also features tips from nonprofit
guru Craig Bowman on how to develop a positive fundraising mindset that can
help your agency get over the fear and anxiety of asking for support.

The issue can be downloaded on the NMC website at
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/bulletins.html
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AT-RISK ONLINE LEARNERS
By JoAnn T. Funk, Associate Professor, Kaplan University
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=32-1

The barriers that confront  learners when they begin to use the Internet for
formal or informal learning can be frustrating and cause learners to stop
using the Internet to find information. If some or all of these barriers can
be removed, then learners are more likely to succeed in their initial
efforts and go on to make on-line learning a regular practice. This article
examine why some learners are at-risk, the barriers they face, and how the
differences between face-to-face and online education impact them.  There
are many lessons that can be taken from this and apply to any form of
on-line learning.

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FUND RAISING NOTICE FOR CHICAGO ONE-ON-ONE TUTOR/MENTOR PROGRAMS
2005 Lend A Hand grant applications are due October 15, 2005. You can use
last year's application as a guide should you want to get started on the
narrative portions.  Visit http://www.lend-a-hand.net for details.

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OTHER CONFERENCES:

The 10th Annual Conference of the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention,
"Vision. Action. Change. Preventing Bullying and Relational Aggression" will
be held September 28 - 29 in Arlington Heights, IL at the Sheraton
Northwest. To download a conference brochure and for more information, visit
the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention's web site,
<http://www.preventingviolence.org/>. Adobe Acrobat is required to download
the brochure.

Rockford's Tutor/Mentor Partnership Support Our Students Conference, October
7 and 8, 2005 at the Burpee Center of Rockford College, 6060 E. State
Street, Rockford, Ill.  Call 815-489-1269 for information.  Dan Bassill,
president of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, will be a speaker on Saturday,
October 8.

2005 Maryland Mentoring Conference...!  October 20 - 22, 2005
http://www.marylandmentors.org/mentorMD/MD_conference.htm
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:  CCARTER at MARYLANDMENTORS.ORG OR CALL
1-800-741-2687

WiAOC 2005: Webheads in Action Online Convergence   Bridges across
Cyberspace
Friday and Saturday, November 18 - 19, 2005 and Convergence rap-up Sunday
November 20. Learn about this Virtual Conference at
http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/papers/evonline2002/convergence2005.h
tm

You can add a link to your conference in the LINKS section of
http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:

Once  you have volunteers, do you have a strategy to keep them, and convert
some to leaders who will help sustain your program in future years?
I have led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago for more than
30 years.  I've never found an effective strategy for "training" volunteers
before they start their volunteer service. The problem is that the
volunteers are all different and constantly changing. In addition, the kids
they work with are also all different and constantly changing.   I've
written and revised Volunteer Handbooks 30 times in 30 years. I have
developed the 1" thick version with many pages covering many things I'd like
volunteers to know.  I've also developed the 5 page version, which just
covers the main things I'd like volunteers to know.  Neither works very well
because most volunteers don't read these, or refer to these regularly as a
resource.

Thus, I've developed a different approach. First, the program I lead
(http://www.cabriniconnections.net) is designed to recruit workplace
volunteers who will stay active for 2, 3 or more years.  Thus, they accrue
experience and the veteran volunteers become mentors and coaches to new
volunteers.  In this type of program I also provide many networking and
social opportunities so that volunteers become a community and they are
comfortable asking and giving help to each other.

At the same time, I'm using the Internet to launch an eLearning strategy. At
the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site anyone can find all the
information they might ever need to teach every subject that any K-16 school
might teach. They can also find information on mentoring and information
about poverty, which helps volunteers understand why tutor/mentor programs
are needed in the first place.

Our goal is to train volunteers and students and donors to use the Internet
to find and learn from material posted by people from all over the world,
and to network with other volunteers who can provide on-going coaching and
support.  As a program leader, my role is to coach people to use this
information, connecting people to web sites and support groups that address
specific questions.

As we train volunteers to be effective tutors, mentors, coaches, role
models, etc., we're also teaching them to be leaders and evangelist who will
go back to their workplace, alumni group, faith group or family network and
spread the good news about how a tutor/mentor program enriches the life of
students, and of volunteers.

As we train youth to use the Internet as a resource, we also build a virtual
connection that keeps youth and adults connected with each other in future
years when this networking is essential to finding jobs and to giving social
and emotional support as people journey through life.  In this week's
Newsweek, a writer talked about the social isolation of poverty.  Through
long-term volunteer based tutoring/mentoring and this Internet e-learning
strategy we can remove this isolation.

As our students and volunteers learn to use the internet, and learn to tell
the tutor/mentor story to others, this strategy can lead more people to
become involved as volunteers, leaders and donors, in Cabrini Connections,
or any other tutor/mentor program, and it can provide the consistent
day-to-day attention that tutoring/mentoring programs need, even when the
world is focused on a tragedy like Katrina.

My hope is that other volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs adopt this
strategy and link their programs and volunteers through the Tutor/Mentor
Connection to other volunteers and youth in tutor/mentor programs throughout
the country.  As we do this we are creating a larger network of support
needed to compete for attention on a daily and on-going basis.

You can read more of my ideas in my weekly blog. I hope you'll add your
comments and join us in November.

Daniel F. Bassill
President, Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
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