Help Shape Future

Below is a graphic taken from a Planning Cycle PDF that I created several years ago.

For Cabrini Connections to grow and improve in the coming years we need to expand the number of people who are involved in the planning cycle and building of organizational capacity. I can coach that process for any volunteers who want to get more involved. You do not need to take a formal role as a member of the Board of Directors to take a lead or help with this process, although if you want that type of involvement we are always looking to add new people to the Board.

See Dan or El if you'd like to know more about this planning cycle and other resources that are available to help volunteers, students, donors and others become more involved in shaping the future of Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

"Once in Cabrini Connections...ALWAYS in Cabrini Connections"

The Cabrini Connections' program has over 800 volunteer alumnus and over 500 student alumnus and we truly feel that once you have been a part of the program you will always be a part of the program...and the network. Earlier today, Bradley Troast (Assistant Program Coordinator) and I received a surprise visit from former volunteer Stephanie Rogers and former student Aarion Woods.

Stephanie started in the program as a tutor/mentor in the Fall of 2008, but in the first couple of weeks changed her role and began in the College Zone part of the program where she remained there for a couple of years. During her time as an active volunteer Stephanie not only assisted students and volunteers on a weekly basis, but she also either joined efforts or came up with other projects that assisted with bringing in resources for the entire program. Stephanie remains connected to the program through the internet and by visiting from periodically and by sharing information to the staff, volunteers, and students that are still active in the program. Ms. Rogers also makes an effort to donate to the program.

Aarion Woods joined the program in the Fall of 2008 as well and was paired with, now Board Member, Mike Ozmeral. Aarion faced a lot of adversity outside of the program, but worked extremely hard to be as consistent as possible with his attendance and taking full advantage of program resources. Unfortunately Aarion's homelife and lack of resources forced him to become inactive in the program. But Aarion's strong personality, charm, and his willingness to continue overcome adversity has put in a position where he is now working and taken courses to get necessary certification at his place of employment to move up in the ranks. During his visit today he was all smiles and displayed a sense of pride when talking about what he has been going through...but more importantly how he has overcome those obsticles.

Thanks to first year volunteer, Brian Kamajian, Bradley and I were able to share a great job opportunity at the Wyndham Hotel with Aarion who immediately contacted his good friend AND Cabrini Connection's alumnus, Lawrence Brown, to share the information about the job. Before hanging up the phone both Aarion and Lawrence made plans to travel to the Wyndham on Thursday during the open timeslots to acquire more information about the job opportunities.

Bradley and I definitely enjoyed catching up with Stephanie and Aarion and to hear about all that they have been doing outside of the program, but it also felt good to exchange information and resources as well. This is a perfect display of how the Cabrini Connections' program is one big network and how that network can and should benefit any and everybody that has, is, or will be a part of the Cabrini Connections' TEAM.

Volunteers Step Up To Organize FUNdraisers

We have had several volunteers AND students answer the call of doing what they can to get the resources needed to keep the doors of the program open. Here are a few of many ideas and efforts that are currently in place. Please make an effort to support these events and share with those in your network

Santa's Naughty or Nice Charity Pub Crawl

HO HO HO - What better way to feel the joy of the season than to fill yourself with HOLIDAY SPIRITS and give a little something back to the community? For a donation of $10 (or more), you will get the company of some very fine individuals and a big red Santa hat (first 45 attendees). http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=167904526575285

-Elena Lugo and Melanie Munsey

Beard For Kids

This holiday season I’m participating in the Beards For Kids 2010 Challenge. I’ll be growing a beard from now until the end of the holidays and have a goal of raising $10 per day for Cabrini Connections. Please help me reach my goal by donating here today: http://beardsforkids.org/

-Gabriel Chapman

Matt Golden's Fundraising Page

I have asked family and friends to help me raise $2,000 for Cabrini Connections in the month of December. I have set up a website on FirstGiving and have already raised $270! Hopefully, our contributions can help Charles Hill and other students continue to succeed at Cabrini Connections. http://www.firstgiving.com/mattgolden

-Matt Golden

Beards For Kids! Support Cabrini Connections!

