Where does "tutor/mentor" land using AI search?

With the growing use of Artificial Intelligence tools like Gemini, I asked myself if these have replaced going to a Google landing page to do a search.  

I wrote this article in 2014, titled "Look in your Google mirror!"  In it I talked about how my websites have consistently shown up multiple times on the first and second pages of most searches when I entered "tutor/mentor".  That's been true since the mid 2000s.   

So I wondered what where my sites would land on a Gemini search for the word combination "tutor/mentor". Below is the result.

--- begin Gemini ---

For a search specifically using the "tutor/mentor" word combination (often stylized with the slash), the results are dominated by a specific long-standing initiative focused on social networking and community mapping, as well as university-specific peer programs. Here are the top ten organic (non-paid) results that appear for that specific term:

Top 10 "Tutor/Mentor" Search Results

Site Name	Focus Area	Resource Type
1. Tutor/Mentor Institute	Program Mapping	The primary hub for the "Tutor/Mentor Connection," focusing on using data/maps to support volunteer programs.
2. MENTOR Mentoring Connector	National Database	A massive search engine to find local programs based on the combined "tutor/mentor" service model.
3. University of Rochester Learning Center	Higher Ed Peer Support	A specialized program where "Tutor Mentors" provide both academic help and student life guidance.
4. Tutor/Mentor Connection Knowledge Base	Library & Archives	A wiki-style library containing decades of research on the tutor/mentor social movement.
5. Davidson Institute	Gifted Youth	A guide specifically titled for finding a "Tutor or Mentor" for highly advanced or gifted children.
6. Tutor/Mentor Conference	Networking Events	A site dedicated to the semi-annual conferences that bring together leaders of tutoring and mentoring organizations.
7. Medium (Daniel Bassill)	Strategy Articles	Deep-dive articles on the "Tutor/Mentor" philosophy and its application in urban environments like Chicago.
8. Scribd (Tutor/Mentor Program Profiles)	Data Documents	Publicly shared PDFs and profiles of various volunteer-based tutor/mentor organizations.
9. Tutor.com - Our Tutors	Service Marketplace	Though a commercial site, it ranks organically for its descriptions of staff who serve the dual role of "Tutor/Mentor."
10. Step Up Tutoring	Elementary Support	A program that defines its volunteers as "tutors/mentors" to emphasize the relationship-building aspect over just academics.

---

Key Takeaway for this Search

When you use the specific slash format "tutor/mentor", the search results shift away from general "tutor" ads and toward The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC). This is a framework developed by Dan Bassill that treats tutoring and mentoring as a single integrated strategy for poverty reduction and student success.

Most of the top results (1, 4, 6, and 7) are actually different branches of this same 30-year-old initiative.

 ---- end Gemini ----

Below is a view of the home page of www.tutormentorexchange.net.  When the site was updated last July a "who's online" feature was added.  As of today, 2.27 million visits have been recorded.

I'm not working with any SEA companies, nor do I have any money for advertising.

Yet having my sites show up when people ask an AI tool to look for "tutor/mentor" and show my sites featured in the results, must mean there is value to what I'm doing.  The 2.27 visits since July 2025 seems impressive. 

I don't know if that last paragraph in the Gemini response was biased because I asked the question, but if not, it's a great endorsement of what I'm doing.

I invite others to ask their AI the same question. Do you get a similar response?  Please let me know.

In 1999 I was awarded the Good Housekeeping "Good as Gold" award during the filming of the December 31, 1999 segment of the Montel Williams TV show.  A $10,000 check, payable to Dan Bassill, was included.  I asked them to redo the check, making it payable to "Cabrini Connections", which I had formed in late 1992. We added the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.

I wrote this article in 2011, titled "Ten Years Ago - Just Prior to 9/11".  It shows many recognitions for work I'd been doing. 

Now, it's 2026 and I'm living off Social Security and funding the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC through small contributions made by a small group of college fraternity brothers, past volunteers, and people who've become fans of my work over the past three decades.

I hope this article convinces a few more people to go to this page and send a contribution to help me keep doing this work. Thank you.

Using Research in Planning, Problem-Solving

Last week A Better Chicago released a new report titled "State of Chicago Youth, 2025". I wrote about it in this article. 

I’ve been collecting similar information for over 30 years, showing where people need extra help, why, and what type of help could be offered to youth via organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

And, I’ve been pointing to that research in articles on this blog. I’m sharing a few below. I hope you’ll open the links and take a look, then share the ideas through your own blogs, videos, etc.

Here’s an article where I use maps to show where people need extra help.

It’s one of dozens where I show the four-part, information-based problem-solving strategy that I’ve piloted since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011. It’s one where I point to a section of my library with hundreds of links to articles and research about poverty, racism, inequality and social justice. And, it’s one where I encourage others to share this information in their network, so more people find it and use it.

