http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/2582320,CST-NWS-mitch10.article

I think Mary Mitchell makes some very good points in this article about why programs like ours are important. What can we do to increase the number of articles that shed a spotlight on our program and others like it? This article, like many others published this summer and in previous summers, was spurred by the high Chicago crime rates and killings that have been an unfortuante repeating summer trend for the city. However, the attention drawn to these low income crime filled neighborhoods often fades as the cool weather sets in. What can we do to keep the media's attention on these areas and more importantly the public's attention and interest in volunteering to make a difference in these areas?

On my first day, I am excited to get started on learning the ins and outs of CC-T/MC and familiarizing myself with the vast web of knowledge shared here. First and foremost, I can see the importance of NETWORKING here, and I am happy to combine my network with CC-T/MC's in order to add to the growth and development of these great programs. I can see that there is alot of potential to expand CC-T/MC's network and I think one of my goals while I am here will be to increase the awareness of the CC and T/MC programs overall in order to build the network. I also plan on doing research to find people and companies who would be key contacts and assets to the programs by asking and answering the questions:

Who are the best people to be informing?
What is the best way to inform them?
What are innovative ways to clearly, efficiently, and effectively spread the message of the programs overall?
How are we going to implement these communication strategies to the best of our abilities?

I am also going to be focusing my energy on raising awareness, interest, and donations for the upcoming CC events: Martini Madness and the conference in November. The Brainstorming has begun! I would love to discuss this further with anyone else who is interested.

Moving myself along the path from the uninformed to the informed, thus enabling myself to inform others (woo! that's alot of "informing") is my primary goal for the next week. I can see that there are alot of great people working together here to make a positive impact and I am really happy to be a part of what seems to be a wonderful intelligent group of people.

My Network Map:

My experience so far with Dan and T/M C brought me back to a passage of a book I read earlier this year, Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. Friedman wrote:

"The key breakthrough that enabled Google to become first among search engines was its ability to combine its PageRank technology with an analysis of page content, which determines which pages are most relevant to the specific search being conducted. Even though Google entered the market after other major search players, its answers were seen by people as more accurate and relevant to what they were looking for" (155).

It occured to me that this forum is essentially modelled on a similar format as Google's. Tutormentorconnection.ning.com a) looks for information, or content, and people relevant to the cause of tutoring and mentoring; b) organizes, analyzes, and archives that information for future reference; and c) utilizes those references for targeted advertising campaigns, social networking, grant-writing, and the like. Even more to the point, this forum is a way of attempting to grow the idea of tutoring and mentoring to scale, or to a point where it "tips".

The "In-Forming" Process works something like this:

1. Uninformed people interact with information and become informed.

2. Informed people interact with uninformed people, producing more informed people.

3. Informed people interact with each other.

4. To the point where new information is being passed along to all parties involved, starting the process over again.

0- no interaction.

Figure 1

After the SNA training, everybody got connected to each other with Dan being the central hub (Figure 2). The strength of relationship between the members of the SNA group has also increased after the SNA software training

Figure 2

This map ( Figure 3) represents the people who will be working on theSNA project after the training. We have hidden the nodes of the people who won’t be working on the project. At this stage of the project nobody has taken the lead.

Figure 3

Jonathan and Ahmed left the SNA group few weeks after the training and two new members Karina and Kalyani joined the group. The following map (Figure 4) shows the interaction among the members of the SNA group after introduction of two new members with Katie and Anne currently being the project leads.

This is the current network map ( Figure 5) of the SNA group after the inflow software training of the new members. Here everybody is connected to each other with Anne and Kalyani being the project leads.

This is the first page of this PDF volunteer recruitment presentation. If you're trying to draw volunteers and donors to your non-profit, it will help if people in business, media, religious groups, etc. are using their own media to encourage volunteers and donors to find you.

You can save this image to your computer, and then put it in your own blog, with your own message. If enough people do this in August we can increase the number of volunteers and donors who are supporting us in September and beyond.

