After another election has come and gone, millions of dollars have once again been thrown into slanderous campaigns that deliver the same messages over and over. Attacking one another, no candidate ever escapes with a positive image, and those millions of dollars have gone to waste. One can only imagine the thousands of lives affected if this money was used towards struggling non-school tutor/mentor programs. Facilities upgraded, capability to accept more students, newer books, and possibly even the establishments of new tutor/mentor programs entirely.

If future candidates wanted to do something to positively benefit their image, they could use their money promoting their willingness to help the community as opposed to ripping other candidates. For example, the Daley political machine of the last few decades has put a focus upon using scare tactics to sway votes in their direction.  While this was more prominent during the previous Daley administration, funds were constantly being thrown towards these tactics instead of  being used to effectively benefit the community. Unfortunately, public funding will never account for a large percentage of dollars for tutor/mentor programs. Government funding and donations have long since provided the financial support for tutor/mentor programs, and in a struggling economy, public funding is unlikely to change for the better. Our hope is that elected leaders will realize the countless benefits of supporting tutor/mentor programs and focusing their attention on helping the community as opposed to their most common strategy of making each and every one of the candidates look unqualified.

As for the future Explore Chicago students that will take the time out of their lives to spread knowledge about tutor/mentor programs in the Near North Side area, you are researching a much different area than most neighborhoods that will be assigned to other groups in class. This neighborhood is full of wealthy families that pay higher taxes for stronger schools. The need for tutor/mentor programs is lesser on the North Side than the South Side. However, the need to spread information and provide assistance for these programs remains the same no matter what neighborhood is being researched. Good luck, and don’t forget that ‘real’ people are relying on your information.

P.S. Ask not what Dan Bassill can do for you, but what you can do for Dan Bassill.

On the contrary, Tutor/Mentor programs such as Asian Youth Services located in Uptown are less fortunate. With no corporate donors, Asian Youth Services relies 100% on individual donations. However, solely depending on individual donations is not enough to keep such a fantastic program in business with a struggling economy. These programs hope to receive any usable technology that big corporations or individual donors have to offer. Unlike the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Asian Youth Services is limited to a one room children’s center. Problems do not consist of finding a time for a national commercial, but rather gathering enough funds to maintain their one room living space.

It is evident that the Boys and Girls Club has a multitude of resources at their disposal. This allows for a more flexible, and ultimately successful learning environment for the children attending their programs.  These corporate donations allow for public media attention, which establishes the program as both successful and opportunistic. Programs like Asian Youth Services do not have the same access to funding via media attention. Thus, word of mouth becomes essential to their future growth. Hopefully as the economy returns to its  former standing, a balance can be restored to the opportunities for the funding for all programs, no matter how big or how small.

The Near North Side of Chicago differs from many neighborhoods in Chicago in a few ways. Taxes and income levels are much higher, and therefore, schools and amenities in the surrounding neighborhoods are fortunate enough to benefit from these standards.  Both private and public schools in the Near North Side are directly affected from these positive circumstances with better technology, interactive and caring staff, and a healthy environment.

There are many characteristics of the schools in these areas that differentiate them from surrounding neighborhoods. Public and private schools in the area are extremely diverse both socio-economically and religiously. With such an enriched society, school districts can take the funding they receive and direct it towards any aspect of their curriculum or programs that may need help financially.

The Lincoln Park neighborhood demonstrates how the resources that a neighborhood offers can positively affect the students as a result. DePaul University is located one block north of Oscar Meyer Grammar School. The campus security guards that surround the University subsequently protect the students at this grammar school. This is a completely different environment then the students in high-risk areas attend school in. Students in those high-risk areas don’t have these security guards at their luxury, and therefore, are responsible for their own safety as they go to and from school every day.

With greater funding, a magnitude of resources, and a safer community, students in the near north side of Chicago are in an environment breed for success.

The south loop’s only problem was getting kids to attend the mentoring sessions. The schools in the south loop are not known for being unsuccessful or troublesome. South Loop parents hold steady jobs, earn average – or above average – incomes, and spend a good amount of time with their children. The children from the South Loop are already planning for a better future without the programs help. However, progress can always be made. If more businesses in the area were to fund such programs it would create a better environment for students for the future; most of these programs are housed in facilities that have been there for several years. If some of these companies sponsored youth sporting events it would benefit these children tremendously. Many of these kids see sports as one of the most prevalent ways to remove themselves from negative circumstances. If we are able to get these kids away from gangs, jail,drugs, and funnel them toward an education the country would be proliferating successful youngsters like never before. The poverty level would decline and the economy would overall improve. Also, if we are able to get more kids to be successful in school, imagine the power that diversity could have on the professional world. There would be much more international diplomacy and cooperation, benefitting the globe, not just America.