Fellow Tutor/Mentors,

Along with a few friends, I created BeardsForKids.org this week to raise money for Cabrini Connections. Check out the site: http://beardsforkids.org/ (Also, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beards-For-Kids/107547929317605

I'm wondering if any of the male tutors would be interested in participating...AND if any of the female tutors might be able to get any of their male friends to participate, as well!

The idea is to try to raise $10 per day per person up until New Years. I think this is a very modest goal and that together we can build a critical mass to really make this a success!

I've included a short email below to make it easy. Please let me know if you're in by sending me a note and a picture of you sans beard!

Thank you!

Gabriel
312.804.0228
______________________________________________________________
Here’s an email you can send to friends and family:

Dear Friends,

This holiday season I’m participating in the Beards For Kids 2010 Challenge. I’ll be growing a beard from now until the end of the holidays and have a goal of raising $10 per day for Cabrini Connections http://cabriniconnections.net , a program in Chicago that helps underserved kids finish high school with the goal of moving on to complete college and have successful careers.

The program has helped countless students during its almost 20 years of existence, and I want to make sure they’re able to continue doing the good work that they do!

Please help me reach my goal by donating here today: http://www.firstgiving.com/beardsforkids

Thank you and happy holidays!

--Gabriel Chapman

Former Mentor tells story via Tribune blog

On the News page of the Tutor/Mentor Connection site we pick up feeds from local and national media. I clicked into this story today, and found it was one of our former volunteers, Candice Warltier writing about her experiences.

How many other volunteers and students are telling this story? Connect with us on Facebook, or Linked in, or on this blog so more people can read these.

FREE Rummage Sale at Cabrini Connections

Cabrini Connections is hosting a FREE Rummage Sale. Thanks to first year tutor/mentor, Brittney Swan and her coworkers at Norvax, we received a donation of 25 bags of clothes, shoes, and other accessories!!! The rummage sale will take place here at Cabrini Connections (800 W. Huron St.) beginning this Saturday (Feb. 13th) from 12-3pm, and will take place again on Feb. 20th, 27th, and March 6th. This Saturday will only be open for those currently enrolled in the Cabrini Connections' program, their family, friends, and coworkers. The following Saturdays we will expand our rummage sale to other programs in the area and really any and all who would like to take advantage of this opportunity.

The students of the Cabrini Connections' Youth Leadership Council came up with the idea to launch a Winter Clothes Drive towards during the holiday season in December, encouraging all staff, volunteers, and even students to donate any and all unwanted coats, hats, gloves, scarfs etc...so that those in the program could take advantage of the donated items. Their thought was that they never wanted someone to say they couldn't make it to the tutoring and mentoring sessions due to the weather conditions.

Brittney Swan answered the call by sharing this information with her friends and coworkers at Norvax, and for the entire month of January they gathered not just winter clothes, but tons of items to be donated to the Cabrini Connections' cause!!!

We would definitely like to thank the Youth Leadership Council for the idea and to Brittney Swan and the entire Norvax company. This is a great example of how our volunteers can contribute to the greater good of the program. Brittney simply shared an idea and the "Cabrini Connections Story" with those in her network and as a result, those people answered the call of support for the program. We are currently taking part in a FUNdraising tourney called Cabrini Madness and if you would like to answer my call of support, you can donate to my team "Guaranteed Victory." This is really just a fun idea that we came up with to promote teamwork, program advocacy, and a way to bring in some much needed resources for the program.

Great Way to Start the 2nd Quarter and the New Year

The Cabrini Connections' staff hopes that everybody had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Thanks to the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection's Board of Directors, the staff received a week off for the holidays. Thank You! Now it's time to get back to work and with January being National Mentoring Month that should be great momentum for all staff, mentors, and even students as we kick off our 2nd quarter of the 2009-2010 tutoring/mentoring year.

