The Conference:  Connect with peers. Discover new ideas. Energize your organization.

 

The biannual Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is part of an ongoing effort to improve the quality and availability of tutor/mentor programs in areas of Chicago with high concentrations of poverty. Through in-person networking and through the Internet, the Conference connects Chicago's program leaders with people and ideas across the country and the globe. View Tutor/Mentor Connection Strategy Map. View participation maps from past Conferences.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) first held the Conference in 1994 after a survey of Chicago area program leaders revealed that more than half had little or no contact with other programs. Based on positive responses from the first Conference, the T/MC decided to host a second Conference that same year which attracted nearly 200 attendees.

The T/MC has continued to host the Conference twice a year and believes that the event can grow to more than 500 participants. As online social networking capacities have grown, the T/MC has added online forums to encourage Conference participants and others who cannot attend the Chicago Conferences to connect and collaborate via the Internet.

View YouTube Video Interview with Conference Participants

Conference Goals:

The Tutor/Mentor Connection shares its own ideas about tutoring and mentoring as a workforce development strategy in a Tutor/Mentor Institute website. It also shares ideas of more than 1500 other organizations in the library on the T/MC web site. As we approach each Conference we invite people who we link to on these web sites to come together to share their own knowledge and to find ways to help expand the resources to support all volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs in Chicago and other cities-- not just a few high profile programs.

Each Conference offers workshops on planning, evaluation, recruitment and training, marketing and development, and specific topics related to tutoring and mentoring youth at different ages.

The May Conference is intended to celebrate the work of youth and volunteers during the school year. It is also a time to share best practices, strengthen next year’s programs, and raise public awareness about the need for renewed support in the coming academic year. The work done in May can lead to more successful volunteer-recruitment strategies in August and September and more powerful resource-development strategies in November and December.

The November Conference takes place shortly after the start of each school year when programs have recruited and placed students and volunteers. The focus of this Conference is on teaching volunteers to be more effective tutors and mentors and fostering the leadership skills necessary to help programs grow.  Since this Conference is just before the year end holiday's, it's goal is also to make potential donors more aware of tutor/mentor programs so that when they choose to make a  year-end donation, more tutor/mentor programs benefit from these gifts.

 

Conference Objectives:

  • Draw leaders, volunteers and stakeholders from more than 150 agencies together for networking and information sharing

  • Draw business and philanthropy partners into ongoing learning and partnership with tutor/mentor leaders

  • Provide a vision for comprehensive, long-term mentoring that leads youth to careers
  • Build trust and relationships among stakeholders to generate partnership and information sharing during the months between each Conference.
  • Build awareness of online learning and networking resources and motivate a growing number of participants to use these tools for capacity improvement