Hi Curt, I lead a non profit in Chicago called Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. While I operate a program near Cabrini Green to connect 7th to 12th grade teens with workplace volunteers, the Tutor/Mentor Connection is a knowledge network connecting more than two hundered tutor/mentor programs in Chicago with each other, with ideas, and with others around the country. I hope you'll take a look at http://www.tutormentorconnection.org and that we can connect our networks.

I encourage you to visit the Program Locator and Program Links to see how I use maps to help people understand where tutor/mentor programs are most needed, and where existing programs operate. With this information I'm trying to teach businesses, universities, hospitals and churches to be pro-active in helping programs grow in places where they are most needed.

The University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals are in the middle of high poverty South side neighborhoods and could be much more active in helping tutor/mentor programs grow in more places. This technology can be used to connect volunteers and kids, and to help people find ideas for constantly improving what happens in their programs. The result can be more kids coming to school better prepared to learn, and more adults helping kids in poverty move to careers.

This is a neighborhood and youth centered strategy, rather than a school centered one. Kids in high school service learning and technology classes could be collecting this type of information, and creating maps, or writing blogs, to draw attention to it. In so doing their learn communications strategies, and leadership habits.

Hi Curt,

We are known as SITACT Incorporated and we operate out of Chicago. You can
find more about us at www.sitact.ent. We are into developing virtual
learning environments and course settings so that it becomes easy to set up
an online course for a teacher. A sample of what we do can be seen at
www.lms.sitact.net . Please use the guest login
and use "frankieuncle" as the guest access code. What you will see in here
is a simple course that describes the software, but this course can be
designed to teach diverse subject matter to students. If you feel the kind
of work we are doing will be useful for you, we will be glad to work with
you setting up such virtual courses for collaborative dissemination and consumption of knowledge. Even if you didn't like the work we do, please let us know if we can do anything else for you.

Regards,
Sanjib

sanjib@sitact.net