When I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection the goal was to help every existing tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region get the operating resources, volunteers and ideas each program needs to grow. Here’s one of many articles that focus on the challenges of finding on-going funding for mentor-based programs.

My leadership of a single volunteer-based tutor/mentor program from 1975 to 1992 and a second program starting in 1993, along with my career in retail advertising with the Montgomery Ward corporation, provided the foundation ideas for the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

These experiences led me to understand that organized volunteer-based programs were a way to connect kids in high poverty areas to people, experiences and opportunities that were not readily available in their own family/neighborhoods, due to extreme poverty. Over time, I began to understand this as a form of ‘bridging social capital’ and visualized it in graphics like the one shown below.

Here’s one of many articles where I write about mentoring as a form of social capital.

In my work at Montgomery Ward’s corporate headquarters, from 1973 to 1990, I learned how my department, and other functional teams, supported more than 400 retail stores spread in 40 states. We helped each store be good at attracting customers, selling merchandise and earning a profit. (at least we tried)

Thus, when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection plan in 1993 our initial strategy was to learn what programs existed in Chicago, then to build a public awareness strategy that would attract more attention, volunteers and donors to each program, and to every high poverty neighborhood.

This article shows how we began publishing a Directory of programs in 1994 and how this information was used to support programs.

In this article I describe an on-going information-based planning process, that uses information like I’ve been collecting.

This could be led from institutions who have deep roots in geographic areas, like hospitals, universities, businesses, etc.

To do this research, someone needs to host a library like mine, with lists and directories of youth serving programs, then use that information in an on-going planning, program development and public education and resource generation strategy.

This is a missing step in most of the research I’ve seen for over 25 years. Researchers get the money to do the research and produce a report, with a big event that shares it with the public, but then don't have the money to continue to share that research and draw people together to use it over the following years.  What I do is aggregate links to that research and try to motivate people to use it to support youth tutor/mentor and learning programs in every high poverty area of cities like Chicago.

Over the past 30 years I've piloted actions that I share on my website and that anyone can borrow and apply in their own geographic area.

While I do find a few who host lists of youth serving programs, and even plot the list on interactive maps, I don’t find any with multi-year public awareness efforts aimed at drawing volunteers and donors to every youth-serving program within their city.  If you know of any who do this, please share the link and I'll add them to my library.

Furthermore, I don’t find any doing the deeper research asking “what youth programs exist in your area”.

Doing such research and maintaining a list of programs is a big job, especially in cities as large as Chicago. That’s why, for many years, I’ve tried to motivate universities to build a Tutor/Mentor Connection-based strategy on their campus. This is one of several articles where I share this invitation. 

Forming a College-Based Tutor/Mentor Connection by Daniel F. Bassill

Here’s an article where I show 30 years of effort to build strategic alliances with universities. You can see a wide range of interactions with many universities, but no long-term initiative led by, and funded by, any university.

Why wasn’t I successful? Money. Reputation. Clout.

I never had much of any of these so when I met with someone at a university, I’d receive polite nods, with a “I’m already over extended. Find a younger professor.”

 The answer: ultra wealthy donors

Here's one of several articles where I show the potential of strategic investment by one or more wealthy donors.  Here's another. 

How might we find such donors? 

They are all around us. Do you watch NFL football games? How often do you hear players praised for their philanthropic work? I posted this on Twitter in 2024 sharing the idea from this post.

What if a university aggregated this information and then used it to recruit a group of athletes who support the same cause, to support a Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy at the university that was building the database of athlete involvement?

What if? What if? What if?

What if you share this article in your networks? Maybe someone will read it and adopt the idea and actually take the next steps.

That’s why I write these articles.

If you're connected to a university, or looking to put your name on a building at your alma mater, I hope you'll make this your mission.

Thanks for reading.  There's a lot here, so bookmark the page and return often.  Then, look me up on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let's connect.  If you're writing similar articles, which I hope you will, please share them.

Finally, if you're able, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund my work. 

Focus part of your attention on kids in high poverty areas

The last few months have dramatically changed the focus of most Americans, as the new administration in Washington, DC is rapidly dismantling the Federal government and the many services and protections it offers, while also destroying long-term alliances with foreign governments.  Most of my social media is dominated with this issue.

Yet, in this section of the Tutor/Mentor library I point to articles like this, focusing on wealth inequality in America, or this blog, which focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty in America.  Another article describes "How the racial wealth gap has evolved -- and why it persists".   Many articles on this blog focus on these issues. Just open the tabs at the left and scroll through past articles. 

Many of the articles in my library are from 10 to 20 years ago. They demonstrate that the problems we face now are deeply rooted, and still need solutions. 

Helping kids to careers

The issue I've been focusing on is helping kids born or living in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives with jobs and careers, and support networks, that enable them to live and raise their own children where ever they want.  The graphic at the right shows to teens who were part of the tutor/mentor program I led in the 1990s. One is shown at the lower right. She's now Director of Support Services for Housing Opportunities for Women.  I'm still connected to both of these teens, and many others, nearly 30 years after we first met.

