Role for alumni of tutor/mentor programs

A few days ago I saw this post on Facebook.  It's from Kaeaiya Holmes, who, in the 1990s, was a student in the tutor/mentor programs that I led in Chicago.  She's now Regional Director of Nursing at Centurion Health.

She was responding to the LOGIC MODEL graphic that I had shared.

She started by saying, "This post resonates with me because I wasn't just connected to the Tutor/Mentor movement, I was impacted by it."

Click on the image and enlarge it so you can read the rest.

She's taking a role that I've encouraged many alumni to take. She talks about the value of mentor-rich programs and says "What I appreciate about this model is that it recognizes that  mentoring isn't just about one relationship.   In communities where poverty affects thousands of children, we need strong organizations, safe spaces, and mentor-rich programs that create opportunities for young people to learn, grow and thrive.  These programs become anchors, providing stability, hope and a sense of belonging."

Every time I post a blog article or on social media I'm hoping that one or more former students will take time to read it, then share it, using their own stories and talents, to encourage others to get involved and help mentor-rich programs grow in more places.

Be like Kaeaiya!

Still judged by the color of their skin

For the past few years I've delighted at seeing alumni of the tutor/mentor programs I led sharing photos of their own kids finishing high school, going to college and graduating.  That was what we hoped would happen. 

However, I'm continuing to see evidence that this success does not lessen the fear that these young adults will become victims of police violence and continued racism in the USA.

Below are two pages from my Sunday Chicago SunTimes, showing a story about how at "Illinois public universities, campus cops pull over Black drivers at higher rates."  Read it here.

This story was also on the WBEZ.org site.  You can find it here.  I found this link on my BlueSky feed. I hope you'll join me there. 

These articles show that "Black driver stops far exceed Black enrollment, population. At every Illinois four-year public college campus police department that reported stops in 2023, the share of Black drivers getting pulled over by campus police surpassed both the share of Black students enrolled in the institution in the fall semester of 2022 and the percentage of Black individuals in the surrounding community age 18 and up."

It is frightening to read stories of young Black men and women talking about being routinely stopped and ticketed by campus police and see the lack of response from police leaders. If you're a White parent, this is not something you worry about when you celebrate your child's high school graduation and college acceptance.

It should not be something Black and Brown parents fear either.  But is is.

My Sunday SunTimes also had this story showing how "Sports was a major catalyst in the drive for equity after George Floyd’s murder, but time has erased all progress.." 

A year ago I wrote a similar article to this one. It also pointed to athletes talking about racism.  I included the graphic below, in that article with the same headline as I'm using today. 

Last year's article also included this:

"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." 

I wrote, "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.  

I see growing evidence of other forms of hate, from antisemitism to growing attacks on the rights of LGBTQ individuals and families, too.  

Globally we're facing a range of complex problems from a climate crisis, to war and conflict and massive suffering. Yet, in too many places, including the USA, we're electing right-wing leaders who care less about the poor and the planet than they do about their wealth and privilege. 

Last June I wrote, "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."

That did not happen. A radical, greedy, cruel and careless man was elected President, progressives lost control of both the House and Senate, and Drump (you know who) has filled the top levels of government with radical extremists.   

Read the rest of my June 2024 article at this link.

Expanding the choir of "those who care" and "those who speak out".

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, has always aimed to influence what the volunteers do to get others involved, not just to be an effective tutor and/or mentor.

I created this concept map many years ago to show how volunteers who are recruited from a diverse economic-social-educational background to be tutors and mentors can grow their understanding of the challenges kids and families in high poverty, highly segregated, areas face.  For some, this can lead to a much greater use of their talents and networks to help solve the root-causes and lead to a much brighter future for our kids and families, and ourselves.

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Vol-Growth-Cycle

This chart shows a cycle that takes place almost every day, in hundreds of locations throughout the country. However, it may be happening with less purpose and impact in most places, than is needed to change the flow of resources to tutor/mentor programs and the number of people who get involved in the broader issues.  

Read this article to see a full explanation of the concept map, and see how interns from universities created animated versions.

Create a learning organization.

I've been building the Tutor/Mentor library since the 1970s.  Over the past 10 years I've added more and more links to websites that focus on race, poverty, inequality, and prevention.  Here's a cMap where I point to that section of the library.

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.