As the Administrative Coordinator of the Cabrini Connections' program, I can't say enough about the dedication, commitment, and the genuine caring that our mentors display week in and week out here at Cabrini Connections. Although January is National Mentoring Month, we try to show our appreciation to our mentors all throughout the year because our mentors work hard all year long!

Last year the Cabrini Connections' Youth Leadership Council and the entire student body at Cabrini Connections, surprised the mentors with a video of the students expressing their appreciation and gratitude for those mentors who mean so much to them. Check out those videos here. We will just have to see what the students will come up with in 2010!?!?!

Cabrini Connections, not even National Mentoring Month would even be possible without the great people who put themselves in a position to be mentors to youth and even peers throughout the world. I personally thank you and commend you for all that you do to change the world in a positive way. And for programs like ours to be productive and successful, great mentors are needed, but also being able to provide the resources and tools to mentors is just as important. So we thank all of our current donors/supporters and are always seeking new donors/supporters as well.

Become a Fan, Become a Mentor, Become a Donor

The Reason Why We Do What We Do...

The Cabrini Connections' program works to provide resources to ensure that our students are in a career by the age of 25, but there are steps that need to be taken before getting into that ideal career. And one of the biggest steps before that phase of their life is getting into college. Over the past month several of our Cabrini Connections' seniors have been notified that they have received college acceptance letters!!!

Veteran student, Vontesha Stanfield, was accepted in not one, not two, but THREE schools over the past month!!! Ms. Stanfield received acceptance letters from Northern Illinois, Indiana State, and Central State. She is still waiting to hear from two other schools she has applied to and is still in the process of submitting 5 more college applications!!!

Veteran student, Alexis Montgomery, was accepted into Wright College and Truman! She recently had a meet and greet at Wright College and all went very well. And what makes this news even more special is the fact that Wright College was the 1st college on her list of schools to attend!!! She will be visiting Oakton Community College in the near future.

First year student in the program, Megan Caradine, got accepted into Allen University in South Carolina and by December 15th she will know if she was accepted into her number one school of choice, Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. She has also applied to UIC, SIU, and a number of other schools.

The Cabrini Connections' staff would like to congratulate these three students on their accomplishments, but we would also like to thank those who have assisted in making these accomplishments take place; mentors Jen Jozwik (Vontesha), Sandra Lee (Alexis), and Liz Sablich (Megan) for all of their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the success of their students and for assisting with carrying out the mission and goals of the program. THANK YOU!

We would also like to thank the College Zone Coordinators; Stephanie Rogers, Carla Reyes, Katie Nolan, and newcomer Sue Gill! Thank you for your guidance and all of your assistance! And we also would like to thank the parents and family members of the students.

We are truly proud of these accomplishments, but we all know this is just one of the many steps to success, and its going to take more hard work, dedication, and support to get these youth and many more to the next level on their road to success. Please make an effort to be a tutor/mentor, a supporter, and a donor so that we can continue to provide these type of success stories.

~HOPE, BUILD, BELIEVE, AND ACHIEVE~

Holiday Party, This Friday, Dec. 4

Thanks to everyone who is planning an extra effort to help raise funds for Cabrini Connections during December.

Please make an effort to attend new Cabrini Connections' mentor Bill Blasko's Holiday FUNdraising party. Details are listed below.

See EVITE invitation.

Location:
Fizz, 3220 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657 US

When: Friday, December 4, 8:00PM
Phone: 773-348-6088

Message from Bill: I am having a fund raising party at Fizz for Cabrini Connections. Cabrini Connections is a program designed to provide tutoring/mentoring for 7th to 12th graders who live in an educationally, disadvantage environment. $40 includes draft beer, wine and well drinks. Please forward this evite to any of your friends or anybody I missed. Thank you.



Want to organize your own fund raising campaign? Want to ask friends, family and co-workers to donate? At GiveForward we've set up a Tis The Season campaign which you can contribute to. Or, you can register, and launch your own personalized campaign from your office, faith group, family, or social group. Goals can be to raise a few hundred dollars, or a few thousand.

