Thursday, May 28, 2009

Registration - 8:00 am to 9:00 am

9:00 am to 9:30 am:  Keynote and welcome:

Born To succeed But Conditioned To Fail.
Jeffrey Fields will speak on his life growing up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago and the difficulty he faced having two brothers killed.

First workshops: 9:40 am to 10:50 am - 

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Strategies
Panel discussion led by leaders of tutoring and/or mentoring programs.  Leaders share strategies for recruiting volunteers from businesses, universities, professional groups who serve as tutors/mentors, and as board members, technology support, organizers, and capacity builders.  
Panel Includes: Sarah Bird, East Village Youth Program, Alex Cornwell, Chicago Lights at Fourth Presbyterian Church, and Kathryn McCabe, Cluster Tutoring Program and Nicole White, Tutor/Mentor Connection

Developing A Mentoring Program for our Children and Youth
Presented by Rev. Terry Weston, TW's Ministry
TW's Ministry class session on how to develop a mentoring program will allow today's and tomorrow's leaders the best method to attract, connect, equip and train our children and youth to handle their adolescent stages in life.

Impact Evaluation: From Basics to Best Practices
Presented by Susie Quern Pratt and Jenny Ellis Richards, Consultants, Pratt Richards Group, Evanston, IL.
This session will be interactive, and is open to all - nonprofit Executive Directors and program staff, board members, volunteers.

Connecting With Your Volunteers,
Presented by Vivian Taylor, Executive Director, Southside Educational Center
This workshop is intended to serve leaders, volunteers and anyone who is interested in volunteering or starting a volunteer program. The participants will learn how to implement a volunteer program, the benefits of using volunteers and how to become an effective volunteer.
 

Second workshops: 11:00 am to 12:15 pm 

Student Recruitment - how do various programs recruit students
to participate in their non-school tutoring and/or mentoring program?  
Panel discussion led by Kathy Anderson, Wicker Park Learning Center. Panel includes: Jennifer Bricker, Family Matters, Karina Kelly, Jump Start, Stacy Jackson, Chicago Lights at Fourth Presbyterian Church


Issues of Non Profit Management - 10 Tips for Staying Ahead in this Economy
Presented by Jennifer Paul and Liz Livingston Howard, Northwestern University Center for Non-Profit Management, www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/nonprofit/index.htm
 

How to Help Your Students Finance College.
Presented by Annette Phillips, Outreach Liaison, Illinois Student Assistance Commission
 

Lawyers Lend-a-Hand to Youth -
How the Chicago Bar Association works with Tutoring and Mentoring Programs to help at-risk youth
Presented by Genita Robinson, Executive Director, Lawyers Lend-a-Hand to Youth, a Sun-Times Judge Marovitz Program, www.lawyerslendahand.org
 

Introduction to Grant Writing
Presented by Jill Zimmerman, Vice President, The Alford Group, www.alford.com
Securing funding from proposals involves both elements of fundraising-art and science. It is essential to know the essential elements to a successful proposal. This session will cover the following topics: 

The essential components of a grant proposal package
Important writing techniques that make your proposal stand out from the pile
Layout and design of a strong proposal
Customizing a proposal to match a grant maker's interest and using your proposal as a relationship building tool
 

Lunch & Networking - 12: 15 pm - 1:30 pm

12:50pm to 1:15 pm - Keynote Speaker -

Community Organizing Opportunities in the Neighborhood Barbershop.
Presented by Ishmael Alamin, Owner of the Hyde Park Hair Salon, the Official Barbershop of President Barack Obama, located in Hyde Park, Ill.  Assisted by Kenya Robinson, Marketing Director for Hyde Park Hair Salon.
 

First Afternoon workshops: 1:45 to 3:00pm - 

Partnerships With Corporations: How One Tutor/Mentor Program Does It
Presented by Jenne Myers, Executive Director, Working in the Schools
Find out how one program has teamed up with corporations to help their students improve in their literacy skills.
 