My goal is that more youth from high poverty areas have similar support systems.

I've created a library of concept maps over the past 20 years that visualize commitments, strategies and resources, with this one showing that helping kids to careers means providing a wide range of needed supports at each age level as they move from first grade through high school, college/vocational training into jobs.

View Mentoring Kids to Careers cMap

In the bottom left part of this cMap I show the role that volunteer tutors, mentors, coaches, etc. take, as "extra adults" to help kids access these resources and as a form of "bridging social capital" that provides expanded networks and opportunities for kids living in neighborhoods defined by concentrated poverty.

Building such systems of support and making them consistently available for 20 to 30 years in thousands of locations will require a huge commitment of public will, something this country has little history of success in generating.

This is a graphic that I've used often over the past 25 years to show that the outcomes we all want for kids requires work done at the bottom of this pyramid.  You can find this graphic in this PDF.

Below I've created some images that focus in on different elements of this graphic.  The ideas apply in building systems of support for inner city youth, and for solving any other complex problem.

At the bottom of the pyramid is the knowledge that we draw upon to propose solutions to problems.   While we each have our own personal experiences, and some have studied an issue for their entire lives, most don't have a broad reference base that they draw upon to support where and how they get involved.  Building a knowledge base that supports the decisions of others who need to be involved in solutions to problems is an essential first step. Keeping this up-to-date is an on-going challenge.

That knowledge base is the web library and directory of non-school tutor and mentor programs that I've been building since the early 1990s. Initially I did this to support youth, volunteers and leaders in the tutor/mentor programs I led in Chicago from 1975 to 1992. As I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I began to share this information more consistently with others throughout Chicago.  The knowledge collection role is Step 1 of the 4-part strategy we created in 1993.  

Competing for attention.  Drawing users to library.  Building and sustaining a library of information and ideas is one thing.  Creating daily advertising and public education that draws a growing number of learners and users to the information is a very different challenge.

Most youth serving organizations don't have powerful marketing teams working to draw attention and resources to them on an on-going basis. Innovating ways that more people take roles in building public awareness and draw viewers to information in the library has been a priority of the T/MC since it was formed. This is Step 2 of the 4-part strategy.

I find too few conversations that focus on this step.  With the Internet we have a growing "Crisis of Attention", which is described in this article.  With the White House and Federal government now run by an unelected immigrant billionaire and a convicted felon, getting attention on social media for youth development issues is more difficult than ever before, especially when one has no money for advertising (that's me). 

I keep looking for conversations where people are thinking about challenges of competing for people's attention in an environment where so many others have far more resources.  I've written many articles focused on "creating attention". Take time to read through them.

Building the network. Part of my web library focuses on "who needs to be involved" which includes a directory of non-school tutor and mentor programs in Chicago and around the country and a data base and collection of more than 2000 links that point to others who are involved in some way in efforts to help kids move through school and into jobs and careers.

Getting representatives of these organizations and resource providers together to learn, share, build relationships and innovate shared solutions to problems is what I focus on in this stage of the pyramid.  Unless people in business, philanthropy, faith groups, media, politics, etc. are coming together on an on-going basis, for face-to-face and on-line learning, it will be difficult to create and sustain collaborations that help build and sustain high quality youth supports in all the places where they are most needed. I tried to do this through the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences that I help in Chicago from 1994 to 2015.  

In this blog article I show that a "village" of people with different talents and networks needs to be involved helping every tutor/mentor program grow, as well as helping many programs grow in specific neighborhoods and entire cities.    This is part of Step 3 in the four-part strategy.

These first three steps need to be happening on an on-going basis, reaching people throughout Chicago, Illinois and the world. However, they are just the start.

Better information, read and understood by more people, creates a better understanding of what types of youth support programs have the best chance of having a positive impact on youth and volunteers. Better information also helps people understand the challenges involved, which are many.

This needs to lead to actions that support programs in more places. If more of the stakeholders, including resource providers, are looking at this information, they can develop a set of actions that generate a flow of on-going resources (talent, dollars, ideas, technology, etc) into every high poverty neighborhood, to every tutor and mentor program operating in those neighborhoods.

T/MC map created in 2008

It is essential that maps be used to support this process. With a map leaders can focus on all areas of a city where kids need extra help. At the same time, neighborhood groups can focus on their part of the city. Many groups need to be doing this.  With a map we can add overlays that show indicators of need, existing youth tutor/mentor and learning resources, and assets (business, hospitals, faith groups, universities, etc) who could be helping youth programs grow in different areas....because they are also invested in these areas!

I think this is the weakest link in this process. Most programs compete with others for scarce resources. Most foundations use requests-for-proposals and competitive grants and competitions to decide who gets funded. There are only a few winners and many losers. Often prizes and grants are one-time gifts, not repeated from year-to-year.  No business could grow to be great on this type of funding stream. Yet, I see few leaders using maps to show a need to draw resources to all poverty neighborhoods, and to all of the organizations working in these areas.  Few cities have a map based leadership effort, intended to help great programs grow in every part of the city. 