It takes a Village to Raise a Child, and it takes the combined efforts of everyone in the village to raise the money needed. Thank you Bill and everyone else for your help.

Veterans on the Team Step Up!

The NFL is not only filled with veteran players and coaches, but league leaders in the NFL are led into successful seasons by the veterans who take on leadership roles on the team. Because of their experience, knowledge, and because of ability to lead on and off of the field, these players and coaches are respected by rookies, players and coaches from other teams, and NFL fans around the world. Veterans such as Tom Brady, Brett Farve, Orlando Pace, Bill Belichick, and many other NFL veterans who have and continue to make their mark in this profession are what some consider to be the pillars of their respective organizations...and to the National Football League as a whole.

The Cabrini Connections' organization has many different veterans that put themselves in leadership positions in our program by using the same strategies as some of the NFL greats. They work on their consistency and dedication to the program, they lead by example in and outside of the program, and they step up and rise to the occasion where the organization needs someone to make a big play.

And we have 3 veterans on the team who have done just that...stepped up! First, I would like to highlight veteran Cabrini Connections' player, Melissa Young. Melissa is a 10th grader and has been in the program for over 2 years. In our program, just like many other program, obtaining the necessary resources to keep the program up and running has been a struggle, and Melissa has stepped up and provided an opportunity to help out our program financially. Two weeks ago, Melissa provided the Head Coach and the Program Coordinator with an idea for a Bake Sale on Halloween Day where all the proceeds will go to the Cabrini Connections' organization. Not only did Melissa sit down and put together an official plan for this event, she has already been putting together a small committee to ensure success of her project. Her project is called "Halloween Trick or Treat Bake Sale" and it will take place at Cabrini Connections on Halloween Day from 12-2:30pm.

Two of our veteran coaches have stepped up as well to assist in the fundraising efforts. Art Club Coordinator, Jacqueline Shay, and veteran tutor/mentor Sarah Randag are taking the lead on a couple of projects on their own.

Jackie, who has been a serving as a Art Club Position's Coach for over 3 years, is in the process of launching a Cabrini Connections Phoneraiser. This project is asking for people to donate used cell phones, inkjets, laptops/notebook computers, ipods, digital cameras, and digital video cameras to the Cabrini Connections program so that we can turn the items in. In return the program will receive financial compensation for the donated items. We are hoping to launch this project in the upcoming weeks.

Sarah Randag, who has been in the program for over 2 years is working towards putting together a Wine Tasting Fundraiser for the program. Sarah is teaming up with the owner of the Cellar Rat Wine Shop here in Chicago, to host a Wine Tasting Fundraiser at that the shop's location on Sunday November 22nd from 5:30-7:30. This event will be open to the first 35 people who RSVP and pay the $25 fee. The Cellar Rat Wine Shop is located at 1811 W. North Ave and more information about this event will be provided in the near future or contact EL Da' Sheon at 312-492-9614.

As the Head Coach of the Cabrini Connections' organization I would like to give a big "pat on the back" to Melissa, Jackie, and Sarah for stepping up and making BIG TIME plays for our team. My hope is that they continue to perform at a high level and that others on the team will follow their lead. We are a team with a lot of history and a lot of pride, and it will take many more on the team stepping up for us to have continued success on our road to a record breaking season and future success.

Cabrini Connections' Receives Some Much Needed Enhancements

For anybody who has ever visited the Cabrini Connections' site would hopefully agree that we have a pretty nice space for the work that we do with our students and volunteers. But this past weekend we received a helping hand with some program enhancements from volunteers for the Unicare Community Service Day!

Nearly 40 volunteers from all ages decided to get out the bed on a cool wet Saturday morning, and decided to spend their morning at Cabrini Connections taking on various enhancement projects. After a vary nice presentation from the project leader, Frank, and a brief address by President/CEO Dan Bassill and myself...the team rolled up their sleaves and went to work!

