T Mc Case Statement 1994 Version

T/MC Case Statement - 1994 version

This is the first strategic plan for Tutor/Mentor Connection, created with the help of Public Communications, Inc. in 1994. A 1997 version also shown in the wiki. Use these for reference when looking at the current strategy as shown here.

**TUTOR/MENTOR CONNECTION

A CABRINI CONNECTIONS PROGRAM**

PERSPECTIVE

The Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) is about children and learning. It's about tutoring and mentoring programs that provide urban youth positive experiences, role models and alternatives to the streets. It's about linking volunteers and corporations with children in need, and bringing programs and committed people from all walks of life together to turn our communities around. In short, T/MC is about making a difference.

T/MC is a network that is inventorying every community in Chicago to identify afterschool tutoring/mentoring programs. It is continuously promoting the need for tutoring and mentoring and volunteer involvement so that more programs become available in each coming year. We are providing a means of sharing successful strategies among new and existing programs and will identify and focus public attention — on a continuing basis — on the areas where tutoring services are most needed.

T/MC believes that after-school, tutoring/mentoring programs, where children work with adult role models in one-on-one and group activities, can be one means of giving children hope, support and learning tools and building self-esteem and confidence necessary for students to succeed in school. "The nation cannot afford to raise another generation of young adolescents without the supervision, guidance, and preparation for life that caring adults and strong community organizations once provided and again can provide."

Tutoring and mentoring programs have great potential. They can help in many ways:

. Maintain and build children's interest in learning

. Keep children in school

. Keep children off the streets and in productive activities

. Improve grades

. Broaden each child's experience base

. Stimulate creativity

. Enhance social and problem-solving skills

. Develop productive adults

. Expand each child's options for a quality life

The need for more support programs for urban youth has been known for years, and each time a tragedy involving the death of a child provokes public outrage, politicians, media and community leaders raise the call for "more role models and mentors". Yet, up to May 1994, when the first T/MC Chicago Programs Directory was published, there was no comprehensive directory to help parents, educators, program leaders and children locate and compare available programs. No agency or government body has accepted the role, of leading the development and growth of a citywide network of afterschool tutor/mentor programs.

Cabrini Connections leaders, having lead a network of Cabrini-Green area tutoring programs since 1977, established the Tutor/Mentor Connection, and launched its 10-point marketing plan in January 1994, to fill this void. The T/MC is unique and workable, because T/MC's approach is a marketing plan, with marketing solutions that increase program distribution and neighborhood coverage with one small success at a time.

T/MC does not attempt to define the overall need for after-school youth programs. Neither does T/MC attempt to build a consensus for a single "best" way to create or operate a tutoring and mentoring program. Rather, T/MC collects, then shares information from existing programs to create strategies adaptable to varying neighborhoods and groups of children. Our product is educated kids. Our delivery system is a growing network of motivated volunteers, recruited from Chicago's business and university community. Our distribution points are sites throughout Chicago's inner-city neighborhoods where kids can meet on a regular basis with these volunteers, as more than 1,000 volunteers do in Cabrini-Green area programs. T/MC success will be measured by the expansion of afterschool tutor/mentor programs into neighborhoods which now are significantly underserved, the increase in volunteers and students, and the continuous improvement in the quality of services provided.

Only 6% of at-risk children were enrolled in identified tutor/mentor programs in 1994.

T/MC research has identified nearly 200 tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, with 160 neighborhood sites. The 120 programs who responded to the 1994 T/MC survey reported a total of 11,642 children participating in their combined programs. This is less than 6% of the approximately 200,000 at-risk school-aged children identified by the 1994 Voices for Illinois Children report, Chicago Kids Count., but it is a starting point for quantifying growth in both tutor/mentor programs, and the number of children enrolled in each coming year.

To accomplish its goals, T/MC:

• Developed and launched an extensive research study to inventory each of Chicago's neighborhoods to locate existing tutoring/mentoring programs. A collaboration between Cabrini Connections, Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) and the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC) is identifying existing programs and underserved neighborhoods using a unique Geographic Information System (GIS) database and community maps. Preliminary citywide results are now available.

• Gathers, assembles, promotes and distributes networking information. On a continuous basis, T/MC promotes networking of leaders of existing programs to bring together good ideas and good leaders to help them stay in business and improve their services over a long period. T/MC also makes information on successful programs available to individuals interested in determining where tutoring and mentoring services are needed in their community and how to go about launching or expanding a program.

• Markets information on program development and operation strategies. As T/MC gathers and organizes information about after-school tutoring/mentoring programs, it markets this information to continually keep youth programming issues in the public eye. As T/MC identifies communities that are under-served, it creates a call-to-action to mobilize corporate and volunteer support for new and existing tutoring and mentoring programs. By keeping the need for tutoring/mentoring in the public eye, T/MC provides long-term, consistent support and promotion to help existing tutoring and mentoring programs continue to improve while encouraging new programs to develop.