I point to several hundred volunteer-based youth-serving organizations on this page of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website.  I don't find many showing a strategy aimed at educating their volunteers and turning them into leaders...beyond building support for their own program.   I'd love to have some look at my blog and website and see the value of duplicating my efforts.  

Maybe this is happening in more places and I just don't see it. Thus, I invite readers to look at the websites in my library, or in their own communities, and point out pages that show how volunteer-based organizations are systematically educating their volunteers and motivating them to become evangelists who reach out and educate others.

If enough organizations did this consistently for 20 or 30 years it would grow a movement of people that might be large enough to actually create needed changes. 

Thanks for reading this.

I hope you're saying "ENOUGH" and that you'll read and share my articles, and my library, with family, friends, co-workers, and others in your own network.  Until more people are personally connected to these issues too few will speak out or do the organizing work needed to innovate long-term solutions.

Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook, Twitter and other sites (see links here). 

And, if you're able, visit this page and make a contribution to help me do this work.

Long Term Connections

Yesterday I turned 78 and received nearly 100 "Happy Birthday" greetings on Facebook.  Many were from former students. 

One said, "Happy Birthday Dan! thanks for everything that you have done for us."

Another said, "Happiest of Birthdays to such an amazing person! Someone who shaped me into who I am today! Happy Birthday Dan!!"

A few also showed their support with contributions to my Birthday Campaign.  I appreciate them all.  It's why I keep doing this work.

Look at the history

Over the past few days I've been sharing posts I made in late December of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Below I've reposted my 2008 article.  Read the "Once in Cabrini Connections, always in Cabrini Connections" message.

---- start 2008 -----

Yesterday when I came to the office I received an email telling me about a funeral being held that morning for the 2-year old daughter of a former Cabrini Connections student. The message came from the volunteer who began mentoring that youth in the mid 1990s and who continues to this day --- more than 15 years later -- to still be a mentor in the life of this youth and his family.

I went to the funeral. It was tragic. The minister said "nothing I say can make sense of this tragic death" but "God has a purpose and maybe this death brings us together and changes our own life direction".

While he was addressing the family and friends of this young man and his wife, he did not realize he was also addressing the Cabrini Connections family. I had not talked to this volunteer in more than a year, or to this young man in about the same length of time. At the funeral I saw, and talked with, others who had been part of Cabrini Connections, or the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini Green Tutoring Program prior to 1992. I'd not seen many of these young people for many years, but have been making an effort to reconnect via Facebook and our Linked in pages.

Maybe this tragedy will be the catalyst that gets more of our former students and volunteers reconnected to our current students and volunteers and each other.

Mentoring is not about reading, writing, test scores, and teacher-directed tutoring. It's about relationships that form because a program like Cabrini Connections is available in the neighborhood, and creates an introduction during one year, that we hope lasts for a life time. Well organized tutor/mentor programs support the match between youth and adult, with the goal that they last for additional years so the bond between young people and volunteers, and the organization, grows and remains supportive as everyone grows older.

Once in Cabrini Connections, always in Cabrini Connections. I've been saying this for many years. I mean it.

Being at this funeral and giving support is just one small example of the type of support mentors can give to youth, and each other. Recognizing that these young adults, who were in elementary school or middle school when we first met them, still need our support for them, and for their own children, is what this community is really all about, and why we need donations from people who read this blog or visit our web sites.

January is National Mentoring Month. As you make your New Year's Resolution I hope you'll read the blogs we write, and learn more about this long-term form of mentoring, and ways that you, your church, your family and your business can support it in 2009 and beyond.

--- end 2008 ---

There have been other funerals since then, and other reunions.  January will again be National Mentoring Month.  The many birthday greetings I received yesterday, and continue to receive today, are a reminder of that commitment to "Once in Cabrini Connections, always in Cabrini Connections" message.

There area still areas of persistent poverty with us. These are places where building programs like Cabrini Connections and helping them last 20 or more years can make a life-changing difference for many youth, and adult volunteers.  Skim through this set of articles showing where poverty is concentrated in Chicago and America. 

If you're reading this, thank you.  Please share it and my other articles and help build support for the type of mentor-rich program I describe in my articles.

And, please read my articles about having universities adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

You can still contribute to my Birthday Campaign - click here

And there's still time to make a year in contribution to help Fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and help me keep doing this in 2025.  - click here to donate.

