Creating Virtual Corporate Office to Support Mentor_Rich Youth Programs in Multiple Locations

The Tutor/Mentor Connection:
Creating a Virtual Corporate Office
If volunteer-based
tutor/mentor programs were
supported by a “corporate
office” the way big companies
support multiple stores,
would we have more and
better programs reaching
young people in more
places?
Property of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, Tutor/Mentor Connection, http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Twitter @tutormentorteam tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Since 2011 the T/MC has been part of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Maps show distribution of stores such as Wal Mart,
Walgreens, Bank of America. Find these on Google.com
These stores are supported by corporate and regional office teams.
Pg 2

Every store offers a selection of merchandise and
services based on local customer needs.
Corporate office
teams, consisting
of buyers,
merchants, store
planners, human
resource
professionals,
researchers,
advertisers,
mangers, etc.
make sure each
store has products
customers seek,
and well trained
people to support
store operations.
Pg 3

A site-based tutor/mentor program is a “store” that
offers various services to youth and volunteers.
Maps can show
where tutor/mentor
programs in a city
like Chicago are
needed and where
existing programs are
located.
Property of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, Tutor/Mentor Connection, http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Twitter @tutormentorteam tutormentor2@earthlink.net Pg 4

Tutor/Mentor
STORE
Stuff for
Youth
Stuff for
Volunteers
Stuff for
Donors
• Mentors, Tutors
• Fun activities
• New experiences
• Technology
• Books
• Safe Place
• Arts
• Social & Emotional
Support
• College & Career
• Job Skills
• Network
• Staff support
• Friends
• Long-term
involvement
• Youth
• Training
• On-Going
support
• Fun Activities
• Social network
• Career Network
• Sense of purpose
• Technology
• Books
• Safe Place
• Job Skills
• Staff support
• Friends
• Why we are needed
• Needs of youth in
neighborhood we
serve
• What we do
• How this influences
learning, school
performance, work
readiness
• Our Leaders
• Other donors
• What we accomplish
• Who we network
with
• Who we collaborate
with
• How well we use their
donations
• What is our impact
Parents, Teachers,
Community
Leaders
• What we do
• How do enroll a
youth
• How to make
programs like this
available to more kids
in more places
• How this helps kids
Stuff for
Industry,
Universities
• What we do
• How do volunteers get
involved
• Impact on volunteers,
business goals
• Impact on diversity,
workforce
development etc.
A site-based volunteer-based tutor/mentor program is a “store” with “stuff” for many
customers. Each list below represents products and services needed at every tutor/mentor
program in every high poverty neighborhood of cities like Chicago.
Stuff for
STAFF
• Vision, Mission
• Training
• On-Going
support
• Fun Activities
• Social network
• Career Network
• Financial reward
• Health care
• Retirement
• Safe, nurturing
place to work
Pg 5
Very few programs
offer all of these!

A well-organized tutor/mentor program needs a
team of skilled leaders & workers
Pg 6
Director/CEO
Admin
analyst
Secretary
Tutor/Mentor
Program
Operations
Facilities Mgr.
Marketing and
Development
Human
Resources
Legal &
Accounting
Information
Technologies
Volunteer
Recruitment
and Training
Student
Recruitment
& Support
Manager
Data
Collection
and Analysis
School and
Community
Liaison
Coordinator
for
tutor/mentor
sessions
Supply/Food
Service
Security
Transportation
Events &
Activities
College &
Career
Readiness
Business
Liaison/
Vocational
Training
Computer
Learning
Center
Board
Development
Grants
Manger
Special
Events
Direct Mail
Communications
Manager
Newsletter (print
and email versions
Public
Relations
Web Site
Internal
Communications
Annual
Report
Database mgt
Database
Development &
Maintenance
Web site
development &
Maintenance
On-line
Documentation
Systems
On-line e-
learning (for
staff, students,
volunteers)
Internal
Network and
Server set up
and
maintenance
Hardware &
software
upgrades
(technology
plan
Technology
Support
Technology
Training
Policy
Development
and Training
Staffing/
Training
Employee
Records
Payroll and
Benefits
Management
Board of
Directors
Recruitment and
Development
Computer
Technology
Center.
If available
Very few programs
have all of these!