• Collaborates with the Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF) to raise fund for tutor/mentor programs. T/MC provided the leadership initiative, along with CBF, to establish a funding stream to support existing tutor/mentor programs and to help new programs get started in areas of greatest need. In November, Mayor Daley proclaimed the week of Nov. 6 - 12, as Tutor/Mentor Week in Chicago. T/MC's goal is to build this week each year into a growing celebration of the work neighborhood programs, volunteers and students do, and to focus attention on the need for more programs and more volunteers, and to raise funds to be allocated by CBF through their Lend a Hand Fund.

• Measure progress. T/MC uses data gathered through its annual Neighborhood Programs Survey to compare levels of need and current services in different neighborhoods and on a year-to-year basis. This information will be used by individual tutor/mentor programs in funding and expansion plans, by corporations for developing strategic initiatives to support tutor/mentor programs, by foundations to determine levels of service in individual neighborhoods, and by the T/MC to target its year-to-year marketing efforts into neighborhoods where more programs continue to be needed.

In summary, the mission of the Tutor/Mentor Connection is to gather and organize all that is known about successful after-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the city.

Cabrini Connections, the umbrella organization under which T/MC operates, is involved in the T/MC network as an organizer, operator and user. Cabrini Connections continues to maintain and grow its tutoring and mentoring services for 7th - 12th grade students in Cabrini-Green, while developing and coordinating the T/MC network. T/MC will share its successful strategies and apply information learned from other service providers to enhance its own Cabrini-Green tutoring and mentoring programs and strengthen its training programs for tutors and mentors.

PROGRAM RATIONALE

Why expand tutoring and mentoring programs in Chicago?

Because children are our city's and our nation's future.

Today's children will be responsible for maintaining our social, community and health care services. They will provide the high-caliber work force America needs for global competition. They will be responsible for protecting the earth and natural resources.

Apart from tutoring and mentoring, the majority of services for children today are problem-oriented or crisis-oriented. These are programs to help children overcome drug-addiction, gangs, and family, physical, developmental and psychological problems. In contrast, T/MC is oriented more to the prevention of problems. It provides a managed process to enhance and expand tutoring and mentoring opportunities that involve children throughout the city. T/MC encourages programs that focus on social and academic development and give children the tools they need to avoid academic and social problems. T/MC helps foster tutoring and mentoring programs that encompass recreational, social and academic activities that build children's self-esteem and self-confidence.

Most important, however, tutoring and mentoring can help individual inner-city children have a wider range of possibilities for long-term personal fulfillment.

Children can't realize personal goals without the necessary skills. They can't secure rewarding jobs and personal happiness without self-esteem, a good education and good learning habits. They can't reach their full potential without positive role models who demonstrate these skills. Tutoring and mentoring programs are infused with these kinds of role models.

Tutoring/Mentoring Programs Should be Enhanced and Expanded

Tutoring and mentoring programs face numerous challenges. Existing programs invariably operate with very small budgets, and their success depends on attracting and keeping qualified people who are willing to volunteer their time. Tutoring and mentoring programs operate in relative isolation from one another (the 1994 T/MC programs survey indicated that more than 50% of responding programs have little or no contact with other programs). Information on how to develop quality services, effective training strategies and reliable methods of evaluation is not readily available. Also lacking is information on how to find and motivate volunteers and how to secure funds to start or expand a tutoring and mentoring program.

Perhaps most disturbing, there has been little encouragement for tutoring and mentoring programs to collaborate and learn from one another as they seek to support children, give them new opportunities and help them become responsible, productive and happy adults.

In many neighborhoods, parents and children aren't even aware of the tutoring and mentoring services that exist or, for personal safety reasons, children cannot travel the streets to attend the programs in which they want to participate. Leaders of tutoring and mentoring programs, parents, educators, corporations, community leaders and governmental leaders need to join forces and share strategies that successful programs are using to overcome the many challenges for tutoring and mentoring programs.

Tutoring/Mentoring Programs Can be Enhanced and Expanded

By continuously updating its database and by placing emphasis on the need and programs successfully providing services, T/MC focuses public attention on the need for tutoring and mentoring services in specific Chicago neighborhoods. Where public and government leadership in the past has demonstrated cycles of attention and neglect, T/MC will offer a continuous advocacy for tutoring/mentoring programs.

As a network for new and existing tutoring and mentoring programs, T/MC serves as a central information exchange, gathering, sharing, applying and continuously updating information about successful tutoring and mentoring programs.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is able to:

• Identify existing tutoring and mentoring programs through an annual inventory of Chicago's 77 community areas. Over 200 programs, including 160 neighborhood sites, have been identified and 121 (60%) have responded to the 1994 T/MC survey.