Have a safe, healthy, happy and hope-filled holiday.  There will be much to do in 2025. 

What You Can Do to End Poverty - 2005 Letter

I've been digitizing more of my archives for the past few months, and again today. I've been sharing some files, like these yearbooks, on social media. The result was 67,200 views of this blog in March 2024.

I did another batch today, which requires looking at old files and seeing if I should put them in my Google drive folder.  I found a letter I wrote in October, 2005, as a "Letter to the Editor" which I hoped the Chicago Tribune would publish.  I was going to post it here, but decided to look first, to see if I had posted it in 2005.

Yes. I did, on November 3, 2005.  So I'm going to share what I wrote then: 

---- start Nov. 2005 article ----

On Tuesday, Nov. 1, I attended a meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago, where more than 200 people were given information that showed the "State of Latino Chicago". This highlighted the huge contribution Latinos are making to the Chicago area economy, and the need for more programs to help Latino youth move through school and into careers. On Nov. 2nd I attended a meeting at the Union League Club of Chicago where the No Child Left Behind law was discussed. At the same time a lunch was being held where others were focusing on ways to build better schools.

What these meetings had in common is that they were not connected to each other with an internet strategy that would have enabled participants from all three meetings to connect with each other, and with the speakers. They also did not have a strategy for engagement, that would increase the number of people personally involved in long-term efforts that help kids in poverty move to careers.

In September, people from the Connect for Kids group in Washington, DC helped me develop a letter to the editor that illustrated the role of tutoring/mentoring as a civic engagement strategy. I met Connect for Kids through internet networking and this is an example of what's possible when such networking is a strategic goal of people who host face-to-face meetings.

I sent my letter to the Chicago Tribune in mid October and it has not been published. So here it is for you to read:
--------------

What you can do to end Poverty, by Daniel F. Bassill

Alicia and Marquita were in elementary school when I first met them 15 years ago. They were normal kids, except they lived in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago, where the role models and life experiences were anything but what normal kids in most parts of America grow up with. The Cabrini Green neighborhood has a high concentration of poverty, many people living on welfare, and strong street gang involvement. This is the neighborhood that shocked the nation in 1992 when 7-year old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed while walking to school. It’s a neighborhood where more than 40% of the kids drop out of high school before graduation, and where many who do graduate never move on to college and careers.

Today, Marquita has graduated from college and Alicia will do the same next year.

What happened to take these girls off the path toward poverty, and place them on a different path toward college and careers? The answer is simple, but powerful. They were able to participate in a comprehensive volunteer-based tutor/mentor program that connected them with adults who mentored them, helped with school work, talked about options and choices, and just plain cared. In elementary school they were able to participate in a program hosted by the Montgomery Ward Corporation in Chicago. After 6th grade they were able to transition to the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program, which has supported them for the past 12 years. This year they have become part of the adult tutor/mentor corps, and are now volunteering to help other Cabrini Green children move through school and into college then careers.

In the aftermath of Katrina, people in Chicago and across the nation are asking what we can do about poverty. I’m not a teacher by training and I don’t have special skills. I started mentoring a fourth grade boy living in Cabrini-Green in 1973 and became leader of a volunteer-based program in 1975. Thus I have 30 years of experience in recruiting volunteers and connecting them with inner-city kids. While I did not have much experience when I started, my understanding of the issues and my commitment to volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring has continued to grow with each passing year. I’ve learned the difference between being poor and being poor without hope.

I’ve also learned how tutoring/mentoring can be one of the best strategies for civic-engagement, workforce development and education reform. Long-term programs connect youth and adults from both sides of the economic and social divide in a long-term process of service and learning. This leads to a better understanding of poverty, and a stronger commitment to do what is needed to provide paths to hope and opportunity for kids who need extra support to succeed in school, move to college and find help in starting jobs and careers.

I would like every adult who is not living in poverty to become personally involved in helping build and sustain long-term tutor/mentor programs in every neighborhood where concentrated poverty is the largest obstacle to succeeding in school and moving to jobs and careers. That is how we are going to improve our schools, reduce youth violence, lower the costs of the juvenile justice system and meet the workforce needs of the 21st century.