The Case for a more comprehensive form of
tutoring/mentoring:
Many leaders, including the 44th
& 46th
Presidents of the United
States, already support the concept of mentoring.
However, very few have business plans that answer these questions:
“What are all the things we need to do to assure that ALL youth
born in poverty, and participating in tutor/mentor programs, are
starting jobs/careers by age 25?”
How do we increase the number, and quality of “places” where
youth access these services?
Read more. This is what the
Tutor/Mentor Connection* focuses on every day.
Contact us at tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Pg. 7
*since 2011 the T/MC has been a program offered by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

No ‘corporate office’ yet exists to support tutor/mentor
programs in multiple locations. Leaders Needed.
The purpose of this T/MC essay is not to convince you
that tutoring/mentoring is an important education-to-
careers and civic engagement strategy.
The purpose is to recruit leaders from industry…
 to share their skills and experiences…
 to make more and better tutor/mentor programs available in all places where they are
needed.
 to provide the operating and innovation dollars needed to fuel efforts like the T/MC in
Chicago, and similar structures in other cities.
 and provide resources to support collaborations which bring Science, Technology, Arts,
Engineering and Math mentoring into existing tutor/mentor programs
Pg. 8

Since every shaded area on this map
needs a variety of comprehensive
tutor/mentor programs, the
Tutor/Mentor Connection leads a
public awareness campaign aimed to
draw dollars, volunteers, and
training directly to tutor/mentor
programs in every part of the city
and suburbs of Chicago.
We’d like to see this strategy
duplicated at the national and local
level by leaders in every industry,
and by leaders of the Points of Light
Foundation.
Chicago
In a big city like Chicago, hundreds of non-profits have similar
organizational needs. Few are adequately staffed.
Pg. 9
Shaded Areas have
poverty levels of 20%
or greater. Dots on this
map are poorly
performing public
schools.
Corporate
Leadership needs
to draw volunteers,
talent and donors to
t/m programs in all
poverty
neighborhoods, not
just a few visible
places.
See maps and search for Chicago area
programs: http://tinyurl.com/TMI-
Volunteer-Opportunities
View articles posted since
2008 at
http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com

Tutor/Mentor Programs are not available
in all places where they are needed
 There is a perception that many organizations offer
tutoring/mentoring or youth development services.
 In reality, in many neighborhoods there are few
programs that offer tutoring and/or mentoring.
 When the availability of programs is looked at by
age and time of day segments, it is obvious that a
contributing factor to the high drop out rate of teens
is the lack of programs to mentor them to careers.
Pg. 10
View Chicago Community Area maps 2018 showing number of high poverty
youth in each area: http://tinyurl.com/TMI-communityareamaps

Not all programs are equally effective
There are wide differences between the type of tutoring
and/or mentoring programs that are available.
 number and age group of children served
 number of volunteers involved
 quality of staff available to support youth or volunteers
 uneven availability of arts, technology, career mentoring
The Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building a master database of programs in
Chicago since 1993. As the T/MC built its database of programs, it aimed to build
an understanding of the various types of programs, dividing them by age served,
time of day services is provided, and type of tutoring/mentoring offered.
This is work that needs to be done within universities where more resources are
available.
Pg. 11

To support growth and operation of
multiple programs, borrow strategies
from proven business practices
Successful companies try to put
stores where there are large
numbers of potential customers;
Some companies have thousands of
stores distributed throughout every
state in the country
Economies of scale are used to
increase quality and lower the
operating costs per location
Volunteers from business can
help collect and maintain
information used to support
tutor/mentor program growth by
every industry.
Pg.12
See more graphics like these at
http://pinterest.com/tutormentor/boards/

It is not realistic to expect one
organization to have enough money
to do everything that a corporate
office of a company like Wal Mart,
Sears, Apple, etc. do to support
thousands of retail stores….
However, it is possible that thousands of volunteers
from different industries might take on roles similar to
corporate office teams, supporting a group of
programs in a geographic area, or all of the
tutor/mentor programs in an entire city like Chicago.
Pg. 13

In the following slides we invite business leaders to make the commitment shown in this
concept map. http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map
Open map and see cMaps with reasons for strategic business investment.
- http://tinyurl.com/TMI-WhyShouldBusinessInvest Pg 14

A “Virtual” Corporate Office
Human
Resources
Research &
Development
Marketing,
Sales
Advertising,
PR
Finance &
Legal
Supply &
Logistics
Philanthropy &
Employee
Giving
Talent and resources from many
industries supporting program
growth in many places.
Pg 15