Chicago Housing Authority Youth Programs
Presented by Chris James, Chicago Housing Authority
The Chicago Housing Authority is in the process of expanding its services to young people living in Chicago Housing Authority properties or who have moved out of Chicago Housing Authority property. Talk to the director for the Chicago Housing Authority Youth Programs about how tutoring and mentoring organizations can work with Chicago Housing Authority can better serve the youth of Chicago

 

Leveraging Working Professionals in the NFP Sector: Community Building Tutors Experience
Presented by Bart Phillips, Executive Director of CB Tutors
This workshop is intended to present some of the common issues and strategies for attracting working professionals to join a small grassroots tutoring organization. Lessons learned from Community Building Tutors will be presented, along with the story of it's founder. This session will also highlight a number of work products that resulted from working professional contributions.

In School, The Right School, Finish School
Presented by Monica Mahan, MSW, Northwestern School of Law, Bluhm Legal Clinic
Every day in court we hear judges and others, including ourselves, say to so many kids, “You need to make your education a priority.”  Isn’t it time, that we made it our priority too? This presentation will discuss ways to help court-involved children  complete school. The presenter focuses on three questions, that need to be asked again and again and again.  "Is each child is in school?; Is the school in which the child is enrolled is the right school?, and, Are the services in place for him or her to finish school?"  

The Tutor/Mentor Connection: What it Is and What it Does
Panel Discussion led by Angel Diaz
Participants - Nicole White, Tutor/Mentor Connection Research and Networking Coordinator and Mike Trakan, GIS/Mapping Coordinator - Tutor/Mentor Connection
 

Second Afternoon workshops:  3:15:pm to 4:30pm

College Prep and Mentoring - What One Programs is Doing
Panel discussion led by Katherine Moone and Jane Napoli, East Village Youth Program
Hear how East Village Youth Program uses a mentoring component to complement its after school program. The speakers will discuss the structure of the mentoring program, the goals and objectives, how EVYP evaluates the program's effectiveness, and how they keep their mentors engaged.
 

Building Communications Skills in the Classroom and After-School
John Lybolt, Ph.D., Research Director and Catherine H. Gottfred, Ph.D., Founder of Leap Learning Systems
Participants will be introduced to two of Leap Learning Systems programs for school-age through high school students, and youth leaders who work with students in both classroom and after-school environments.
 

E-Mentoring: An Innovation Worth Pursuing?
Presented by Mark Gesner, Director, Community Development and Dialogues, Center for Community Partnerships, University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Prof. Peter Knight, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
E-Mentoring is a means of providing a guided mentoring relationship using online software or e-mail. Engage in a discussion about this provocative mentoring innovation, and learn about best practices and opportunities related to E-Mentoring, including topics such as mentor training, E-Mentoring platforms, mentor/mentee matching and E-Mentoring evaluation.

Mentoring Students on Juvenile Court Expungements
Presented by attorneys from the Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern School of Law
 

Friday, May 29, 2009

Registration - 8:00 am to 9:00 am

9:00 am to 10:00 am:
Role of Media

Media members will talk about ways they cover news like the shooting of Chicago Public School kids, and what role media should take in pointing readers to web sites where they learn ways to be volunteers, donors and/or leaders in programs that can help kids stay out of gangs and stay focused on education.

Facilitated by Monroe Anderson, cyber columnist who is a veteran Chicago journalist. Panel members include: Tracy Swartz and Phillip Thompson of the Red Eye, Natalie Moore of WBEZ, and Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project

First workshops: 10:10 am to 11:10 am - 

Incorporating Writing Strategies into a Tutoring Program.
Presented by Mara O'Brien, Patrick Shaffner, and Kait Steele, 826 CHI 
One of the largest areas of academics that students lag behind in is writing. Find out how one program incorporated writing into their tutoring program and has made writing fun for thousands of kids not just in Chicago, but in Boston, Los Angeles, Michigan, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle too!
 

Mentoring Program Strategies - Issues and Best Practices. Panel Discussion  
Panel includes Joel Newman, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Mississippi Valley, Evan Witalison, Mentor Kenosha-Racine at University of Wisconsin-Parkside

Building Community Engagement: A Global Model with Local Foundations,
Presented by Eric Davis, Founder of the Global Citizen Experience
The Global Citizenship Experience (GCE) is an innovative and replicable educational model designed in response to serious learning gaps in the system. The GCE is adopted by schools and community-based organizations which want to build a system for transforming youth into inspired learners, engage parents in their children's education, and cultivate corporate and non-profit partners.  The workshop
will be an engaging conversation how YOUR organization can do this.