The way to get everyone involved is for people from every walk of life – business, churches, hospitals and universities – to step up as leaders and make children living in low-wage families a priority. Businesses can use their intranets to provide information about where tutor/mentor programs are needed, and ways to contact existing programs. They can use their advertising to encourage employees and customers to volunteer in programs throughout the Chicago region. Universities can encourage their students to talk with local children about what college is like, and can develop research and teaching programs that connect students and alumni with training resources and tutor/mentor programs throughout the country. Every organization can use its website to publicize volunteer opportunities and to increase the number of people who are learning ways to become involved in tutor/mentor programs. The ways to take action are as endless as the numbers of children in need.

Such a leadership strategy needs to guide volunteers and donors to all neighborhoods where there are high concentrations of poverty, not just to the few brand name programs in highly visible neighborhoods. If we increase the number of people who are willing to commit time, talent and dollars to efforts that help end poverty, we will reduce dependency on government and build programs that last more than a few years.

No business would be successful if it advertised sometimes, and sometimes not. Children take a long time to grow up, and they will only be successful if adults like us get personally involved, stay involved, develop an understanding of poverty, and grow into leaders who bring in new volunteers to do the same. We’re building a system of support for this type of involvement. We call it the Tutor/Mentor Connection. You can find us and similar support networks that operate in other cities by using Internet search tools like www.Google.com .

By the time you read this, the media will probably be turning its attention away from poverty and to the next "hot" issue. But that doesn’t mean we have to turn our attention away from the children who need us.

---- end 2005 article ----

I'm pleased to report that in 2024 Alicia and Marquita are both doing well. I'm connected to them on Facebook, along with many other alumni from the tutor/mentor programs I led since 1975.  I'm seeing many now report on their own kids, or grandkids, finishing high school and college.  And, I'm seeing many starting new families.  

I found another letter in my files today. I wrote it to university contacts in 2008.  It included this paragraph, asking "What are all the things we need to do to assure that all youth in the city where your  university is located, or where your students and alumni live, are starting jobs/careers by age 25/"

You can read that full letter here.   

Imagine if students and faculty at various universities were looking at the documents in my archive, just as I am, and then were sharing them with others at their universities and where they alumni live and work.

Could we build a more consistent and innovative strategy to connect with kids and families in areas of persistent poverty with long-term support that helps them build jobs and careers so they can raise their own kids free of poverty?

I hope you'll share this and that another 65,000 people will view my article in April and every month after that.  Maybe that will increase the number who follow me on social media.

Maybe it will also increase the number who go to this page and make a contribution to help me continue collecting and sharing this information. 

Focus on alumni

The national elections were yesterday and votes are still being counted.  It looks like Democrats and progressives will do better than expected. It's still not clear if they will maintain their majority in the House or Senate. Let's hope they do.

In the meantime we still need to do all we can to make organized, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs available to youth in every high poverty neighborhood of the country.

More than 4500 K-12 youth have been part of the tutor/mentor programs I led in Chicago between 1975 and 2011.  I'm connected to many on Facebook and keep encouraging them to become leaders of mentoring programs themselves and to take up the work I've been doing to help such programs grow in more places.

Here are three promising examples.

I wrote about Kaeaiya Holmes a few weeks ago.  Since then she's posted this article on her T.Js Angels T3 Services blog.   

In this article you can read about the I Am Her78 - An End to A New Beginning book, that she co-authored with Toi Dickson-Fuller, another student alumni (see below).  The book launch is November 19.  Here's a post on Facebook about the book.   

Here's where you can purchase the book.   Here's the link to the TJs Angeles T3 Services website. 

In the mid 1990s Toi Dickson-Fuller was also part of the tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago.  As you can see from this graphic she's become a published author and is co-author with Kaeaiya Holmes and a few other women on the I Am Her78 - An End to A New Beginning book.

In addition, Toi has launched a mentoring program in Chicago called I Am Her 78 Ministries, which you can learn about here. 

Kaeaiya and Toi are two of several dozen former students who I'm connected to, and still mentoring, via Facebook.

Tramaine Montel Ford is another alum from the 1990s.

Tramaine got his "acting bug" while part of the Cabrini Connections program's video club, which was started in the mid 1990s while he was in high school. Now he's in New York city and doing all sorts of great work.  At the right is a photo from this 2011 article, showing how Tramaine was a keynote speaker at the 2011 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. 

Over the years since then we've had a few ZOOM calls and Facebook conversations where I've encourage him to use his communications skills to share the ideas I've been posting on this blog. 