The large group broke up into several small teams and worked on a variety of projects. One group began working on building some cubby holes and a coat rack, while another team began working on putting together a health care shelf with a variety of information on future healthcare professions for our students. While those teams were taking on those projects we had another group working on cleaning all of the work desks that are used during tutoring/mentoring sessions, and we had another group working on organizing and expanding our library.

There was one group that got off to a rough start (smile). This group of ladies were suppose to be creating a curtain divider that can and will be used to divide the space into two parts so that we can utilize our space even more on any given night, but nearly all of the tools that they were suppose to use to complete this project were not delivered. This setback didn't deter them one bit. One of the group members drove home to get her sewing kit, other members of the group improvised by using paperclips instead of the required metal clamps, and instead of a PVC rod that was suppose to be the structure to hold the curtain up...the group creatively used rope to create this divider. I was truly impressed with the quick thinking and the creativity in which this group used.

In less than 5 hours this dedicated group of volunteers made nearly 20 enhancements to the Cabrini Connections' space! And besides the physical work that these volunteers provided, we all laughed, enjoyed each other's company, exchanged contact information, and agreed to meet up again at the Annual Jimmie Biggs Memorial Cabrini Connections Golf Benefit on July 16th. This is a true example of how volunteers like this keep programs like Cabrini Connections up and running. Not only did they volunteer their time to improve the program, many agreed to further support the program by attending a future event and/or making a general donation to the program.

WellPoint amd Uni Care, the Cabrini Connection, Tutor/Mentor Connection staff, students, and volunteers truly appreciate all that you have done for our program and we hope you will remain connected to our program!

Kind Words from a former Cabrini Connections' Volunteer

Below is a comment posted on Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection President/CEO, Mr. Bassill's Facebook page by a former volunteer who was involved with tutoring in around 1990-1991. These are the types of endorsements that Mr. Bassill and the entire staff hope many are feeling.


"Dan: The years that I spent tutoring with your Cabrini Green program are among my most rewarding memories of the time when I first came of age in this city. I'll never forget how many dozens of newly graduated HBCU alumni made the trek over to the building every Monday and Tuesday night (and beyond) to tutor those kids, in every conceivable subject. It alwaysfloored me that many of those young black professionals came from as faraway as Naperville (Ill.). Glad to know the program is still in good hands,and thank you for reaching out."

A Cabrini Connections' Poem...

Give it up for Cabrini! By: Stephanie Rogers 2-12-09

I found myself walking down the street smiling because I was on my way to Cabrini.

I get to do what I enjoy most of all and that is helping others in any way possible.

I hear some of the things that the youth say and I laugh because I too once said the same thing.

There are some days where it can be crazy but it's alright because as a part of Cabrini we can always come to some type of conclusion.

Although I was put in a rough situation when my student decided to leave I kept my head high and faith strong that EL could have another volunteer position for me.

Now look, I am one of the coordinators for the College Zone for both Wednesday and Thursday nights.

I enjoy it because I get to see what every student is like.

I must give my thanks to EL, Chris, as well as Nicole for allowing me to stick around.

To the students and volunteers who have allowed me to work with them always know that I am here to help you out!

Take Care!~Stephanie Rogers~

Former NFL Quarterback Joins the Cabrini Connections' Team

As Cabrini Connections continues to try to recruit adult tutor/mentor leaders to work with the students who participate in the program, we are truly excited to have a natural born leader, Zak Kustok, join our program as a new tutor/mentor. Mr. Kustok is a former Northwestern University superstar quarterback and a former NFL quarterback as well. More than just being a record breaking quarterback who earned numerous awards during his playing days (Big 10 Champion in 2000), Zak Kustok was a proven leader on the field and will hopefully continue that leadership ability inside of the Cabrini Connections' program.

As a quarterback there are numerous skills and talents that a leader of team must posses in order to gain the confidence of the players on the team, make important decisions, and lead the team to victory. Now that Mr. Kustok is no longer on the field, those skills of being a leading quarterback can be applied on the Cabrini Connection's 'field!'