A Learning “Distribution” System
STEM
Learning
Communications
Skills, Arts
Technology,
Digital skills
Leadership,
Team Building
Finance &
Legal
Social,
Emotional
Philanthropy &
Volunteering
Important “learning” activities
should be made available in every
high poverty neighborhood.
Pg 16

Example – Museums as Vendors
Science &
Industry
John. J. Shedd
Acquiarium
Field Museum
of Natural
History
Chicago
History
Museum
Chicago
Botanic
Gardens
Adler
Planetarium
Others....
Pg 17
Each museum should be putting
icons on map showing where it's
learning programs are a part of a
school, or non-school,
program's on-going strategy.
Each museum should think like a
company like Proctor & Gamble,
who wants its products on the
shelves of thousands of retail
stores.
They not only have a great
product, but they also offer
incentives, like training,
advertising dollars, point-of-
purchase displays, etc.

Corporations and military leaders lead strategies to distribute resources and support
stores (troops) in many locations. Teams of “talent” volunteers could take this role to
help make tutor/mentor programs available in all high poverty neighborhoods of
Chicago and other cities.
Enemy
sites
Forces
Direct
engagement
Analysis
Of enemy
Strength &
weaknesses
Organize
& Train
US forces
Logistics
To get forces
in place
Understand needs &
plan resource
allocation, e.g.
strategic planning
What resources do
we need to
implement the plan?
How to prepare
them?
How do we distribute
needed resources
and troops to
multiple locations
where they are
needed?
Feed &
Equip
Our army better
than enemy
Recruit
& Retain
US forces
Revenue
To support
these efforts
We need to feed, cloth,
arm and re-supply our
troops and logistics
providers for as long as
war is in progress.
How to replace forces
that are lost with new
solders trained and
ready to pick up from
where previous left off
How do we raise
money needed to
pay for this entire
effort?
Public
Commitment
To sustain effort and
recruit troops
How do we educate
and inform public so
we can maintain
support for revenue
needed to support
war effort?
Poverty
in city
is
enemy
Forces
Include
tutors &
mentors
The goal is to support multiple programs in a geographic area, not just one!
This is
a supply
chain issue.
Pg 18
Chicago

Most programs can’t get enough resources on their
own. They need the help of many leaders.
Thousands of volunteers, business and faith leaders, students, etc. can use personal and organizational leadership,
web sites and communications to connect members of their network to information showing why certain types of
volunteer programs are needed, and where they are located. They can point to databases that enable volunteers,
community members, media and donors to search and find programs where they can get involved. Learning to
stimulate such actions on a regular basis, the way advertisers draw customers to retail stores each week, it a lesson
we need to teach. We can do that by giving recognition to those already doing this well.
Elected
leader
college
you
faith business media
others
Everyone (students, and adults) could take this role on a daily basis.
volunteers
dollars
Talent &
technology
Pg 19
The main idea of this presentation is to show
actions that many people can take to support
program growth. YOU can do this!

If enough leaders apply the ideas in this presentation we dramatically improve the flow of
resources AND support the growth of high quality programs in every high poverty neighborhood.
Pg 20

Not everyone can volunteer time as
a tutor/mentor…
Customers for a tutor/mentor programs
are not just children and youth living in
poverty neighborhoods, near poorly
performing schools, or in broken
families…
…Customers are volunteers who can
help provide infrastructure and
leadership, not just tutors & mentors.
Pg. 21

Many ways to volunteer…
 volunteers are needed to create innovative strategies that
increase visibility for tutor/mentor programs and increase the
flow of operating dollars to every tutor/mentor program in
Chicago and other major cities
 business partners are needed to develop strategies—
using employee volunteers, company assets & dollars to
PULL youth from poverty into jobs & careers.
 people and organizations are needed to organize and
provide curriculum, training,and ideas, to help educate all
stakeholders in the movement.
Pg.22

Build involvement based on where
need for programs is greatest.
Create advertising and public awareness that
seeks to educate resource providers to make
choices of involvement, drawing from a menu of
ways individuals and organizations could be
involved, and using GIS maps that show where
the need for tutor/mentor programs is greatest,
and where existing programs are located in these
areas.
Such a strategy will lead to a more even
distribution of resources to all neighborhoods
where tutor/mentor programs are needed, not just
to those with a visible brand name or in a high
profile neighborhood.
See current map of Chicago volunteer-based
tutor and/or mentoring programs at
http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Volunteer-Opportunities
Pg. 23