However, if we could solve this problem....

A better flow of needed resources to youth serving organizations (Step 4 in 4-part strategy) leads to more and better programs serving k-12 youth in more of the places where they are needed.  I can't tell you how often people ask about "outcomes" without talking about the work needed to build well-organized, mentor-rich non-school programs.

This leads to the final graphic.

It can take several years for a business to become profitable, or for a youth-serving organization to build the team of staff, leaders, volunteers, parents and youth that makes it a "great" program.  

However, that's only the start. If a youth enters a great program in first grade, or 7th grade, it will still take 12 years for the first grader and six years for the 7th grader, just to finish high school!  It will take four to six more years for that young person to move on into adult lives and roles, and to jobs and careers that enable him/her to raise their own kids outside of the negative influences of high poverty.

Long-term; many places

I used this birth-to-work arrow in many other articles, such as this one, which is a discussion of the costs involved in a program intended to create jobs for 32,000 young men in a few Chicago neighborhoods.

I created this 'race-poverty' concept map to illustrate the many other factors that influence life outcomes for kids born or living in high poverty areas.  

Here's the challenge. As a nation we're not very good at keeping the focus (and flow of resources) on problems and solutions to the time it takes to actually begin to solve the problem.  While this 1993 Chicago SunTimes article includes a map, very few leaders in 2017 are using maps to emphasize all of the places where kids, families and schools need help to aid youth as they move through school and into adult lives. Read more.   Read this article about "building public will".

I started this article with this graphic, and pointing to this presentation from my collection of visual essays.

Poverty is a complex problem, requiring many different types of resources in the same place at the same time.  If we want more youth to stay in school, be safe in non-school hours, graduate from high school and move on to jobs, careers and adult responsibilities, we need to do the work shown at the bottom of this pyramid.

Moving into spring 2025 the challenges are much greater.  While the nation still deals with a lingering Covid19 pandemic, bird flu, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, etc. We now face massive layoffs of government workers and drastic reductions of Federal funding of programs that help keep us safe and help those who need extra help get that help.  These are just a few of the problems that I see as I scroll my social media feeds each day.  

In my own work I've never been able to get enough people together for an on-going basis, just to talk about ways we create and share the knowledge I've been collecting with more potential users. From 2009 till now, I created lists on Twitter with accounts of many organizations in the Tutor/Mentor library, but very few of these are using social media to connect with each other, or discuss issues I address in articles like this. I'm now trying to build a similar network on BlueSky and Mastodon. 

If you're interested in learning more I urge you to read more about what I've been trying to do in this Tutor/Mentor Learning Network presentation.  The please read these articles about establishing a Tutor/Mentor Connection at one or more universities. 

I invite others to create and share their own versions of my articles, to build Tutor/Mentor Connection-based strategies in your own communities.  I'd love to help you while I'm still able.

You can find me on any of these social media platforms.  I'm available for an on-line conversation on a daily basis.

We need everyone's help.

Can you help me do this work? Visit my FUND ME page and add your support.  Thank you.

Honoring Dr. ML King, Jr

Last week my CLMOOC friend Terry Elliott introduced me to Google Notebook LM, its artificial intelligence tool to help people communicate ideas.  I've tinkered with it over the weekend and today asked it to look at two articles I wrote in past years to honor the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday.  I'll post the links to those at the bottom of this page.

Below is the text that I received. The [1, 2] in the text refers to the two articles I provided.

Bridging Divides: A Framework for Youth Development
To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the author of the blog posts will be working at his computer to connect people with information and ideas to bridge divides and create opportunity [1, 2]. The author is also focused on learning and adding information to his web library [2]. Specifically, the author is: 

• Making an effort to connect people who can help with information and ideas they can use to help bridge the divides in America, to create greater opportunity for all [1]. 

• Doing research and learning to identify places where people need help, and offering time, talent, dollars, and other types of support to organizations and businesses in those areas [1]. 

• Working on creating a page listing Instagram sites of Chicago area programs [2]. 

• Sharing what he has learned about leading a youth tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 2011 [2]. 

The author's goal is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, and leaders in ongoing efforts that make a life-changing difference for kids [2]. The aim is to ensure that kids will not live in poverty as adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional, and workplace skills needed for 21st-century jobs, as well as a network of adults who can open doors to jobs and mentor them in their careers [2]. 

The author has been working on this goal since 1993 (Tutor/Mentor Connection) and continues it through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011 [1, 2]. The author uses maps to focus attention on places where people need extra help [1]. The author states that he has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 [3]. Additionally, the author stresses the importance of making information accessible and encouraging others to use it for planning and action steps, emphasizing that the internet is a meeting place to support this goal [1, 2].