We are looking and encouraging each and every tutor/mentor within the program to become a quarterback within the program. In order for our team to win, and a victory is getting all of our students into a career by the age of 25, each and every tutor/mentor within the program must lead by example, gain the respect and trust of the students, pay attention to detail, know and understand the role of all the other members on the team, and understand the Cabrini Connections' playbook. I am confident that if each and every member of the team (staff, volunteers, students, and donors/supporters) become leaders within the program we can and will be victorious!

Mr. Kustok we thank you for joining the Cabrini Connections' team and we hope that you can share your leadership and team building skills with us all!

Edgewood College 2008 Experience now on YouTube

One of our volunteers, Haminiaina Ratovoarivony, has created a video documentary of the July 2008 visit of Edgewood College graduate students at Cabrini Connections.

Haminiaina is from Madagascar, where he is teaching cinema and digital video for youth. At Cabrini Connections he is working with our library of digital video, created over the past 10 years, to create new videos that show the work we're doing.

We're recruiting other volunteers who will take this role, and hope that as a community of Cabrini Connections video volunteers forms, it will begin to attract our teens, which will re-energize the Innervisions Youth Production club which was started in 1995.

If you're a current or former student or volunteer and want to be part of this group, or work in the Chicago area and want to join us for the first time, email tutormentor2@earthlink.net so we can help you get involved.

CC Volunteer Interviewed by BNN

Roman Schuster was interviewed on May 16 by BNN, the Canadian version of CNN. You can view the interview here.

Holiday Parties at Cabrini Connections

Guest article submitted by Kyle Petit:

Here’s some background information about me before you read on:

My name is Kyle Petit and I’m currently a senior at the University of Missouri. I’m from the Chicago suburbs home for Winter break. I thought it would be fun to come volunteer at the center while in town. This is a recap of my first two nights spent volunteering at Cabrini Connections.

Last Wednesday (December 19th) was my first night here at Cabrini Connections. Each Wednesday, while school is in session, high school kids from the neighborhood come into the center to receive an hour or two of tutoring/mentoring from a specific volunteer that is assigned to them throughout the year. The volunteers I met ranged from local college students to working professionals. Each volunteer I met was extremely nice and seemed really happy to be here working with the children.

I would estimate that there were between 20-30 high school students from the neighborhood in attendance this night. The atmosphere was very relaxed and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to talk to some of the local high-schoolers.

DeSean is a 10th grade student at nearby Wells High School and has been coming to the center since he was in 7th grade. He is also an exceptional artist as shown through the murals he painted that were on display inside the center.

All of the children I met seemed very happy to be a part of the program and they appeared to have an inseparable bond with their tutor/mentor. It really made me wish I was still in the Chicago area throughout the year, so that I was able to volunteer on a weekly basis and be able to form a lasting connection with one of the students as well.

The following night was set aside for the middle school aged children. I would estimate that there were between 50-60 children in attendance in that night. Needless to say, this set of children was a much more boisterous group than last night’s. These kids were a lot of fun to be around because there was never a shortage of excitement. A lot of them were extremely talkative. I talked to some children while we made Christmas ornaments in the designated art station. Jamal, a local seventh-grader, showed me some of his paintings that were on display. I was particularly impressed with his painting of Luol Deng.

All in all, the two nights spent here were a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people- both volunteers and local students. I’m looking forward to volunteering here at the center until I have to go back to college in mid-January.



Here is the link to see photos I took from these two nights.

http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj255/Cabrini1/?albumview=grid

----------
Thank you Kyle, for writing this article. We're constantly looking for others who will tell the story of Cabrini Connections. If you'd like to help, just email tutormentor2@earthlink.net

New Video on Google: The Potion

One of the more creative videos produced by our Innervision Youth Productions program was titled The Potion. It's star was Tramaine Montel Ford, who since then has graduated from Syracruse University (2006) and began an acting career in New York City. In spring 2007 he had a dancing role in the Hairspray Movie. On h is blog he shows that he got acting start with the Cabrini Connections video project.