• Manage a database of those programs to make information about them accessible to all interested parties. The Tutor/Mentor Connection Chicago Programs Directory was published in May, 1994 and is being used by the United Way, the Chicago Bar Foundation and several corporations to recruit and refer volunteers.

• Establish an effective tool for data analysis and executive presentations, illustrating need and convincing corporate leaders to offer their resources to establish and support tutoring/mentoring programs.

• Exchange and promote information on successful tutoring and mentoring programs through a network of individuals, youth programs, community groups, corporations and foundations to encourage replication of good programs and a sharing of effective strategies

• Host conferences among providers of tutoring and mentoring services. On May 14, 1994, leaders of 40 programs gathered for the first Tutor/Mentor Connection Leadership Conference. On November 11 and 12th, nearly 190 leaders representing over 100 programs, gathered at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for the second T/MC Leadership Conference.

• Increase public attention and support of tutoring and mentoring programs. T/MC's May 14th conference media campaign reached an audience of more than 5 million .

• Develop a process to help tutoring and mentoring programs evaluate the quality of their services

TACTICAL PLAN AND 1994 RESULTS

The Tutor/Mentor Connection has a 10-point tactical plan for fulfilling its goals.

1. DATA GATHERING

T/MC has developed a research process to determine current sites of tutoring and mentoring services throughout Chicago, and create an on-line, geographic database that illustrates differing levels of service and need in individual communities and pictures the locations of service providers, schools and housing units in each neighborhood. T/MC is also creating a resource library to share detailed information on existing programs and strategies.

T/MC worked with Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) and Metro Chicago Information Center to create the research process and computer database of after-school tutoring and mentoring programs throughout the City of Chicago. The research team is led by Dr. Pam Lowry, assistant professor of economics at IWU and employs IWU undergraduates in gathering and analyzing much of the data, using state-of-the-art computer tools.

T/MC's neighborhood survey, began in February, identified nearly 200 tutor/mentor programs, and 160 program sites. The preliminary results from the 120 surveys returned are included in the attached report. In addition, 54% of the programs said they had "very little or no contact with similar programs", 80% said there was "some need or a great deal of need" for increased contact, and 92% said they would be "very likely or somewhat likely to attend" a city-wide conference of program leaders.

2. DATA MAPPING

T/MC developed Geographic Information System (GIS) maps showing tutoring and mentoring sites in each Chicago neighborhood and comparing need based on census reports of poverty, employment, crime, drop-out rates and other indicators.

A GIS is an integrated, automated mapping information system. This type of technology has been successfully used in infrastructure management and T/MC is pioneering its use in social service delivery. T/MC uses GIS maps to demonstrate the need for tutoring and mentoring services in new and intuitive ways, making it easier to focus on the distribution and need for additional tutor/mentor programs. GIS mapping is an up-to-date, accurate and reliable method to show service levels and can easily be updated to reflect changes in service levels. GIS maps reduce time spent gathering and processing data.

3. DATA APPLICATION

T/MC has used data maps in presentations to Sears, Morton International, the Chicago Volunteer Council, and in volunteer recruiting fairs at the State of Illinois building, Coopers & Lybrand, along with presentations to tutor/mentor program leaders during the May and November leadership conferences, to focus attention on neighborhoods where programs exist and where more programs are needed.

This has resulted in increased volunteer interest in tutor/mentor programs in neighborhoods which don't have the visibility of a Cabrini-Green, and in a number of community and program leaders following up with the T/MC to launch planning meetings to develop new programs and improve existing sites.

4. PROGRAM PROMOTION

T/MC has developed promotional materials to mobilize community volunteers to become active in new and established tutor/mentor programs. These have been distributed to organizations, such as the United Way, the Mayor's office, and the Chicago Bar Foundation, along with community groups that serve as points of entry and resources for those interested in developing new neighborhood programs or joining existing ones.

5. CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT

T/MC believes corporations are critical to the long-term success of tutoring/mentoring programs, and is using T/MC maps and research to motivate corporate leaders to establish a strategic, long-term commitment tutor/mentor programs through employee involvement , use of facilities for tutor/mentor sites, and an integration of all of the youth programs a company currently supports, in an "adopt a neighborhood" concept.

Once the need for tutoring and mentoring programs in a given neighborhood has been assessed, T/MC meets with corporate executive and civic leaders in an internal strategic planning review to build a long-term strategy to support youth education and tutor/mentor programs. As companies become involved and employees become volunteers and/or leaders of programs, they become part of the support network T/MC offers for existing programs.

