The Conference
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 the Internet, this conference connects program leaders in Chicago with people and ideas across the country and the globe.
The Tutor/Mentor
Connection (T/MC)
first held the conference in 1994 after a survey of Chicago area
programs revealed that more than half had little or no contact with
other programs. Based on positive response from the first conference,
T/MC decided to host a second conference in the same year, which
attracted nearly 200 attendees.
Since then T/MC has continued to host the Conference twice a year and believes that the event can grow to more than 500 participants. In 2004 T/MC added an eConference component, thanks to help provided by the Digital Workforce Education Society at City Colleges of Chicago, IUPUI and the Webheads Network, enabling people from across the world to participate.
In 2005 T/MC debuted an interactive portal on its Web site, where ideas from the conference are discussed on a year-round basis. In 2006 we began using the Tutor/Mentor Blog to express our ideas and connect us with others. We're now using wiki's and social networking sites to draw people together to share ideas and build capacity for volunteer based tutor/mentor programs. We encourage you to join, become a sponsor or host of an eConference.
View YouTube Video interview with conference participants.
Conference Goals
There are two main goals of the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference:
- Connect leaders and supporters of volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring and education-to-career programs with each other
- Build visibility so that more volunteers and donors will
choose to support tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region.
Each conference offers workshops on planning, evaluation, recruitment and training, marketing and development, as well as specific topics related to tutoring and mentoring youth at different age ranges.
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.
The Spring conference is intended to celebrate the work of youth and volunteers during the school year. It’s also a time to share best practices, strengthen next year’s programs and raise public awareness of the need for renewed support in the coming academic year. The commitment tutor/mentor programs make to the youths they reach doesn’t stop at the end of each school year; neither should the support they receive. Through media stories, blogs and online networking, the Spring Conference aims to remind the public that this support is still needed.
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