Summary
These notes detail Dan Bassill's decades-long commitment to using geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to address social inequality in Chicago, particularly among youth. His work, initially reliant on volunteer efforts and limited resources, received a significant boost from funding in 2007, enabling the creation of an interactive online mapping platform. However, subsequent funding loss due to the 2008 recession has left the platform defunct, highlighting the critical need for sustained philanthropic support to maintain such vital public service tools. 

Bassill's mapping projects visualize disparities in poverty, crime, and access to resources, aiming to inform community planning and advocate for equitable resource allocation. He connects this mapping work to a broader framework for youth development, emphasizing accessible information, collaboration, and mentorship as key components for fostering opportunity and breaking cycles of poverty.

 
Mapping Inequality in Chicago
This blog post reflects on how the author will honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day by using mapping technology to connect people and resources to address inequality in Chicago. The author analyzes data from various sources, including maps showing demographics, shootings, poverty levels, and existing youth programs, to highlight disparities and advocate for increased investment in underserved communities. Specific organizations and initiatives are mentioned as potential partners in this effort, and the author seeks to connect with others to build collaborative partnerships. The author also describes their past work in this area and seeks funding to rebuild their mapping platform to support ongoing community planning efforts. Ultimately, the author aims to leverage data visualization to improve opportunities and address social injustices.

Mapping Chicago's Needs
Dan Bassill uses maps to focus attention on areas in Chicago where people need extra help [1]. He has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 to support this work [1, 2]. His approach to using maps includes:

• Identifying areas needing support: Bassill uses maps to pinpoint neighborhoods that require additional assistance [1].

• Visualizing disparities: Maps help to show the overlap between areas with high concentrations of African Americans, poverty, and locations of shootings [1]. He also uses maps to show health disparities, which are indicators of investments needed [1].

• Highlighting resource gaps: By mapping the locations of youth tutor/mentor programs, Bassill can identify areas within Opportunity Zones that lack these critical resources [1].

• Showing investment patterns: Maps can show how areas with the least investment are often the opposite of those targeted by Opportunity Zones [1].

• Using mapping platforms: Bassill utilizes various data mapping platforms to create maps that tell stories about specific places [1]. He points out that it is a challenge to motivate and teach people how to use these platforms [1]. He also notes that many data-maps are no longer online, creating a challenge to locate the needed information [1].

• Focusing on specific areas: Bassill zooms in on maps to concentrate on particular neighborhoods, such as North Lawndale, to show hospitals and other resources [1].

• Creating interactive maps: He has built an interactive platform using ARC GIS software that enables users to create maps showing layers of information [2]. This platform, however, is no longer functioning properly due to lack of funding [2].

• Advocating for map accessibility: Bassill emphasizes that maps should be interactive and online so they can be easily used by those who need them [1]. He notes that PDF maps are less useful because they cannot be easily manipulated or layered [1].

• Supporting planning and action: Bassill aims to use maps to encourage planning and action steps that bring people together to drive resources to non-profits and growing businesses in specific areas [1].

• Integrating maps with other information: He combines maps with other layers of information, such as locations of service providers and community assets, to support neighborhood-based planning [2]. He also uses maps with his blogs and ongoing communications [2]. Through his use of maps, Bassill seeks to support his goal of creating a framework to help youth in poverty by making information accessible, promoting collaboration, and directing resources to the areas where they are most needed [1, 3].

Funding and the Fate of Bassill's Mapping Projects
Funding significantly impacted the evolution of Dan Bassill's mapping projects over time [1]. Here's a breakdown:

• Early Stages (1994-2007): For many years, Bassill relied on volunteers and donated software to collect and map data [1]. This suggests that his mapping efforts during this time were likely limited by resources and capacity, but still a focus of his work [2]. 

• Funding Boost (2007): A $50,000 anonymous gift, combined with a grant from HSBC North America, enabled Bassill to rebuild his in-house mapping platform and to create an online interactive platform [1]. This funding allowed him to utilize ARC GIS software to create maps with layers of information, and to empower others to create similar maps using the interactive platform [1].

• Recession and Funding Loss (2008-2011): The recession starting in 2008 led to a drying up of funding by mid-2010 [1]. As a result, Bassill has not had the funds to update or create these maps since 2011 [1]. This highlights the vulnerability of his projects to external economic factors and the challenges of maintaining data platforms without consistent funding.

• Current State: Bassill's mapping platform is no longer functioning properly [2]. He states that it would take a significant investment to rebuild his capacity [1]. This indicates that without renewed financial support, the interactive mapping project is unlikely to be revived. The lack of resources affects his ability to provide updated, interactive maps that combine multiple layers of information useful for community planning [1].

• Need for Philanthropic Support: Bassill points out that data resources are not profit centers and thus do not qualify for investment zone capital [2]. He suggests that one role of philanthropy or other government resources could be to support the long-term development, maintenance, and use of platforms like his [2]. This highlights his view that mapping projects are essential public services deserving of non-profit or public support.