6. CITY-WIDE CONFERENCE

The T/MC has hosted two citywide conferences to share proven tutoring and mentoring strategies and encourage networking among program leaders. The May 14th conference at Catholic Charities in Chicago drew 69 leaders of 40 Chicago area tutoring and mentoring programs. The Nov. 11 and 12th conference, hosted by the Shedd Aquarium, drew nearly 200 leaders and volunteers from over 100 programs.

The conference consisted of numerous breakout sessions, during which program leaders:

• exchanged strategies for developing successful programs, services and tactics;

• reviewed practical, proven case histories;

• discussed effective recruitment, training and evaluation methods;

• learned communications tactics to promote tutoring and mentoring programs and increase awareness of services; and

• discussed methods to secure financial support from community, corporations, foundations and government entities

T/MC will continue to host regular conferences to help build bridges between tutoring and mentoring programs. Each conference will help program leaders share effective strategies for organization and evaluation, volunteer recruitment and retention, activities and training, and will also provide a forum for existing community resources, such as Science Linkages in the Community, the Illinois Intergenerational Initiative, Junior Achievement and the Chicago Park District, to link and establish new collaboratives with neighborhood program leaders.

7. TRAINING

T/MC provides group training seminars and workshops via Cabrini Connections' Training Connection. These workshops are targeted at volunteers who serve as tutors and mentors at various program sites throughout the city. The workshops, designed and presented by Columbia College of Chicago faculty, supplement existing training programs and are offered as lunch-time learning where the volunteers work. This ensures that more volunteers will be able and likely to attend and benefit from training. It also results in volunteer tutors remaining with their individual programs for a longer period of time.

Cabrini Connections will also offer group seminars and workshops for individuals interested in learning and sharing information about establishing, improving and supporting tutoring and mentoring programs. Information in the T/MC network will be shared, along with proven techniques used by the successful program leaders for the past 19 years.

8. DIRECTORY OF PROGRAMS

In conjunction with its first Leadership Conference, T/MC issued a directory of tutoring and mentoring programs to establish a baseline of services currently available and to develop a marketing plan to increase services where they do not exist. T/MC is using the directory, along with the GIS maps, to stimulate new and existing programs by demonstrating exactly where new programs are needed.

In September, a Second Edition T/MC Chicago Programs Directory was distributed to more than 1500 educators, business leaders, and government and community leaders throughout Chicago. Companies, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Coopers & Lybrand report using the directory effectively to refer volunteers to tutor/mentor sites around the city and the Chicago Bar Foundation, United Way and Mayor's Office are all using the directory as a volunteer referral tool.

9. MEDIA RELATIONS AND FUND RAISING

A key part of the T/MC strategy is a promotion, media relations and fund raising campaign to identify additional tutor/mentor programs in the city, gain public attention for successful tutoring/mentoring programs and the need for more programs, and to increase awareness of the positive outcomes of these type of programs for inner-city children.

An audience of more than 5 million Americans has already been reached with T/MC news. Coverage to date includes placements with the Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, WMAQ-TV, WGN-TV, WBBO-TV, CLTV, Chicago Access TV, and numerous neighborhood newspapers, including the Chicago Defender, Daily Southtown, and the North Loop News.

In addition, to building public awareness, T/MC is providing leadership, along with the Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF) to raising funds that can be targeted specifically to tutor/mentor programs in Chicago to help new programs start in areas of greatest need and to provide operating support to help sustain the many effective programs already operating.

The initial fund raising event planned by this collaboration began on November 6, 1994 with the Mayor of Chicago issuing a proclamation declaring the week of November 6-12 to be Tutor/Mentor Week in Chicago. Each year, as this event grows, increase visibility for all tutor/mentor programs and will help each program recruit volunteers, raise funds on an individual program basis, and will provide a growing bank of funds that CBF will allocate through its Lend A Hand Program.

10. MEASUREMENT

T/MC is a marketing solution. Many have called for "more" tutors/mentors for inner city children. None have ever implemented a marketing plan to provide the necessary network of sites and volunteers to deliver the tutor/mentor message with regularity, frequency and longevity. None have every produced the research to establish a base of what programs exist and how many children are in those programs so that future growth could be measured and documented.

T/MC is developing an annual "scorecard" to measure changes in services available in individual neighborhoods. This service index is being developed by Dr. Pam Lowry, MCIC and the T/MC research team. The index will be a means for T/MC to demonstrate changes in levels of service and to show corporate and foundation sponsors a measurable return on funds invested. This information will recognize the efforts of organizations who have become active sponsors of new initiatives and will motivate those on the sidelines to become involved. Output and growth will be measured by tracking the increased number of tutoring and mentoring programs available, and the increased number of children enrolled in those programs, particularly in areas of greatest need.

In summary, T/MC is about making a long-term difference.