We've never had funds for consistent year-to-year staffing of the video program, so much of the work has been organized by volunteers. Jimmy Biggs, a former student, was a driving force in IYP and was taking over as leader in 2000, when he died suddendly from Diabetes. View Jimmy's video "The Real Cabrini" and others at http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=cabrini+connections

Rebecca Parrish has been leading IYP for the past year, as a volunteer. We thank her for creating a digital archive of the past videos and putting them on the Internet.

Since we're in the movie business, we need a producer, who would provide $25,000 to $40,000 per year for a part time or full time leader of the video/arts/technology programs at Cabrini Connections. Because of YouTube and Google Videos, the work that kids and volunteers do can now be distributed throughout the world. This gives much more visibility to a sponsor/financier.

If you know of someone who'd make a multi year commitment to this role, please show them the videos and introduce them to us.

Welcome to 2007-08 Cabrini Connections

This week Cabrini Connections is holding orientations for returning and new volunteers on Monday and Tuesday, and for returning and new students on Wednesday and Thursday. Next week we start our 15th full year of tutoring/mentoring at Cabrini Connections. It's been 42 years since 1965 when volunteers from the Montgomery Ward corporation in Chicago started tutoring 2nd to 6th grade kids living in Cabrini Green(view timeline). My experience with that program (1973-1992)led to the formation of Cabrini Connections in October 1992.

The smiling face of the young man on this page provides a reason for why we offer Cabrini Connections each year. He'll be in 7th grade this year and he joins us after being part of the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program last year.

Our goal is that six years from now he's still smiling (see success steps), but with a high school diploma and a number of options for college and a career. And if we can keep some of our volunteers and alumni connected with each other, and with this student via the internet, we want him to have the help he needs to be starting a job and a career of his choice by age 25.

For this to happen for all of our teens, and for kids living in poverty in other parts of Chicago, we need our volunteers and students to become innovators, using information we provide on the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site to find ways to motivate each other to stay involved each week, and finding ways to build and support student aspirations, work and study habits, and decision making skills that help them avoid negative choices as they move through high school.

At the same time, we want our students, volunteers and alumni to take ownership of Cabrini Connections, and a growing responsibility for recruiting other volunteers and finding donors who will provide the thousands of dollars that enable us to provide Cabrini Connections' support every week for the next year, and many years after that.

If you're a returning student or volunteer, thank you for joining us again. If you're a new student or volunteer, thank you for choosing to spend time with us. On behalf of the staff and leadership of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, I look forward to getting to know you as we journey through the coming school year.

Cabrini Connections gets a Facelift

Please visit the newly redesigned Cabrini Connections site. In addition to getting an entirely new look, the new website is easier to use and provides more up-to-date information. New features include:

• Updated news and event calendar on every page
• Forms for students and volunteers interested in joining the program
• Integration with our blog on the Student Spotlight and Alumni Updates pages
• Links to links and discussions happening on the Tutor/Mentor Connection site
• Plenty of room for expansion later
  

Take a look around and let us know what you think!

This is the second of our sites that have been rebuilt in the past few months. In February, the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference site was rebuilt and moved to a new domain.

Both of these were large projects and could not have been accomplished without the help of volunteers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers who helped with these redesigns:

Cabrini Connections site
Holger Proske - helped with web design and programming
Amy Frey - rewrote and reorganized the history page, reorganized our Volunteer Weekly Newsletter

Conference site
Donna Schmid - helped write and edit most of the content for site
John Bull - created and programmed our online registration system and list of attendees

These behind-the-scenes volunteers are not very visible, but without them and many others, our program would not run. We are always looking for talented, enthusiastic people to volunteer with us. Please see the volunteer descriptions pages at Cabrini Connections and Tutor/Mentor Connection for more information.