In summary, Bassill's mapping projects experienced a significant boost from a one-time influx of funds in 2007, but this momentum was cut short by the economic recession and subsequent funding loss [1]. This has led to the current situation where his interactive mapping platform is no longer functioning and requires considerable investment to rebuild, emphasizing the crucial role of consistent funding for such initiatives [1, 2].

The two blog articles used were:

Jan 18, 2021 - Service-Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream. click  here

Jan 20, 2019 - How I'll Honor ML King Jr. Holiday - click here

Google Notebook LM includes a feature that creates a podcast sharing notes created.  Here is one version of several podcast that I created from the AI analysis of these two blog articles.

click here to open

My first impression when I started using this feature was "Wow! I'd love to have had people in Chicago and other places having this type of discussion about what I was sharing in my blog articles, newsletters and website."  

That's still possible and I hope this inspires you to start that discussion in your own network.

My second impression from using the Notebook LM podcast feature, is that there are a lot of exaggerations, mis interpretations and downright fabrications in the podcast, and so far, I've no way to edit that.

However, after reading research about my work, done by various college students over the past 30 years, I realize that this is not just a problem of an AI generated podcast.  I've read many reports with misinterpretations of what I was doing.  As with the podcast, once the report was published, I've had no way to correct it....

Other than continuing to write blog articles and share information that reflected accurately on what I was trying to do and the challenges I faced.

As you honor Dr. King's legacy and reflect on the challenges ahead, I encourage you to do your own deep dives into my blog articles and websites. Use AI tools like Google Notebook LM, or other emerging technologies.

This picture is from the mid 1990s, with me sharing a Chicago Tribune story with a map showing areas of high poverty in Chicago.  I've been sharing similar maps for 30 years! 

Or just do as interns did in past years. Read the articles and use Power Point, Prezi, concept maps, videos and other tools to share what you're learning and to start a conversation in your community.

Thank you again Terry Elliott for inspiring me to dig into Google Notebook LM. I'll probably keep using it.

I'm not on social media today and am avoiding TV and news because of the terrible event taking place in Washington. However, I'll be back later in the week and look forward to connecting with you.

If you appreciate what I'm sharing, please visit this page and help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Thank you.

Adopt this 4-part strategy to help kids in YOUR community

All of the articles I've posted since starting this blog in 2005, and shared in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library since 1998, have focused on supporting non-school tutor/mentor and learning programs that connect with youth in elementary or middle school, then stay connected to help those youth through high school and into adult lives and jobs.

What are all the things we need to know and do to make effective, on-going volunteer-based programs available in hundreds of locations of a big city like Chicago?  I started asking that question in 1975 when I became the volunteer leader of a single program.  While starting a new site-based program serving Cabrini-Green teens, I and six other volunteers, created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to build a library, sharing my experiences, along with those of others in Chicago and around the country. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, or starting from scratch, anyone should be able to borrow ideas from work already being done in different places.

We launched the T/MC with a 10-step plan, which we condensed to four strategies by 1995. These are shown in this concept map.  They need to be taking place within each individual tutor/mentor program, and at each resource provider, as well as in intermediary organizations.

Click this link to see the map.  Let's look at this in more detail.

The graphics below show each section of this map.

Step 1.  I've been collecting information about existing tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and showing that on maps since 1994, with the goal that volunteers, donors and leaders would use the maps to find programs in different neighborhoods that they could join and/or support, and that they could use to see where more programs are needed.  In addition, I've built a huge library of links to articles showing where and why these programs are needed along with ideas programs could use to build stronger organizations and that volunteers can use to be more effective tutors and mentors and advocates for strong programs.

When you go to the concept map you'll see small boxes at the bottom of each element of the map. The box on the left points to external web sites and the box on the right points to additional concept maps.  Thus under the Step 1 node you can find five additional concept maps that provide greater levels of detail and point into sections of the web library.

In this library you'll find links to youth serving organizations throughout the country as well as articles about philanthropy, fund raising and volunteer recruitment and training.

Step 2.  No mater how good the information in Step 1 is, it has little value if too few people are finding and using it. Thus, step two focuses on creating a daily frequency and reach of stories that talk about tutoring and/or mentoring and encourage people to visit the web library then search for programs they can support.  This page shows a list of newspaper stories generated as part of this step. This concept map shows some of the web spaces where we share this information.

Since the Tutor/Mentor Connection never had much money for advertising or public relations support, the strategies intend to recruit many leaders who will help create this public awareness, using their own visibility and communications tools.

Step 3.  With so much information available there is a need to help people understand and apply the information collected in Step 1.  This article and many that I've posted in the past are examples of how I do this, and how others could take the same role.  I hosted a Tutor/Mentor conference in Chicago every six months from 1994 through May 2015 to bring people together to learn from each other. I use social media daily to share information from the library, and to draw greater attention to tutor/mentor programs on my list.