T/MC is about accelerating one of the good things that is happening for inner-city children. It's about increasing the number of tutoring and mentoring programs in Chicago, especially in the neighborhoods that need them the most. It's about bringing service providers closer together. It's about exchanging information and rallying support to ensure that tutoring and mentoring programs thrive. It's about the future of our children, our city and our nation.

RESULTS

The most important result for T/MC will be an expansion of tutoring and mentoring opportunities for inner-city children.

The expanded tutoring opportunities will flow directly from the networking of tutoring and mentoring programs. The network will provide a data base for identifying existing programs and the sharing of knowledge about proven strategies for (1) recruiting and motivating students, (2) recruiting and training volunteer tutors and (3) measuring the effectiveness of tutoring programs.

The knowledge gained from existing programs will be applied to other existing and new programs. As the overall T/MC program gains experience and attention in Chicago, the program concepts may be exported to other urban areas.

DELIVERABLES

The Tutor/Mentor Connection will impact the expansion of tutor/mentor program opportunities, by sticking to its 10-point marketing plan in 1995 and beyond. Financial underwriters of the T/MC network can expect to see the following "tangible" products in 1995.

• Beginning in February, T/MC will again survey programs to update participation data for programs included in the 1994 survey and to identify and survey new programs.

• In May and November, T/MC will host Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences, continuing the expand the number of participants and programs represented, while teaching the basics of business development and sharing effective tutor/mentor strategies.

• In May, T/MC will publish a 3rd Edition of the Chicago Programs Directory and distribute it to a growing list of users.

• In January, April, June, August and October, T/MC will publish the T/MC REPORT to a growing list of readers—currently 2,000, adding profiles of programs, innovative practices, tips for tutoring and schedules of networking opportunities.

• T/MC will continue to promote news media coverage of tutor/mentor programs, pulling the media to sites around Chicago's neighborhoods to give growing visibility to existing programs, and to the need for new programs.

• Finally, T/MC will devote increased time to providing one-on-one consulting to individuals, groups and corporations seeking to establish programs or improve existing programs.

The result will be that in November of 1995, and each year after that, T/MC will report that there is an increase in tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, and in the number of children served and volunteers enrolled.

HISTORY OF CABRINI CONNECTIONS

What is Cabrini Connections and why is it qualified to launch and foster the Tutor/Mentor Connection network?

Before developing Cabrini Connections, the organization's leaders spent 18 years developing and managing the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program (CGTP) at Chicago's Cabrini-Green, an inner-city public housing neighborhood. While under their leadership, CGTP provided more than 100,000 hours of tutoring/mentoring to more than 3,000 2nd through 6th grade children and involved more than 3,000 volunteers in this process. Between 85 percent and 90 percent of all students enrolled attended weekly tutoring sessions. More than 60 percent of all tutors returned to the program each year as it grew from 100 weekly volunteers in 1975 to more than 500 volunteers in 1992. The success of the program and the strength and dedication of its leaders have been acknowledged many times in articles in educational periodicals and the Chicago media.

Cabrini Connections leaders also developed and led a local network of Cabrini-Green area tutoring program leaders , beginning in 1976. Initially, this network met monthly at the Montgomery Ward headquarters, and leaders used meetings as a "show and tell" to exchange ideas and program concepts. From these meetings, training workshops were developed, combining the resources of multiple programs. Training and program management concepts were exchanged. CGTP became a resource for volunteer leaders from Chicago and beyond who were seeking to develop similar type programs. Although the network membership, meeting place and meeting frequency has changed often since 1976, the basic values and sharing among program leaders continued and has contributed greatly to the continuity and growth of several of the Cabrini-Green area programs.

Building on their successes in Cabrini-Green with the elementary school program and tutoring network, the leaders of the Cabrini Connections set out to do more. They created Cabrini Connections, a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering people throughout the Chicago area to be part of long-term solutions to the crisis in urban literacy.

Cabrini Connections has three subsidiary programs to benefit children inside and outside Cabrini-Green:

KIDS' CONNECTION

Kids' Connection is a Cabrini Connections youth program for 7th through 12th grade students that provides mentors, role models and enrichment activities to help students navigate more successfully the junior and senior high school years. Through different club formats Kids' Connection combines the benefits of a one-on-one adult/child relationship with group creative learning activities. The programs emphasize building self-esteem and problem-solving skills. They include recreational, social and academic activities. The programs provide children with support, frustration outlets and career development assistance.

In all of the organization's learning activities, the combined goal is to build the students' motivation to learn, strengthen their ability to learn and improve their learning skills—in that order.