While continuing his work in New York City, Tramaine is now also working with the 1 JAR Foundation, which honors the memory of 9 year old Janari Ricks (Tramaine's nephew), who was killed in Cabrini Green in 2020.   

Their programs offer mentorship and other resources intended to empower youth and children towards achieving a better future and contributing positively to society. 

The featured program of the foundation is an annual toy drive, which this year will be held on December 22.  Find details on the foundation's website.

Below is Tramine's Facebook page.    In this ensemble photo Tramaine is in the top row, far right.  

These are just three alumni who are beginning to do organized work to help younger kids have the same opportunities which were offered to them via the tutor/mentor programs I led.  

Here's another example of a former student supporting a tutor/mentor program - Isaiah Brooms. 

Isaiah was part of the tutoring program at Montgomery Ward while I led it in the late 1980s.  That program is now Tutoring Chicago and Isaiah supports if via fund raising efforts like this one on Facebook. 

Network Building

I share posts from this blog and my website regularly with all of these alumni and with many former volunteers, with the goal that they will begin to support existing programs and help new ones grow where more are needed.

Here's a May 2022 Facebook post from a former student, which is an example of the type of questions I hope more students and volunteers will be asking as a result of my social media network building.

At the same time, by hosting space on social media sites I'm trying to help these alumni connect with each other, with former volunteers, and with people in other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other places.

Those who have been given much need to step forward and provide the same opportunities to future generations.

Thanks for reading.  Maybe there will be a few more positive election results to view by the time you look at this.  There's much work ahead.  

Alumni Collaboration - Role of Mentoring

Yesterday I saw this image announcing a new book titled "I Am Here" which was co-authored by two former students from the Cabrini Connections program that I led from 1993 to 2011.  The book has not yet been published, but I'll share that information when it is available.

11-9-2022 update - the book launch will be Nov. 18, 2000. Click here for details

One student, Kaealya Holmes was one of the first students to join Cabrini Connections in 1993. The other, Toi Dickson-Fuller, was part of the program from around 1995 through her high school graduation. 

Both Toi and Kaealya are "giving back" by mentoring young children through their own efforts.  I've been sharing my own experiences and resources to help them. 

That reminds me of an article I wrote in December 2008, calling for support of Tutor/Mentor Programs.  I'm sharing that below, with updates. 

---- begin ----

Yesterday when I came to the office I received an email telling me about a funeral being held that morning for the 2-year old daughter of a former Cabrini Connections student. The message came from the volunteer who began mentoring that youth in the mid 1990s and who continues to this day --- more than 15 years later -- to still be a mentor in the life of this youth and his family.

I went to the funeral. It was tragic. The minister said "nothing I say can make sense of this tragic death" but "God has a purpose and maybe this death brings us together and changes our own life direction".

While he was addressing the family and friends of this young man and his wife, he did not realize he was also addressing the Cabrini Connections family. I had not talked to this volunteer in more than a year, or to this young man in about the same length of time. At the funeral I saw, and talked with, others who had been part of Cabrini Connections, or the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini Green Tutoring Program prior to 1992. I'd not seen many of these young people for many years, but have been making an effort to reconnect via Facebook and our Linked in pages.

Maybe this tragedy will be the catalyst that gets more of our former students and volunteers reconnected to our current students and volunteers and each other.

Mentoring is not about reading, writing, test scores, and teacher-directed tutoring. It's about relationships that form because a program like Cabrini Connections is available in the neighborhood, and creates an introduction during one year, that we hope lasts for a life time. Well organized tutor/mentor programs support the match between youth and adult, with the goal that they last for additional years so the bond between young people and volunteers, and the organization, grows and remains supportive as everyone grows older.

"Once in Cabrini Connections, always in Cabrini Connections." I've been saying this for many years. I mean it.

Being at this funeral and giving support is just one small example of the type of support mentors can give to youth, and each other. Recognizing that these young adults, who were in elementary school or middle school when we first met them, still need our support for them, and for their own children, is what this community is really all about, and why we need donations from people who read this blog or visit our web sites.

--- end 2008 article ----

I've not been an official part of the first tutoring program that I led since 1992 or part of Cabrini Connections since 2011, yet I'm still connected to young people and alumni of these programs.

