For the first time, the Northwestern Community Development Corps will host the annual Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, a networking event sponsored by Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. The event will take place at Norris University Center from Nov. 19-20, and is free and open to the public.
Cabrini Connections, T/MC is a two-part organization that helps volunteers find opportunities to work with economically and educationally disadvantaged children in the Chicago area. The conference will offer networking opportunities and workshops for donors, student volunteers and T/MC leaders.
Workshop topics range from uses of Twitter as a social networking tool to the dynamics of dating violence.
“The goal of the conference is (so programs can) meet with young students from places like Northwestern who could become potential volunteers,” said T/MC Coordinator Nicole White, Weinberg ’07. “It’s to network; it’s so people will create connections.”
Attendees will also have the opportunity to share programming ideas with organizational leaders.
“Having a young, fresh perspective on things is always nice because a lot (of ) people who run or are involved with tutoring programs are a generation removed,” said Bradley Troast, T/MC’s assistant program coordinator.
While this will be its first year on the Evanston campus, the conference has taken place in the past at the School of Law on NU’s Chicago campus.
“NCDC’s role has mostly been logistical,” said Weinberg senior Sharanya Jaidev, co-chair of NCDC. “We hope to bring in a lot of students to the conference, and I think that’s where our benefit is going to be.”
The event will target student volunteers and attendees will discuss the effect of the economic recession on nonprofit and development organizations, said Troast, Communication ’09.
“A lot of the Tutor/Mentor programs are feeling the effects of (the economy) … I think the goal of this conference is to make the programs even better so that they can be less susceptible,” Troast said.
Activities will also include a range of keynote speakers, including Jill Zimmerman, vice president of nonprofit consulting firm The Alford Group , and Isaiah Brooms, a former student of the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program who is now director of admissions at Westwood College-Virginia, Ballston.
The Conference began in 1994, and gained attention in 1999 when President Barack Obama attended as a member of the Illinois State Senate.
Jaidev said while NU’s hosting of the event is a help to the organization, students can do more to further assist T/MC.
“I really foresee Northwestern students becoming the eventual tutors and mentors that Cabrini Connections utilizes,” Jaidev said.