Volunteer tutor/mentors of the organization's Thursday Club are required to develop, sign and abide by a goal-setting contract along with their student. The criteria focuses on expectations of each partner for the school and tutor/mentor year. From attendance to grades, volunteers and their students review their progress as they go, in accordance with their contract. They also structure the activities of their session as part of their goal-setting contract. As the program emphasizes reading and writing activities, tutor/mentors are encouraged to start each session with journal writing and end with a reading activity. School work and program-provided learning activities tend to fall in-between these academic staples.

In addition to one-on-one activities, the Thursday Club schedules one guest speaker per month. A professional from the business world leads a 30-minute discussion or address relating advice on overcoming the obstacles of life. Speakers such as IBM sales representative Shawn Dalcour tend to come from similar backgrounds. In his inspiring talks with students of the Thursday Club, he reflected on the poverty, drugs and crime he avoided in pursuit of an education and specialized career. He focused on the importance of setting goals, writing them down and continually referring to them in each decision-making situation.

The Wells Club, as mentioned, is a school-based, group activity program which meets twice monthly during lunch hour at Wells High School. Thirty-six students, from 9th through 12th grade, are split into four groups headed by a volunteer. Activities encouraging students to seek further education and career direction are supported by guest speakers from the education or business fields. Silas Purnell, a college guidance counselor specializing in placing students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in community, state and national colleges and universities, recently insisted that continued education is a realistic opportunity for Wells Club students.

The Saturday Club features guests from the arts and entertainment field, who lead student-participatory workshops and demonstrations stressing the importance of self-expression. Andrew Chudzinski, a documentary film maker, held a workshop which led students to write, direct, produce and act in their own music video and satirical talk show.

The organization's Career Success Steps is the action plan of its mission. it begins with broadening the experience base of its students through field trips to businesses and colleges and universities. Funded in part by the American Express Just One Kid Program, Career Success Steps hopes to take this relationship a step further and then, a step further. In forming partnerships with companies and corporations, the Success Steps model encourages businesses to: Offer a business representative to be part of the Kids Club team; recruit volunteers within their company to volunteer at Kids Clubs; offer seminars to Kids Club students; offer companies' existing employee training classes and seminars to Kids Club students (from typing to diversity training); create part-time jobs or internships for Kids Club students; help establish funds for high school and scholarship pools; offer career development and counseling; act as long-term role models to students; seek opportunities for in-kind donations as well as corporate and foundation funding for Cabrini Connections programs. This process works in tandem with the developing relationship between adult volunteer and student.

TRAINING CONNECTION

The organization's Volunteer Training offers professional support to its adult volunteers through its own and a network of citywide training workshops. Cabrini Connections program leaders have also compiled a training manual that aids volunteers to: define their role; understand policies and procedures; develop a successful tutor/mentor relationship with their student; set goals with their student; understand common problems among adolescents and high school students; understand common problems facing inner-city youth; and educational suggestions to employ in each session.

The Tutor/Mentor Conference served as one such training opportunity, for both program leaders and volunteers. Other training workshops are offered in collaboration with organizations such as the Union League Club of Chicago.

TUTOR/MENTOR CONNECTION

The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) is the citywide networking arm of the organization. Working with Illinois Wesleyan University and the Metro-Chicago Information Center, the T/MC: provides an inventory of existing tutor/mentor programs; identifies areas of need; provides a forum encouraging development of program's in those areas of need and supports the growth in effectiveness of existing programs, including its own.

The T/MC has already identified and surveyed more than 160 programs across the city. From this pool of organizations, two successful Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences have already been held. The latest conference, held November 11 and 12 at Shedd Aquarium, welcomed volunteers to the information-sharing workshops. More than 150 staff and leaders representing more than 100 organizations attended the recent conference.

While these conferences are designed to improve the effectiveness of all tutor/mentor programs, the geographical data process of the T/MC works as a catalyst in increasing the number of programs. Feeding survey information into the mapping system illustrates the number of tutor/mentor programs is disproportionate to the number of programs located in identified areas of need. Corporations with offices and plants located in identified areas of need are encouraged to, with the help of the T/MC, establish programs at those sites.

This strategy is backed up with a public relations effort publicizing its results.

CHAPIN HALL AND CARNEGIE COUNCIL STUDIES

MAYOR DALEY'S YOUTH DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE

The value of tutoring and mentoring for inner-city children is well documented, as is the need. Sharing T/MC's belief that tutoring/mentoring programs help give children the hope, support, self-esteem and confidence necessary to succeed in school are the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development's Task Force on Youth Development and Community Programs and Mayor Daley's Youth Development Task Force.

Chapin Hall

"All Americans have a vital stake in the healthy development of today's young adolescents, who will become tomorrow's parents, workers and citizens," says the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.

As discussed in "Redefining Child and Family Services: Directions for the Future", a report by Joan Wynn, Joan Costello, Robert Halpern, and Harold Richman of the Chapin Hall Center, primary services for children must be redefined to include not just problem-oriented, specialized services, but developmentally oriented primary services that enhance development of all children. These services are offered by tutor/mentor programs.