Using Maps to Create Collaborative Strategies.
Presented by Daniel Bassill, President, and Mike Trakan, GIS Map Developer, of Tutor/Mentor Connection
Bassill and Trakan will overview collaboration strategies and uses of maps to draw volunteers and donors to different neighborhoods of a city, and to all tutor/mentor programs in each neighborhood.  The speaker will also show how Google Maps can be used to locate potential business, church and civic partners in the same neighborhood of tutor/mentor programs.

Second workshops: 11:15 am to 12:25 pm - 

How Universities can use Their Students to Help Non-Profits.
Panel discussion with Campus Catalyst, Northwestern Public Interest Program, Princeton Project 55 , led by Chris Warren, a NU PIP Fellow with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection
Universities are the host to thousands of creative and talented students who have the skills, energy, and intelligence to greatly help non-profits. Find out about how some local universities have helped out the non-profits in their communities through their students.


Evaluation Strategies
Every tutoring and/or mentoring program needs a way to measure their success. Find out from program leaders their strategies for evaluating their programs so they know what they're doing right and what they can improve on. Panel Discussion facilitated by Devon Lovell, Family Matters, Angel Diaz

Lunch & Networking - 12: 30 pm - 1:20pm

1:20pm to 1:45 pm - Keynote Speaker -

The Hon. Judge Thomas Donnelley,
member of Executive Board, SunTimes, Judge Marovitz Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth Program

Friday afternoon workshops: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm - 

Engaging Athletes and Celebrities as Advocates for Volunteer Based Tutor/Mentor Programs, panel discussion
In this panel discussion current and former college and professional athletes will discuss ways to draw attention and support to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs throughout a large metropolitan area,  and ways that they might work together to build more consistent year-round support of all tutor/mentor programs in their host city.  
 

Incorporating a College Preparation Program into your Tutor/Mentor Program
Presented by Carla Reyes, Volunteer with Cabrini Connections
One of the main goals of every tutoring and mentoring program is that every child will have graduated from college, be in school, or have a career by the time they are 25. But, how do you give your students the support and resources to get them into college on a limited budget? Find out how one program used the power of volunteers to make their college program happen!


Challenges of operating mentoring activity - 
Panel discussion describing challenges of creating a school-based or community based mentoring program. The panel members have worked closely this year on a project with youth from Phillips High School, and will show some highlights from a documentary the young men put together. They will use this program to show the challenges mentoring can face as a school based or community based program. We are going to use Dr. Hall's book "Mentoring Young Men of Color" as an outline, we will have open/honest conversation about where we 'dropped the ball' and where we stand now. We want to commit 30 to 40 minutes covering the program and sharing scenes from the documentary leaving 20 to 30 minutes for questions and discussion.  Facilitated by Robert Harris, Centers for New Horizons

Panel includes:
Dr. Horace Hall from DePaul University and founder of the REAL Program 
Steve Callen, Phillips High School
 

Leadership with children  - Panel Discussion.
Often times when the word leadership is used in a setting that involves tutoring it can become confusing. Confusing because the usual idea people have about tutoring is to help a student develop good academic skills. There is more to it than having good academic disciplines - the student needs examples of quality of life. This can be accomplished through positive leadership.

This discussion targets everyone who is involved in tutoring young students. The presentation will provide a perspective on realistic values that young people have, their social struggles, and what this means to those who are helping them succeed. 

Panel includes: Stephen L. Sherwin, MPA from IIT, Retired Chicago Police  Sergeant, a Midtown tutor for nine years, currently teaching Criminal  Justice courses at Lewis University. , Karen Loaiza, Masters in Education, Masters in Math, has a tutoring agency,  currently teaches math in a Chicago Elementary School, and Christopher Cooper, JD, PhD, published in Conflict Resolution, teaches
sociology, practices law, currently teaching Conflict Resolution world wide.