I really believe the "Once in Cabrini Connections, always in Cabrini Connections." message. My involvement has never been a "job" but a "purpose". 

If you view my Facebook page and look at my Friends list, you'll see many former students and volunteers, including Leo Hall, who was the first, and only, youth who I was matched with in a one-on-one relationship, starting in 1973. 

I did not take another mentee after Leo graduated from the program after 6th grade, partially because he continued with the program as a "Jr. Assistant" volunteer helper through high school, and mainly because, as leader of the program, I was a mentor to ALL of the students and volunteers.  That's how I first came to know Toi and Kaealya.  

They are just two of many who I continue to connect with myself, the Tutor/Mentor library, and each other, using social media. 

This graphic visualizes the goal of the tutor/mentor programs I led, of helping kids through school and into adult lives. I'm still connected to three of the students in this graphic, and to the volunteer, Claudia Bellucci.  

Through the Tutor/Mentor Connection, formed in 1993, and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (formed in 2011), I continue to try to help programs like this thrive in every high poverty area of Chicago and other cities. 

I encourage you to browse this blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website frequently.  

Use the ideas and your own leadership to help more kids become part of well-organized, on-going, tutor, mentor and learning programs.

Build your own "life-long" connections.

Thanks for reading.  

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. I hope you'll connect with me on one, or all of these platforms.

Have a great weekend!  

A call for comprehensive, mentor-rich non-school programs

See profile

A few days ago I was pleased to see an announcement on Lovea Smith's Facebook page showing that she'd been selected to be part of the Chicago Foundation for Women's 2020 Willie’s Warriors Leadership Initiative.

Lovea was part of the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program for four years in the 1990s (until her high school graduation) and then went on to college and graduate school and now is Director of Support Services at Housing Opportunities for Women.

She's one of many alumni of the Cabrini Connections program, which I led from 1993 to 2011, and the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, which I led from 1975 to fall 1992,  who I'm connected to on Facebook.

Below is a graphic that I created more than 10 years ago to show the goal of programs like Cabrini Connections.  Lovea is shown at the left with program leader Gena Schoen, and another student, Eric Moore, who I'm also connected to on Facebook.

Three time frames where youth need support

This graphic shows that there are three time frames where youth need organized support, which are the school hours, the 3-5pm afterschool hours, and the after 5pm and weekend program hours. I divide the non-school hours into two sections because it's only in the after-work hours when workplace volunteers are able to make consistent and on-going tutor/mentor connections with inner city kids.  (This may only apply to major cities like Chicago, where the time to travel from work to a program site is too far for workplace volunteers to get to a program regularly during the 9am to 5pm hours. In smaller communities this distance may not be as much of an issue.) See versions of the graphic above in this presentation.

Furthermore, it takes organized programs to facilitate these connections, encouraging on-going participation of young people and of volunteers.  Below is another graphic that I created to visualize the design of the tutor/mentor programs I led.

programs with this design needed in many places

 In this graphic I show the three time frames and the pre school through high school and into adult lives time line. I show that a youth connects with a primary mentor, but that through the design and activities of the program that youth also connects with a wide range of other volunteers, staff and learning opportunities. View this Total Quality Mentoring presentation.

Below is a PDF showing the strategy we followed at Cabrini Connections. It focuses first on building and sustaining participation for multiple years of both youth and volunteers. Take a look.

Success steps Strategy to Help Youth Through School and Into Careers from Daniel Bassill

While I led a tutor/mentor program prior to 1992 when we formed Cabrini Connections, we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection at the same time, in an effort to help every non-school youth tutor and/or mentor program in Chicago get the ideas and resources needed to build their own versions of a mentor-rich program.  Based on my own experiences I recognized that every programs share the same struggle for consistent resource flows.

All programs have same needs

These included public visibility, operating dollars, volunteers, training and on-going support, leadership, consistent student participation, and ideas to grow from.

We started building a list of programs in January 1993, which I still maintain in 2020.  In addition, we began using maps to show where programs were most needed, based on indicators like high poverty, poorly performing public schools, and incidents of violence. Then we create overlays showing the locations of programs on our maps.

View Program Locator

We began publishing our list of programs in a printed directory in 1994 and were able to send it to 300-400 people each year, including foundations, libraries and many businesses. However it was not until 2004 that we were able to launch a searchable on-line program locator that enabled far more people to find the information we were sharing. 