I created a set of "blog exchange" links on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site. If you use this image in a blog story, why not add a link to the story in the T/MC site. As we aggregate these we can learn from each other, and build more attention for each other's work.

For the past seven weeks, I've been working with my first overseas internship in Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection and feel it worthwhile. This internship experience not only expands what I've learnt at college as a journalism student, but gives me a general idea of how I should do outside the ivory tower.

When I first learnt that my job at Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection is to help update this website by blogs (as you can see right now), pictures, or even videos, I found it matching my major quite well. CC T/MC is a non-profit organization found in 1993. For years, it has been working in the neighborhood to help children in low-income families. I'm
supposed to share my personal experience as I go through the organization's database, talk to the regular staff and take part in its functions. This is just what the main concept I've learnt in last semester's Computer Aided Reporting.

Nowadays, the internet has a booming affect on communication while traditional media shrinks as times goes by. This is what we as media people worry about, but on the other hand, it is a great chance for we as normal citizens to count on in order to make our voice heard with the lowest invest(with money). By creating the website, we may get in touch with millions of people in the world. And this is how we broadcast our vision as a non-profit organization.

However, the academic concept won't fit the reality at all time. A famous educator in ancient China once said, what you get from books is always not deep enough if you don’t take it into practice. Although we know the basic things of online journalism, things didn’t go as smooth as I thought at first. I’ve been through what’s called “cold-calling” as I sent out e-mails to radio stations, newspapers, and even my fellow group members who come together with me to Chicago for internship as well. I was depressed at a time, not understanding how people could act so indifferent to such a wonderful program. After talking to Dan Bassil, the CEO and founder of CC T/MC, I know that I should not expect each and everyone in the world would agree to what we believe. Nevertheless, we can still use the internet to attract our potential alley. Just as I’ve learnt from a workshop about how to build an effective campaign which I went to 2 weeks ago, persistence is truly important in the process. The more I write and
send, the more chances people would get our message.

Besides the daily routine, I’m glad that I also had a chance to take part in two annual activities held by Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection during my time here. The outing with Cabrini students and education major graduate students from Edgewood College was an amazing experience, since I participated in the activities and had a close talk with both enthusiastic volunteers and the kids who need help. The Edgewood Experience confirmed my faith on CC, T/MC’s vision as I saw how much the kids benefit from our program and also how happy the volunteers were when their help really worked. Those volunteer students illustrated that we are not alone. And the Golf Benefit was very successful and educational to me too. I enjoyed that a lot.

Chinese people are often teased by westerns since we rely on connections in social behaviors so much. Yet my experience in Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection tells me that it’s not something that “Chinese-specialty”. People cannot live in the world by avoiding the connections with others. Human beings are social animals. The problem is how should we view connections and how should we use them effectively. At the beginning of my internship, I felt a little bit uncomfortable when I found I have to contact with some people whom I may hardly call as acquaintances. I just thought it was too utilitarian. This bothered me for a couple of weeks until I watched a video and saw light suddenly. Then I observed how Dan and my other colleagues do to demonstrate our organization, to build connections with people and to attract donors. What they've done is not simply ask others for favors, but treat them sincerely as friends, caring each and everyone’s unique situation. I think that influences my outlook
on interpersonal communication.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been helping to organize the up-coming Benefit Concert on Aug. 29. It’s a pity that I can’t eventually make it as I’m leaving in 5 days. Nonetheless, I believe it would be a great success, because we have a group of superb staff here armed with faith and passion. I really appreciate the time working with them. My internship lasts only for seven weeks but I’ll cherish this forever, since what I’ve learnt here is my lifelong treasure.

It's my last week of my seven weeks internship at Cabrini Turtor/Mentor Connections. This organization is a non-profit organization aimed to help students who live in disadvantaged areas. My job here is promote our projects through facebook, blog of Ning website and some Chinese websites, get people's attention on Cabrini Connections, try to get them donate or volunteer at Cabrini. Although things are not as easy as I have thought, I still see many people are doing something in order to make differences.