The leadership strategies on this page show how this information facilitation role can happen at colleges, hospitals and businesses.  

Visit this page and see how interns from many colleges have created blog articles, videos and visualizations to help people understand Tutor/Mentor Connection strategies.

View this concept map and see how others are using their own blogs to help people understand and use information collected in Step 1.

Step 4.   The result of better information (Step 1) and more people looking at it (Step 2) and more people understanding how to apply the information (Step 3) should lead to more people seeking out tutor/mentor programs in different neighborhoods to offer their time, talent and dollars to help programs constantly improve what they do to help kids connect with volunteers and learning opportunities and move more safely through school and into adult lives.

This is where the maps play an important role.  By mapping locations of concentrated poverty and other indicators showing where people need more hope, our goal is that more support flows to programs serving youth in every part of the Chicago region, not just to high profile neighborhoods or high profile organizations.

In some cases this means supporting well designed programs. However, in other cases it may mean trying to help programs become better than what they are today.

If you're not in Chicago you can use everything in this strategy. You'd only need to build your own directory of local programs, maps and indicators of need. 

This cycle repeats from year to  year.  As we help programs grow, and help them show their program design, strategies and successes on their web sites (see shoppers guide pdf),  we're also updating the information available in Step 1. Furthermore we're constantly adding new links to the web library, and almost every link we point to is also adding new information to their web sites.

Each year we need more leaders to make a commitment to helping kids in poverty areas move through school and into  jobs, using this four part strategy to achieve that goal.  As we succeed we provide continuous flexible funding and a flow of volunteer talent that helps every program, not just a few.

And that means we reach more k-12 youth, with better on-going support.

What can you do?

This article shows steps you can take.  Form a study circle in your business, faith group, high school, alumni or social group and read articles like this, or from the Tutor/Mentor library, on a regular basis, then discuss ways you and your group can use your own talent and resources to help programs in one or more parts of the region become the very best in the world at helping kids move through school and into jobs and adult lives.

Here's a short video showing these steps.



And here's a pdf presentation showing the four part strategy.  I also showed the four steps in this article.  Finally, below is another concept map visualizing help needed on every one of these steps, if we're going to have the impact we need to have, helping thousands of k-12 youth in  Chicago and its suburbs, and helping youth in similar cities around the country.

Read about the Tutor/Mentor Connection do-over.  Look at this PDF and see the value of the information being collected.   

If you want to offer your talent, become a sponsor, or support this effort in other ways please introduce yourself with a comment below, or email me at tutormentor1 at gmail.com.

Click here to see where you can find me on social media.


I've funded the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011 with the help of a small group of donors and by depleting my own savings.  Now, I'm beginning to have health issues and need to use some of these donations to help pay these expenses. 

Please visit this page and make a contribution.  Thank you. 

Still judged by color of their skin

I created this graphic a few years ago to share my fear for the alumni of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs I led, and for their children, and grand children.

This was reinforced yesterday when I watched baseball star, Reggie Jackson, talk about the racial discrimination that he faced when playing in the 1960s and 1970s.  You can view the video on Twitter  (x) at this link. 

These are among many things happening locally, nationally and globally that scare me.

Locally, I see stories daily showing Black and Brown kids and adults shot and often killed in intentional and random shootings.  I see growing evidence that our highest source of justice, the Supreme Court, is corrupt and under the control of religious extremists.  While we're hopeful that November's US elections will bring control of the US House back to Democrats and Progressives, expand the majority in the Senate, and keep the White House, that's no guarantee that any of the terrible things happening in the US and the world will change.

Here are two articles that add to my sense of despair.   One article shows how right wing political movements and ideologies have grown around the world, fueled by social media and uses of the Internet.   A second article digs into the Wikipedia world and find a lot of things that stink.  

Here's a cMap where I point to many more issues that concern me.

Each node on this concept map opens to a collection of websites with an extensive range of articles that I wish I had had when I studied history, social studies and political science in high school and college in the 1960s.

Thinking local. Fearing global.

It's in the context of thinking of the long-term impact resulting from how we're electing right-wing leaders in the US and throughout the world that I re-examine my own long term efforts to help well-organized, volunteer-based, non-school tutor and/or mentor programs grow in high poverty areas of Chicago, where adults connect with youth when they are as young as elementary school, then stay connected through high school, and into adult lives.

Birth to Work goal

That's what the graphic at the right visualizes.

The kids in the upper left were in 7th and 8th grade when this photo was taken  in the mid 1990s. I'm pictured at the right in late 2000s photo when one of these kids, Tanjela Smith Marlow, came back to talk at the annual year end dinner. It's 2024. Tanji and I are still connected on Facebook. We've been exchanging ideas about my work over the past month and had a ZOOM call this week.  That's what I mean by "long-term".

Below is a page from the 2000 February-March issue of the printed newsletter that I was able to mail to about 10,000 people. I started sending these in 1993, but then the mail list was about 400. It grew each year from 1994-2002, but never reach more than 14,000.  In the early 2000s eMail and web sites took the place of the printed newsletters as I ran out of money to continue them.