In 2008 we created a new version of this, with the information plotted on a map, and with indicators data included, so people could zoom into a neighborhood to create a story-map, showing where programs were needed, and what programs were available, sorted by age group served and type of program.

Since launching our first http://www.tutormentorconnection.org website in 1998 I've been sharing these ideas and strategies with the world since they apply in every major city where poverty is concentrated in small areas surrounded by more affluent and well-connected neighborhoods.

2024 note:  Due to lack of funds since 2011 the Program Locator and T/MC websites are now only viewable as archives.  The www.tutormentorexchange.net website is the primary platform for the information I share. 

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

While we were able to sort programs by age group and type of program we really were not able to dig deeper into program data to create a clear differentiation. If you look at the websites on this list of programs you see great variation. Some include tutoring and/or mentoring as part of a larger organization, and give very little information about program design, goals or history. Others focus totally on tutoring/mentoring as the core part of program design. Few show a long-term strategy as visualized by the charts I've shown above.  Thus, there is much work to be done to create a city with long-term programs reaching youth in every high poverty neighborhood.

Unfortunately the financial meltdown starting in late 2008 destroyed our funding base and led the directors of Cabrini Connections-Tutor/Mentor Connection to make a radical change in 2011, dropping the T/MC strategy to focus only on the youth program.  That led me to leave the organization and form Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in late 2011 to try to continue to support the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy, which I've managed to do through 2019, but with a bare minimum of support. Much of the work we were doing in the 2000s is no longer being done and our web sites are now templates for what should be done, more than active resources, although the web library and list of programs is being maintained and updated regularly.

As we enter 2020 the Chicago Tribune has launched a new call to action (see my article) and Mayor Lightfood has launched an EveryYouth Connected initiative (see my article). 

I keep sharing ideas via this blog and social media with two overall goals:

a) leaders will borrow these ideas and incorporate them into their own plans, perhaps even asking me to help them

b) a  university and/or investor/benefactor will step forward and offer support to rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection (see these articles) and to provide leadership to carry it forward in future years.

Get to know T/MC and T/MI

A starting point for anyone is to spend time browsing through my blog and web site to begin learning what I've been describing and thinking of ways to incorporate some of the ideas into your own leadership.  Here's a page where you can see how interns working with me between 2006 and 2015 have done that. 

In addition, here's a cMap showing how others have spent time learning about the T/MC and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

We're beginning a new year, and a new decade. Will the ideas and resources still be available in 2030?  Will there be programs in every neighborhood telling stories showing how youth who have been part of organized tutor/mentor programs from elementary school through high school in the past are now being recognized as future leaders, such as Lovea Smith.  

That's my goal. 

If you'd like to connect, post a comment or engage with me on one of these social media platforms.

Audio version of Tutor/Mentor blog - try it out

Last week I learned of a free screen capture video tool and I decided to try it out by recording one of my recent blog articles. Here's the video:



I also recorded a second article, which you can view here. I've added these to a collection of videos that I and interns have created since the late 2000s.

I've posted more than 1000 blog articles here and on the MappingforJustice blog since 2005.  I think I'll go back through these and record some that I feel are more important than others.

CC Alum Tramaine Ford w Dan
at Tutor/Mentor Conference

My hope is that by my example I'll inspire former students and volunteers and others who are in my network to do their own recordings of my blog articles.  At first, you'd just be reading the articles, and commenting from your perspective. As you get comfortable with the ideas I'm sharing, and with creating the recordings, and begin to draw a following, you may want to write and record your own articles.

As more people view and understand this information more people will do work needed to make non-school support systems available to more k-12 youth living in  high poverty areas. 

Value of Tutor/Mentor Program - Alumni Update

Leo & Dan - 1973

I started volunteering in a tutor/mentor program in Chicago in 1973. That's when I first started meeting weekly with Leo Hall, a 4th grade boy living in Cabrini Green Public Housing, near the Montgomery Ward headquarters where I was starting an advertising career.

I became the leader of that program in 1975 and continued through mid 1992. Then I and a few other volunteers formed Cabrini Connections, to help kids who aged out of the first program at the end of 6th grade have similar support as they move from 7th grade through high school. I led that program till mid 2011.

Maps show all areas where
programs are needed.