After researching Lincoln Park in the Near North Side of Chicago, we have come to see that this is most definitely a neighborhood geared more toward the middle and upper class. In the area of Lincoln Park, there are not many tutor/mentor programs. After researching and drawing conclusions, we feel that this could be because of majority of the schools in Lincoln Park being magnet schools, most likely offer resources and many optional tutor and mentor centers within the schools. Since the schools in the area of Lincoln Park are known for being good schools, these advantages are made readily available to these kids everyday, unlike a student from the South Side of Chicago, who may not have these resources available to them. Since the neighborhood of Lincoln Park and schools surrounding them has resources like these, there isn’t a vast need for actual tutor/mentor programs outside the schools. However, Lincoln Park does propose a few tutor/mentor programs, the number is not anywhere near the number of tutor/mentor programs in an area of the Loop or South Side Loop. Having more tutor/mentor areas in Lincoln Park would be beneficial, there are not specific needs for the program due to the great quality of schools in the area.

There are not many schools in the Loop area  due to the fact that there are only 400 students living in the area. Although, the area is the perfect place to have tutor/mentor programs. The transit systems create an easy way to get to and from the programs for a low price. This allows the Loop area to have many programs to help students from all over the Chicago land area. The Loop can be somewhat of a dangerous area for children, but with the right safety precautions it can be an easy area to get around. A way that the programs can improve is by providing hours that are safe for students to travel. The Loop is a great upbeat area that can thrill any student and excite them to learn.

The area of Old Town is quite different than the other areas we focused on.  The difference is that most of the children that live in the area, are not in the demographic of the children participating in tutor mentoring programs.  Older citizens usually reside in Old Town.  The children are more privileged in the immediate area than the other children. In this area children are more than adequately served by their schools, in fact there is such a small need, that Old Town shares its schools and tutor/mentoring program with its closest neighbor, Lincoln Park.  There are not many similarities between the areas our grouped researched.  The only similarity was the location of the area in relation to the downtown area.  There were not any specific needs that were urgent in the Old Town area because of the lifestyle of the people that live there.  In general, the people who live in Old Town are much more comfortable than those in the surrounding areas.

After researching the Near North Side of Chicago and some of their neighborhoods, we have come to the conclusion that our area is predominately middle and upper class and there are not many problems. Crime rate is relatively low for the Chicago area. This creates the thought that tutor/mentor programs are not needed in the Near North side of Chicago. Although we feel that more tutor/mentor programs in this area would benefit the children in this area, from our research, we found that most schools are magnet schools and many parents are very hands on. Since the parents of the children are hands on and they are interested in their child’s education, there is not as much of a need for tutor/mentor programs in these areas.

The next group of students that decide to take over were we left off need to focus more on the type of students that are interested in tutor/mentor programs. This way they can appeal the programs to these students and eventually get more students involved. Making the programs sound exciting and challenging for students can lure more students into the program. Also, we advise that information students give to their readers to be more focused on the type of program they are discussing. Also, giving information on the specific age groups of a program and specifics about the program can create readers to want to get involved!

When it comes to the Lincoln Park area of the Near North Side in Chicago, there are only two tutor/mentor programs. One of these programs is ran through Lincoln Park High School, and the other is Christopher House located in Lincoln Park. The census for grades K-12 living in Lincoln Park is 5,4488. Christopher house serves not only children but adults in the community and neighborhood of Lincoln park as well. For grades K-12 Christopher House attends to 150 students at that age in the Lincoln Park area. As for Lincoln park HighSchool, there was no census of how many students go to the tutor/mentor program because this program is optional for students that attend Lincoln Park High School and there is no way of finding out how many students attend. Although Lincoln Park has a fairly large number of grades k-12 living in that neighborhood, the amount that attends Christopher House  not including adults is a good number.

Uptown:

In regards to Uptown, there are 3 main tutor/mentor programs, which are Asian Youth Services, Boys and Girls ubs of Chicago, and Inspired Youth. The census for the total number of people living in Uptown is 10,271. The children who are less than 10 years old made up 7.9% of the population of Uptown and children in their teenage years made up 6.8% of the population of Uptown. For Asian Youth Services about 40-70 children attend. For Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, this program serves more than 13,840 young people everywhere throughout the city. Finally Inspired Youth is a smaller program that started off as a Church organization, there was no exact number as to how many people attend. After looking at both the population of Uptown and the population of the tutor/mentor programs, we have realized that the number of people who participate in the programs depend on what program it is.