I have taken a part in Cabrini's 12th annual Edgewood College Experience and 2010 Jimmy Biggs Memorial Golf Benefit fortunately and see how a non-profit organization work to promote their organization and encourage people to donate or volunteer at them. I really treasure this experience because I wanna be a promoter in the future, and they have a through knowledge of each other.

I've also experienced cold-calling when I tried to connect the local radios to promote our project. I've send more than 50 Emails but have few responds. That made me realized that not all the people are interested in what you are doing, and what should I do is figure out what's my project's selling point and how it can deserve others' attention. If I can persaude people to look at the same thing from their own angle, it may make a difference. This is what I need to prove myself and learn more about it.

I always think non-profit work is the hardest work in the world, because most people in the world are working for themselves, but a few people, just like who are working at non-profit organization, they work for others. People in Cabrini Connection are part of them, they help youth in disadvantaged environment build up their aim and goal of their life and help them to reach it with their connections in the world. As I said in my blog before, few individuals’ strength is weak, but a group of people is strong enough to change something.

It's a honor to work in Cabrini Connection, I treasure the experence to work here and get along with nice people here. I do hope there will be more people donate or volunteer at Cabrini, and if it's possible, I hope I'm able to donate at Carbini Connection one day.

2010 Jimmy Biggs Memorial Golf Benefit was held successfully at the Highland Park Country Club yesterday (July 15). Around 100 golfers came to support for this Golf Benifit. We all enjoyed eating, drinking, and socializing. Willow's and my job was taking pictures and communicate with people to help them better understand T/MC. I'm really happy to see people enjoyed their time and willing to give a hand to assist us in providing the resources needed for every student, volunteer, and staff.

Dan(middle) and golfers

A volunteer came to help with her two sons

Golfers

Dan was giving a speech

El was giving a speech

Golfers in dinner

Thanks for people who donate and support what we are doing.

Next event is Tutor and Mentor Jam on August 29, 2010. Know more about the jam, click here

It's Cabrini's 12th annual Edgewood College Experience, fortunately I can take a part in it, a three day mini-camp. Youth from our program work with graduate students in Education from Edgewood College. We have fun activities, brain games, trip in the city, ect.

Compared with thoese cold-calling from local businesses, I see there are some people are really working hard to help youth to grow. I see patience and love.

And I made friend with Kristin, a graduate student from Edewood College. Tomorrow is the last day of Edgewood College Experience. It's hard to say goodbye.

Golf Benefit is coming on Thursday. Hope more people are coming. It's the busiest day since I came to Cabrini, but it's really enjoyable, because I can really join the activities and see how our T/MC works.

BRAIN GAMES IN GROUP

IN MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

KIDS FROM OUR PROGRAM AND MENTOR

PHOTO WAS TAKEN FROM FERRIS WHEEL IN NAVY PIER

EDGEWOOD COLLEGE STUDENT KRISTIN

Transforming Young Lives Through Sport

Participation in sport is an internationally recognized human right and is important for people of all ages to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Foryoung people, sport, play and exercise are vital for optimal growth andlearning, stimulating physical, cognitive, emotional and social development.But the benefits of sport extend far beyond the individual. Through sport, wecan lay the groundwork for positive, lasting change on the societal level.

Around Uganda, Beyond Youths Sports programs promote health awareness, accelerate psychological healing in areas affected by natural disasters andconflict, further social inclusion and cohesion, and contribute to economicdevelopment through a variety of sport-based activities. Our programs takeadvantage of sport’s popularity and convening power to mobilize young peopleand their communities, communicate key messages, bring diverse groups togetherand teach valuable life skills in a way that is fun and participatory.

Our sport-based programs also aim to empower and promote the inclusion of marginalized groups, especially minorities, girls, refugees, people withdisabilities and vulnerable children and youth.