Role for Many Leaders:
Advertising and Public Awareness
We don’t have multi-million dollar ad
budgets, yet we need similar reach
and frequency of daily and weekly
message delivery.
The T/MC seeks to recruit leaders
from business and faith communities
who will use their own media to create
and lead a call-to-involvement.
This evangelism will reach thousands
of people in every business, social and
faith sector many times each day with
messages that encourage people to
be volunteers, leaders, donors, etc.
Pg. 24

Become a Network Builder
• Write a weekly blog
• Create videos
• Host discussions on Facebook, Linked in,
or tutormentorconnection.ning.com
• Host gatherings on ZOOM, Microsoft
Teams, LinkedIn, etc.
• Connect on Twitter with each other and
with @tutormentorteam
In this role, you become an “influencer”. Build your visibility and
reputation by what you do throughout the year.
Pg 25

From 1994 to 2018* the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend A Hand
Program at the Chicago Bar Association provided an example of the type
leadership the T/MC seeks to create in every industry and service
sector. Through 2018 more than $2.5 million was been raised to support
volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago area. This 2005
PDF described LAH Vision.
https://tutormentorexchange.net/images/PDF/corboy-presentation2.pdf
Models of such leadership exist
If programs like this are in each industry,
each tutor/mentor program would have
volunteers modeling different career
opportunities, along with multiple sources of
funding.
Strategies like this can support volunteer-based tutor/mentor
program growth in every neighborhood of Chicago and other
cities with high concentrations of poverty.
Pg 26
*Since 2018 the Lend-A-Hand Program has focused only on it's own in-house tutor/mentor program.

Volunteers from business, universities, and high
schools needed to help build knowledge base.
The T/MC seeks university partners,
interns, and graduate students, who will
help build a library of examples showing
how various businesses and industries use
their leadership, human capital and
communications resources to PULL youth
from poverty to careers.
Read this invitation to universities to create
student-led on-campus Tutor/Mentor
Connection teams.
https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/04/
reaching-out-to-universities-virtual.html
Pg.27

As volunteers do “service” let’s seek
to enhance “learning” .
Every time a volunteer connects with a youth in a tutor/mentor
program we seek to enhance learning, so the volunteer becomes
a bridge to her industry, faith group, and/or alumni network.
Such volunteers have the potential to bring additional resources
to tutor/mentor programs every time they return to do service.
As some of these volunteers become
CEOs, this become a self-sustaining
system with different leaders in
different places taking the lead at
different times each year.
See this idea illustrated in video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=C0ieJRBrk_I&t=3s
Pg. 28

Educate Consumers….the volunteer,
donor, parent, political leader, etc. Provide
a menu of choices for involvement in tutor/mentor programs
By building an on-line library of “what works” and creating visual
databases that sequence what works into a blueprint of actions
needed consistently for many years, we support the involvement of
anyone who wants to help kids move from poverty to careers.
On-line networking and collaboration portals can connect
volunteers from different locations of the same company with each
other, or volunteers from many different programs with each other
and support a process of on-going learning that builds a more
effective tutor/mentor workforce, and benefits the companies who
support this strategy at the same time.
Visit Tutor/Mentor Connection Web http://tinyurl.com/TMI-library
Pg. 29

Engaging volunteers in organized programs is an entry point to
involvement in reducing the many challenges facing youth in high poverty
areas. A Tutor/Mentor Program is just one part of the solution.
View this at https://tinyurl.com/ChallengesFacingYouth-TMI
Property of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, Tutor/Mentor Connection, http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Twitter @tutormentorteam tutormentor2@earthlink.net Pg. 30

OUR GOAL: SUPPORT THE
GROWTH OF COMPREHENSIVE,
VOLUNTEER-BASED TUTORING/
MENTORING PROGRAMS THAT
HELP INNER CITY YOUTH REACH
CAREERS
To SUCCEED
We must recruit business
leaders who will use their
resources in PULLING
Youth to Careers
To SUCCEED
We must help tutor/mentor
program leaders, volunteers,
schools and parents be more
effective in PUSHING
Youth to Careers
School-Time Programs
3-5 PM Non-School Programs
Pre-K K - 5th 5th - 6th 6th - 8th
High
School
Career
Track
After 5 PM and Weekend Programs
Every Industry has a reason to
strategically invest in creating a
pipeline to careers for kids living
in poverty.
Pg. 31