Loop:

When it comes to the Loop area Chicago, there were about 18 tutor/mentor programs. The most successful programs in the Loop area are Big Brothers, Big Sisters, The Chicago Youth Advocacy, ChildServ, and the YWCA of Chicago. There are only about 400 k-12 children living in the Loop area of Chicago. The majority of the Loop tutor/mentor programs did not provide specific numbers as to how many children are helped out each year. The Big Brothers and Big Sisters have helped over 3,500 students. The Chicago Youth Advocacy has helped over 5,000. The YWCA Youth of Chicago has helped over 138,000. Many programs have helped thousands of kids over the last decade and hopefully will keep succeeding as the years go on.

Old Town:

When terms of Old Town, there are 5 tutor/mentor programs. The main tutor/mentor programs in Old Town are By The Hands, Camp of Dreams, and The Chicago Park District. As of right now the census for Old Town is combined with the Lincoln Park area, so there is no actual number as to how many k-12 graders are living in the Old Town area. By the Hands serves 726 children in Old Town. Camp of Dreams serves 175 students in Old Town. Tutor/mentor programs are scarce due to the demographic of the area, which is upper middle class.

South Loop:

When talking about the South Loop, there are three main tutor/mentor programs. The Lincoln’s Challenge Program, LINK unlimited, and The Black Star Program. Currently there are 4500 k-12 students living in the South Loop. Out of the 4500, 264 k-12 student’s attend LINK Unlimited, and 150 attend the Black Star Program. Only only about 8% of the students in the South Loop area are receiving educational development outside of their schools. For the decently high level of poverty in the South Loop, this is going to be detrimental to the youth living there. The Lincoln’s Challenge Program is run through the National Guard, so there ratio of successful students is higher than the other two programs. If those other programs were to reach out to more students in the community, they would be more successful.

In Uptown Chicago, there a select amount of tutor/mentor programs but one program that is the most successful is called Inspired Youth. This is a program that serves the academic needs of student’s containing a variety of different programs along with tutoring such as Inspired Youth Singers and the Summer Piano Institute. This specific tutor/mentor program specializes in reading and writing skills and has earned recognition from numerous organizations, including the Chicago Bar Association. Their overall success rate is pretty good and all the leaders of this program have had over twenty years of experience. This is a great way for the children to get involved with their community not only academically, but also through the variety of activities this program provides. Uptown is unique for its easy access to LakeShore Drive and proving many activities for the community to get involved in. http://www.inspiredyouthchicago.org/ (Tutor/Mentor)

In the Loop, the program ChildServ is an organization that provides unserved children and their family’s service to improve safe and nurturing home environments. Today they serve over 4,113 children and families. Their mission is to prosper into a long-term vision for children. This program educates children and their families to overcome challenges and has a high success rate. The Loop area is unique for its  central business district, and many shopping opportunities, and tall skyscrapers and highrises. http://www.childserv.org/ (Pure Mentor)

In the South Loop, the program 100 Black Men of Chicago is an after school tutor/mentor program which serves the needs of children not only academically but also physically. This is an after school program and early Saturday mornings where kids have somewhere to go to further their education. Along with academics, this program also gives opportunities to enroll in basketball camps to keep the kids active. This program is very successful and is recommended by many other organizations. Tutor/mentor programs are located all throughout the North Side of Chicago. All of these programs seem to have a high success rate because of the many opportunities that they provide the children with. The South Loop is growing rapidly, with Grant and Millenium Park so close, people living in this area have easy access to these places.  http://100bmc.org/ (Tutor/Mentor)

After researching all of our tutor/mentor programs we have come to find out that they all strive for the same goal, to keep children off the streets and in school, while helping their families at the same time. These programs are recommended by many organizations and seem to be well-liked by the community. These programs have many participants that take advantage of the many opportunities they provide.

In Lincoln Park, the community is generally wealthier. There are not as many tutoring/mentoring programs because the schools provide a better education than other areas in Chicago. Lincoln Park children are benefited with the resources that they are given at school. The Loop area, on the other hand, provides many tutoring/mentoring programs. These programs are there to prevent children from getting into trouble. Tutoring/mentoring programs are usually free of cost to help the children of the city. Although these programs are here to help the children, not as many children as they would like participate. Uptown provides a selected amount of tutoring/mentoring programs for children. The programs that they do have are very beneficial and do not only provide schooling for children, but they also include activities to keep the children involved and active. All of the programs positively impact the youth and it provides a safe environment outside of the streets. Old Town does not provide as many tutoring/mentoring programs because it is not as popular place for families to live. There are not as many schools in Old Town compared to cities like Lincoln Park and the Loop. There are more attractions and the town is more historical. Finally, the South Loop offers the most tutor/mentoring programs in the Near North Side. This is because the South Loop has a higher crime/poverty rate so this is the communities way of keeping the children out of trouble. These programs in the South Loop help the children stay in school and stay out of gangs. Since the parents are not there to provide for their children as much, these programs give the children an opportunity to enhance their education. From these tutor/mentor programs, children that need guidance or a place to go are able to excel not only in academics, but also in life.