Meeting Challenges with Sport
BYSPORTS strives to be a leader in the field of sports programming bydeveloping a series of innovative and replicable models that demonstrate thepowerful effect of sport in transforming the lives of young people.

BYSPORTS is organizing sports-related projects in Uganda. These projects have a focus primarily on helping youth overcome health challenges (specifically, HIV/AIDS) and thetrauma associated with natural disasters. Now, we are broadening the scope ofour work to include programs addressing conflict management and economicdevelopment using sports.

Protecting Against HIV/AIDS
we appeal to all local sports coaches to incorporate an innovative HIV/AIDSlife skills curriculum into their teams’ activities. Through their work, youngpeople will learn how they can prevent HIV/AIDS and live a healthy life. Theprograms also work to reduce stigma and discrimination against people affectedby HIV/AIDS.

This graphic is one of many that I've created to try to illustrate ideas. In this case, I represent the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) which is the host of this forum. We're a small, thinly funded non profit in Chicago, so we do a lot of what we do with the help of volunteers and interns. Throughout this Ning site you'll see examples of how interns have converted graphics like this into animations, or how they are doing Social Network Analysis, or writing about what we do to help people in their own networks understand, and join us.

There are many people who could help us, ranging from faith groups, to alumni and business groups, as well as foundations, policy makers, etc. If you map your network as Willow and Jenny have done, you'll see that many people in your network have these skills, talents and assets. Many of them could help the Tutor/Mentor Connection, or Cabrini Connections, or any other non profit tutoring/mentoring program, in Chicago, or in any other city.

There are now more than 200 people in this Ning group, and we each are connected to hundreds, or thousands of other people via our networks and social media.

Every few months, there is an opportunity, and a reason, for each member of this group to share a message with the people in their network. This flash animation illustrates how the events on this graphic each have multiple goals. If you do this, with enthusiasm, creativity, and purpose, you can help the Tutor/Mentor Connection, and we can do more to help each of the organizations who are looking for the same resources that we are looking for.

This graphic is one of many that I've posted on Ning, and on the Tutor/Mentor Institute site, and in my blog. It was developed as the result of many years of leading a tutor/mentor program, and of spending solitary hours thinking of ways to make what I do more effective.

I found an article today titled "Solitude and Leadership: If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts", by William Deresiewicz

I encourage everyone to spend time reading this, thinking of how it applies to you in your role with the Tutor/Mentor Connection, or with your own organization. Then, make an effort to apply the recommendations in your own efforts to learn more about where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed, the variations between these programs, and the ways you can adopt ideas from one place and apply it to many other places. Learn more about what it takes to operate a program, and turn it into a world-class program. Learn what it takes to sustain the involvement of volunteers, donors, youth, for many years, or till we reach the ultimate goal of more youth finishing school ready for 21st century jobs and adult responsibilities.

Part of your reading should be the articles we write, but most of it should be the books and articles that other people write, which we post in the Tutor/Mentor Library.

You can't learn this all in a day, and your reflections and ideas will only grow stronger if you apply this learning over a life time. If you're an adult, it's not too late to apply this thinking. It's not too late to try to teach young people who you mentor to build these habits.

This is the way we create the future we want.

One is from Najib Mahfuz, I took this sentence from his book Children of the Alley, he won the Nobel Prize for literature in Oct 1988. It's a great book, trust me. As I read the Chinese vision, i have to translate it in English, there would be some mistakes.

"Work for yourself, as you are going to live forever; work for others, as you are going to die tomorrow."

Another is from movie Precious.

"Some folks got a light around them that shine for other people. I think maybe some of them was in tunnels, and in that tunnel, maybe the only light they had was inside of them. and then, even long after they escaped that tunnel, they still be shinning for everybody else."

There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes. What have you read from these sentence? I have read different require of ourselves and other people.I have read help and love. And the all works that we are doing need our faith and persistence. hope you will like these words.