The December 1992 report further noted that "if primary services are to play a more central role in enhancing children's development and meeting their needs, these services must exist in greater variety and volume. Networks among primary service providers can be created and sustained at the level of local communities as well as nationally, with advantages to each venue."

According to the Chapin Hall report, an important step in enhancing children's services is to provide opportunities for different providers to recognize that they are part of a common endeavor. "Confirmation that aims and practices are shared can underscore their validity, and discussion of what appears to work best, for whom, in what circumstances, can help refine program design and implementation…This aim can best be achieved by creating forums in which providers can discuss the objectives that guide their initiatives and the structures, programs and practices they use for reaching their aim…Opportunities and interchange among providers can facilitate identification of common obstacles and of strategies for addressing them. Communication among primary service providers can also lead to recognition of opportunities for collaboration in achieving goals."

Carnegie Council

A report by the Carnegie Council states that every day young adolescents "decide how they will spend at least five (40 percent) of their waking hours when they are not in school. For many, these hours harbor both risk and opportunity." The March 1993 report goes on to say "Community programs represent an untapped potential for meeting needs so clearly articulated by young adolescents themselves." It concludes by urging "key partners to join forces to release their combined potential for reviving the experiences of belonging to communities where all can thrive."

Mayor Daley's Youth Development Task Force

In June, 1994 the Mayor's Youth Development Task Force set out three ambitious blueprints in hopes of improving the lives of half a million Chicago youths. Included was the Chicago Youth Net, a citywide network of youth development and family resource centers that would serve as anchors and safe havens. Also included was the Youth Vision, a confederation between the administration and the metropolitan area media to consciously shape news coverage of young people so that "adults begin to see kids less as threats and liabilities and more as assets to be treasured and developed."

"Such calls to action have been made every summer for decades" wrote the Chicago Tribune's John Kass (June 14, 1994). Yet for nearly 17 years, T/MC's leaders have provided afterschool tutoring/mentoring programs for hundreds of Cabrini-Green kids and networking among other tutor/mentor leaders. Drawing upon their experience and involving others in their efforts, the T/MC is committed to going beyond the call to action.

TUTOR/MENTOR CONNECTION'S LEADERSHIP TEAM

The T/MC Project Leadership Team, with representatives from local universities, marketing research groups, public relations, corporate sponsors and data processing organizations with expertise in PC based geographic data base management, is the governing body of the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Daniel F. Bassill, President and CEO

President and CEO Daniel F. Bassill is a 1968 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University. As the director of the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program (CGTP) from 1975 through September 1992, he developed a nationally recognized corporate sponsored literacy program, with more than 500 volunteers participating and more than 400 children being served.

Bassill's first 15 years of CGTP leadership were accomplished as a volunteer, while his professional career included significant advertising management positions with Montgomery Ward & Co., which he joined in 1972 as an advertising copywriter. When he left Montgomery Ward in 1990 to become full time Executive Director of CGTP, Bassill was Advertising Manger for the $1 billion Montgomery Ward home furnishings business. Prior to that as Advertising Planning Manger, he held responsibilities for promotional planning for all 330 Montgomery Ward stores as well as creative development production of all Montgomery Ward pre-print advertising.

In addition to providing leadership to CGTP and Cabrini Connections between 1990 and 1993, Bassill also served as a Loaned Executive for the United Way/Crusade of Mercy, representing The Quaker Oats Company. In this role, he served as a sales and marketing executive for 15-20 corporate accounts annually, which generated more than $1.5 million in United Way pledges each year.

Illinois Wesleyan University Support for Tutor/Mentor Connection

Faculty, staff, and alumni of Illinois Wesleyan University, an 1,800-student campus in Bloomington, Ill., are working on several key Cabrini Connections projects.

Pam Lowry, assistant professor of economics, is chairing the T/MC research team which will focus on database development and analysis; compilation of the T/MC directory; development of tools for measuring program success; gathering information on programs that can be replicated; and developing a need and service index.

Lowry is widely experienced in analyzing the type of information needed by Cabrini Connections, having done similar work for the state of Maryland a few years ago. Part of the analysis is likely to focus on how well each neighborhood is doing in providing services, compared to its needs. This information, Lowry points out, could be used for planning, decision-making, fund-raising, and other purposes.

As Research Team projects unfold, Lowry is anticipating that IWU economics students will gather and analyze much of the data, using state-of-the art computer tools.

Bob Aaron, IWU's director of public relations, has joined the T/MC communications team, which is focusing on developing a presentation on Cabrini Connections geared to corporate executives; preparing promotional materials; organizing annual T/MC networking conferences; networking among organizers; enhancing public attention on Cabrini Connections' activities; and working on the need and service index.

