[YL] Tutor/Mentor Conference offers follow-up to White House Conference on At Risk Youth

[Dan Bassill]

To leaders, volunteers and advocates of Volunteer-Based Tutor/Mentor
Programs:

On October 27th,  the White House Conference on Youth (
http://www.whitehouse.gov/firstlady/helping-youth.html ) raised awareness of
the needs of at-risk youth.

On November 17th and 18th, the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking
Conference offers an opportunity to follow up and put these ideas into
action. The Conference offers leaders and supporters of volunteer-based
tutor/mentor programs a chance to network and collaborate on actions that
increase the number of mentor-rich tutoring programs which are needed in
high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and every other major city in the
country.  This will be the 24th T/MC conference held in Chicago since May
1994. 

The Conference will be held at St. Joseph's School, 1065 N. Orleans in
Chicago. The conference web site is
http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com.  You can register and
participate in person, or you can go to our internet portal and participate
from anywhere in the world.  Group rates, discounts and scholarships are
available. We encourage you to make an effort to attend.

During the conference we will offer workshops focus on volunteer recruitment
and training, program evaluation, and collaboration.  We will also host
on-going panel discussions intended to build a greater understanding of The
Importance of Volunteer-Based, Non-School Tutor/Mentor Programs in School
Reform Policy.

The conference will also be used to collect information to be presented to
the Mentoring Task Force of the Illinois State Legislature. Attendees are
encouraged to bring one or two-page white papers that show what state
government can do with limited funds to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor
programs operate throughout the state in all neighborhoods where they are
needed.  

Leaders of volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring already know how much these
programs transform the lives of  youth, and of many of the adult volunteers
who become tutors/mentors.  The purpose of the discussions is to innovate
ways to build a stronger public commitment to these programs so that the
resources are consistently available to help programs in every poverty
neighborhood connect youth and adults and a variety of learning and
mentoring opportunities that are not available at public schools during the
school day.

Visit http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com/generic27.html  to find a
list of people who will be participating as workshop and panel discussion
leaders.
 
If you cannot come to Chicago, you are encouraged to offer your ideas for
the Mentoring Task Force, or for ways business, churches and universities
can become strategically engaged in tutor/mentor programs,  and learn from
others,   in the T/MC Internet Portal at
http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is developing a strategy of connecting its
eConference with other on-line tutor/mentor conferences throughout the
country. On November 18 to 20, on-line learners will be able to learn and
network with education innovators from around the world, by participating in
the Webheads in Action Online Convergence: Bridges across Cyberspace. Dan
Bassill, President of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, will host an on-line
workshop in this portal on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2005.
http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/papers/evonline2002/convergence2005sc
hedule.htm 

If you would like to host a workshop, be a speaker on a panel, or would like
to host this conversation on the Internet in the T/MC Discussion Portal (
http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php ) email
tutormentor2 at earthlink.net )

We will be marketing this conference primarily via the Internet. Your help
is needed to spread the word and build participation. Together we can raise
the visibility of non-school, volunteer-based tutoring and mentoring
programs in ways that help all of us get a more consistent flow of
volunteers and operating dollars.

If you have questions or suggestions, please call me at 312-492-9614 or
email.

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

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