Tutor/Mentor Connection and Lend-a-Hand Program

Since 1994 the Tutor/Mentor Connection and the Lend-a-Hand Program of the Chicago Bar Association/Foundation have been working together to raise visibility and dollars to fund volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

More than $500,000 has been awarded in small grants and annual Demetrio Awards since 1995.  The first grants were awarded during a breakfast at the CBA headquarters.  Between 1996 and 2002 the grant presentations were a part of the Spring Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference.  Shown below are pictures from these events.


Recipients of the 2001 Lend-a-Hand Grants and the Thomas A. Demetrio Award recognizing an outstanding Chicago area mentoring program.

The 1996 Lend-a-Hand Award Grants were presented by Donald Huber, President of the Chicago Bar Association and Thomas Morsch, President of the Chicago Bar Foundation. The May 1996 Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Senator Barack Obama attended the May 1999 conference and presented the Thomas a Demetrio Lend-a-Hand Award to Horizons for Youth.

Senator Barack Obama with leaders of Chicago-area Tutor/Mentor Programs who received Lend-a-Hand Grants in May 1999.
Michael Demetrio, of Corboy & Demetrio, presents Lend-a-Hand Grant to tutor/mentor program leader during the Spring 2000 Conference held at Kennedy King College.

Rita Corboy, of Corboy & Demetrio, presents a Demetrio Award to Family Matters during the Spring 1998 Conference.
Karina Ayala, Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend-a-Hand Program and Rita Planera, from Corboy & Demetrio, present the Demetrio Award to SAFE during the May 1998 conference.

Merri Dee, of WGN TV, presented the Lend-a-Hand Grants during the May 1998 conference which was held at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Jim Morsch, Partner at Butler Rubin and Chair of the Executive Board of the Lend-a-Hand Program, presents LAH Grant to Kim George of the Urban Programs West YMCA.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection partnership with the Lend-a-Hand Program began in June 1994, when Betsy Densmore was Executive Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation.
Barack Obama with Daniel F. Bassill, president of the Tutor/ Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections, at the Spring 1999 conference. Bassill launched the T/MC concept in 1993.