"We're very pleased and proud that IWU is becoming increasingly involved with Cabrini Connections," says Aaron. "It's a reflection of the social commitment of our faculty, staff, students and alumni, and it's clearly a reflection of IWU's confidence in the approach devised by Cabrini Connections to working with and enriching the lives of Chicago's children."

Metro Chicago Information Center

Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC) is a not-for-profit research organization that collects information about human conditions in the Chicago metropolitan area. MCIC works with social service organizations, government agencies, universities, and corporations to use its information to affect positive change within the region. Reports from MCIC's annual survey of 3,000 area households on issues such as community financial needs and concerns, health care, housing, education and employment, are used by public and private-sector organizations to influence policy decisions and programs affecting communities in the Chicago area.

MCIC has advanced GIS resources and computerized mapping systems, which enable it to generate maps depicting survey and Census data for study of demographics and quality of life in Chicago neighborhoods, police districts, congressional districts, counties, census tracts, or other segments of a community.

MCIC serves as a consultant to T/MC, providing leadership in developing survey materials, supplying mail lists, and consulting on a report on the results and development of a neighborhood-based Needs Index for tutoring/mentoring services. MCIC also provides GIS maps, as requested, depicting tutoring and mentoring service and need levels throughout the city.

Public Communications, Inc.

The final piece of the Leadership Team for the Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) was completed when Public Communications Inc., one of the 20 largest independent public relations firms in the United States, pledged its support.

PCI helped Cabrini Connections create a three-year plan for the T/MC, and developed the prospectus for the network. PCI also assisted in the development of T/MC's first leadership networking conference and has secured all media coverage of the Tutor/Mentor Connection to date.

PCI will be involved in future conferences to bring together youth service providers, community leaders and volunteers. These meetings will give continued visibility to the efforts of these programs. They will also provide opportunities for leaders to share ideas, build collations and learn management techniques to help each program do its job more effectively.

Heading up the PCI effort are Alan Leahigh, executive vice president, and Cindy Zinkovich, account supervisor.

PCI's diverse client base ranges from not-for-profit organizations, such as the Holy Family Preservation Society, which was able to fund a multi-million dollar renovation project with PCI's help, to the Chicago White Sox, who were able to make a transition from the old White Sox ball park to the new park, also with PCI's help.

TUTOR/MENTOR CONNECTION VOLUNTEERS

Research Team

Pam Lowry, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, Illinois Wesleyan University

Nick Rieser, research associate, Metro Chicago Information Center (see attached)

Susan Winton, corporate account manager, A.C. Nielsen Marketing Research, and member, Board of Directors, 4th Presbyterian Church Tutoring Program, Chicago

Marketing/Networking Team

Alan Leahigh, executive vice president, Public Communications, Inc. (PCI)

Bob Aaron, public relations director, Illinois Wesleyan University

Cindy Zinkovich, senior account executive, Public Communications, Inc. (PCI)

Elizabeth Densmore, executive director, Chicago Bar Foundation (CBF)

Fall 1994 T/MC Conference Planning/Advisory Committee

Mark Duhon, St. Josephs Church Tutoring Program

Joseph McCoy, Cabrini Connections

Barbara Pace, WITS

David Rose, Tutor/Mentor Connection

Gena Schoen, Cabrini Connections

Peggy Schweiger, Volunteers of America

Linda Wilson, John G. Shedd Aquarium

Susan Winton, 4th Presbyterian Church Tutoring Program

TIMELINE

The timeline for the second year of the Tutor/Mentor Connection is as follows:

Activity

T/MC Report distributed to T/MC programs and supporters (2000 copies) 1/95

Continue meetings with corporations, community groups and government agencies 2/95

Begin second wave of data gathering 4/95

Launch T/MC weekly call-in program on Chicago Access TV 4/95

T/MC Report distributed to T/MC programs and supporters (2500 copies) 5/95

Host Spring T/MC Leadership Conference on tutoring and mentoring with focus on Summer Program formats and strategies 5/95

Chicago Programs Directory, 3rd edition, distributed to 3,000 programs, education leaders, etc. 6/95

Distribute LEND A HAND Program Grant Guidelines from Chicago Bar Foundation 6/95

T/MC Report distributed to T/MC programs and supporters (2500 copies) 8/95

T/MC Volunteer Recruitment programs begin on Access TV, with volunteer fairs, with T/MC public media releases 9/95

T/MC Report distributed to T/MC programs and supporters (3,000 copies) 11/95

Fall 1995 Tutor/Mentor Connection Leadership Conference 11/95

1995 Tutor/Mentor Week activities 11/95


ATTACHMENTS

PUBLICITY/EDITORIAL OPINION

MAP SAMPLES

BUDGET

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