This is a K-16 and Career Education System
that Operates in the Non-School hours
• In big cities like Chicago it is difficult for business
volunteers to take time from work each week to go to a
public school, and many public schools are difficult
places to operate tutor/mentor programs. Thus,
making programs available in the non-school, and
after work hours, offers greater choices for volunteer
involvement
• College and business partners are needed to help
build a trained cadre of tutor/mentor leaders, and to
support them in their daily work and career
development
• Innovative partnerships with business and with peers
are needed to create a greater public visibility and a
more consistent flow of essential resources (dollars,
volunteers, technology, etc.) to every program in every
city.
Pg. 32

Chicago and other cities need a
program-support Infrastructure
We need to think like for-profit organizations who try to put products and
services where customers are concentrated.
The Internet offers the opportunity to build a low-cost learning network that
could support the growth of thousands of tutor/mentor programs
T/MC web sites are at the core of a growing training infrastructure that
seeks to help each tutor/mentor program find ideas and resources to be
able to constantly improve.
Read this White Paper calling for creation of civic infrastructure:
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/news/2011/06/10/
new-policy-paper-calls-investments-new-corps-young-americans-create-share-civic-info/
Pg. 33

Tutor/Mentor Program goals can be
Business goals, too.
Organizations that offer volunteer-based tutoring/ mentoring services
seek to improve the quality of life for people living in poverty by
helping them move up the ladder to jobs and careers.
This creates new customers and new employees for industry and
lowers the costs associated with poverty, crime and workforce
development.
These programs also create networking, learning and skill building
opportunities for business volunteers who choose to get involved.
This strategy creates an army of people who are more personally
committed to helping inner city kids, because they have come to
know them, and understand their challenges, through volunteer
involvement.
Pg 34

Benefits to companies and their
employees
Involvement in well-managed volunteer-based programs provides many
benefits to employees in corporations, such as expanding leadership
skills, and expanding informal networks for those who are involved.
Using Internet e-collaboration tools, volunteers in a T/MC strategy learn
skills and habits that can be applied profitably in 21st century business
applications.
Most of all, it’s the right thing to do. Businesses who are effective at
helping youth move to careers will earn public good will and loyal
employees and customers.
Read more about Benefits to business -
https://tinyurl.com/Library-Business-CSR-links
http://tinyurl.com/TMI-WhyShouldBusinessInvest
http://tinyurl.com/TMI-WorkforceDevelopment
Pg. 35

Read about Collective Impact and role of “backbone” organizations on Stanford Social
Innovation Review: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact
“Collective impact requires
that funders support a long-
term process of social
change without identifying
any particular solution in
advance.”
A backbone organization with
a modest annual budget can
support a collective impact
initiative of several hundred
organizations, magnifying the
impact of millions or even
billions of dollars in existing
funding. Strive, for example,
has a $1.5 million annual
budget but is coordinating
the efforts and increasing the
effectiveness of
organizations with combined
budgets of $7 billion.”
A Tutor/Mentor Connection is a “backbone” organization
and is needed in every city in the world.
Pg 36

Invest in intermediary organizations
like T/MC and its partners
Become a sponsor, drawing attention to
your business, while you help us draw
attention to mentor-rich, tutor/mentor
programs
Point workplace donations to
tutor/mentor programs so volunteers are
well-supported and benefit more from
their involvement
If you are a venture capital manager, or
venture philanthropist, consider
becoming an investor in the Chicago
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Help re-
build the Tutor/Mentor Connection and
make it available in every major city in
the world.
Pg. 37
Borrow from ideas shared at
Http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Create a T/MC type structure in your own
community.

Get informed. Get involved.
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, Tutor/Mentor Connection
Visit the following web sites to learn more about volunteer-based tutoring,
mentoring and strategies to build networks and support for programs in
multiple locations.
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
Http://tutormentorexchange.net.wordpress.com
http://tutormentorexchange.net/conceptmaps
or email: tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Why Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC)?
From 1993 to June 2011 the T/ MC operated as partner to the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program in Chicago, under one 501-
c-3 non profit board of directors. Due to financial pressure the T/MC was separated from the Cabrini Connections program in June
2011 and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC was created to provide alternative strategies for generating revenue to continue to operate
the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago while helping similar intermediary structures grow in other cities. The names will be used
interchangeably in many of our materials since both focus on the same mission.
Dan Bassill
Connect on Twitter
@tutormentorteam

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