Feb-March 2000 T/MC Report 

 This article includes a map of Chicago, showing high poverty areas where organized tutor/mentor programs are most needed, as a way to expand the social capital, or network of people and experiences, for kids who have a limited based of work and career models, and people opening doors to opportunity, in their lives.

Connect your network to information

Here's a graphic that communicates the same idea. On both graphics the large circle represents the information library that I have been building since I started leading a single tutor/mentor program in Chicago in 1975.

The circle also represents a meeting place, or community of people, who gather on a regular basis, like people in faith groups do, and people in classrooms do, to learn from a central library information and ideas, and to innovate ways they could help tutor/mentor programs grow in different parts of the city and suburbs.

Anyone can take this role

I took this to another level when starting the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. In my 1973-1990 retail advertising career at Montgomery Ward's corporate headquarters in Chicago we supported 400 stores in 40 US states, through the work of various central office teams.  They could do that because they knew where existing stores were located, and where there were potential customers for new stores.

By building a library of information, and a directory of existing tutor/mentor programs, my goal was that people in these learning and planning groups would begin to think of ways they could help all youth tutor/mentor programs within a geographic area get the ideas, dollars, talent, technology and other things each program needs to be great at what they do.

Instead of every program constantly reaching into a small pool of resources for what they need to operate, my vision has that others who care about what these programs were trying to do, would use their own time and talent to help mobilize these resources and push them to programs in every part of the city...based on the list of programs I was hosting (and still do),

My success over the past 30 years has been hindered by disasters like Montgomery Ward, our main sponsor, going out of business in 2000, and by the 9/11 terror attack, the following wars, natural disasters, then the financial melt-down of 2008, and finally, in 2011, the Board of Directors deciding to discontinue the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy and focus only on our single Cabrini Connections program..

Mayor Daley at 1997 T/MC Conference

However, I also was never able to get consistent, in-depth, support from Mayor Daley, major foundations, or other civic leaders. I had one business person visit my office in the 1990s and after I walked him through the strategy he said "I love what you're doing, but I'll never support you....because I want to start my own thing."

Since 2011 I've not had an organizational structure to help me continue the Tutor/Mentor Connection. I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC with the hope that I could generate revenue through consulting or by finding partners to invest in this strategy. That has not happened.  As I write this I'm wondering where the money will come from to keep my bills paid for the rest of this year...and into 2025.

Yet the need for non-school youth serving organizations reaching k-12 youth in high poverty areas is as great today as it was in 1993.

Enough is Enough - link

That brings me back to the start of this article. Kids entering school today will take 12 years to finish high school and another four to eight years to be starting stable jobs and careers.

That's 20 years.

What will the world look like in 20 years? Will people of color, people of different faiths or different gender identities, or who are fleeing conflict in their own countries, be seeking a refuge from the terror in America by then?

Will sports and entertainment stars tell of a different lived experience, free of racism, violence and discrimination based on the color of their skin? 

Or will we have gone through a third World War, fueled by nationalist leaders in the USA and different countries? Will there have been civil wars within the US and other countries, pitting extremist ideologies against each other?

Knowledge base needed - link

Local-Global Strategy.

While my local focus has been to help youth tutor/mentor programs grow in Chicago neighborhoods, the process I've piloted is knowledge-based problem solving. If someone aggregates information about a problem others can use that information to innovate solutions.

With this in mind I've begun to expand the knowledge base I host, pointing to articles about social justice, inequality, poverty, etc. I also point to articles about the climate crisis and about some of the political issues that I feel need to be better understood by more people.

To help people navigate the information I've been collecting, I created this article, which has a list of links to various sections of my web library.

Using this, anyone can start to do their own learning, and can begin to form a circle of friends, family, co-workers and faith group, who dig deeper into this information and try to create a different future than the one we seem to speeding into.

Is it enough? I feel that I'm pushing a huge rock up a steep mountain, with too little help, and too many other issues competing for attention. With the growth of right wing governments I fear the mountain itself will collapse, and what we do to build systems of support for disadvantaged youth will have no benefit.

Or, will this be the only thing that matters? Even if the entire world is in flames, our will to survive will continue to burn brightly, and our need to provide systems of support for our kids, and each other, will still be with us.

If you can help me keep this information resource available, visit my FundMe page. 

While I seek help, I also seek partners or a way to make the resources and ideas I've aggregated since 1993 a part of the work others are doing.  Visit this article describing "a bold experiment called MITx U.Lab" and compare what they are describing to what I've described in this and other articles on this blog.  How can I get this group to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC as one of its focus areas?

7-5-2024 update - I learned that today's shooting in Chicago, were two women and a boy were killed, took the life of Nakeeshia Strong, who was part of an extended family that, in the early 1990s, was part of the tutoring program I led.  This is what I fear.