As we created the direct service program in 1993 we also created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to help similar programs grow in all parts of Chicago and to try to increase visibility and the flow of operating dollars to all programs, including the Cabrini Connections program. I still lead that strategy through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

I try to share my experiences, and those of others, by pointing to a list of program web sites that I've been maintaining since 1993.

At the Cabrini Connections program we maintained a blog from mid 2005 through 2011 that was a daily journal of what was happening in the program. I was scrolling through it today looking for information about one of the activities when I came across a message from Leo, posted in 2006.  I've re-posted it below:

Hi.. I'm Leo Hall - Dan Bassill's tutee and friend

Today, I got an email from my friend and former tutor, Dan Bassill, about the graduation ceremony going on tonight. It made me think about when I graduated from MWTP (Montgomery Ward Tutoring Program) or what some of you may call Cabrini Connections. 

See, I was Dan's first tutee, way back in 197??. It's been that long ago, I honestly cannot remember. But ask Dan about the one kid that changed his life and he will probably mention me (or maybe his daughter and son first, then me). But I digress. 

As a former tutee and volunteer, I want to say that you all have a great program working on your behalf. When I graduated from the program, it only went to the sixth grade, but you all get to stay until senior year of high school. 

That is so cool, cause high school can be a very stressful time in your life. I should know, I went to one of the largest high schools in the state, Lane Technical High School. Graduated with 1000 students, so I was basically a number. But the things I learned from Dan and the MWTP really kept my head on straight. 

See, Dan was at every major event in my life, with the exception of the births of my children. Now, how many people do you know would travel all over the country to see you graduate from college, then come back to see you get married. With gas prices today, I'd only expect a card. Dan has been my mentor and friend for over 30 years and I really respect his opinion on things. 

I also liked what he has done for the children in Cabrini Green, the children of Chicago, IL. But especially, the children on Cabrini Green. Dan has taken a lot of heat from a lot of people and he kept going. So, you all are the fruits of his labor. 

After graduating from high school, I went to Memphis State University (Univ. of Memphis) and graduated in 1988, on the Dean's List with a Bachelors degree in Engineering. I now have 2 sons, and am a movie producer and director. A lot of what I do with people is what Dan used to do with me, and that is mentor them. Teach them how to make good decisions and trust and believe in themselves. 

Presently, I am on the set of my new movie, and I asked Dan to send me some CC products, tee-shirts and stuff, so that my cast can wear them on the set. You never know, you may see CC on the big screen real soon. 

Well, time to get back on set, but I wanted to say this, keep your head up and never forget where you came from and the people that got you there. Thanks Dan and MWTP for everything that you have done for me.

Leo Hall

Leo & Dan, 2014

In 2014 Leo invited me to Nashville to celebrate his 50th birthday. He paid all of my expenses! I wrote this article following that.

The testimony by Leo is one of several alumni articles posted on the Cabrini Blog. I encourage you to read them.

Here's a 2016 article about mentoring, from The Atlantic, which featured myself and Leo. 

It's these stories, which I have experienced over and over for more than 35 years which drives my passion to help make well organized, non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs available in more places.

If you browse the Chicago Programs list, and this section of programs in other states, you'll find many who also have stories from alumni.  I was just looking at this page on the Higher Achievement web site (Washington, Baltimore) with 40 stories. Can these convince you to become strategically involved in helping these programs continue to do good work, while helping new programs start where needed?

I've been reaching out to alumni and others to help re-build the Tutor/Mentor Connection and carry it forward into the next decade, with them as leaders and people writing articles like this.  While a few have begun to show interest, there still is no new leadership team in place.

I've also been asking for financial help to keep me going. Click here to find a page with contributor information.

If you'd like to get involved or know more, just introduce yourself with a message in the comment box or connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIN or Facebook.

Tutor/Mentor Strategy - Go Forth and Multiply

I led a volunteer based tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 till 2011 and have collected a load of endorsements and paper archives. I've been digitizing these and last week converted a 22x26" Thank You, Dan! card from 1989-90, signed by students and volunteers.  Click on the graphic at the left and you can see a few comments.

I put the entire card into a PDF and uploaded it to Slideshare. You can view it below. Use your zoom button to enlarge and see all the signatures and comments.  One of the joys of having led these programs is the enthusiasm and positive feed back that I've received.  However, that has to lead to more than just "thank you cards".  Read more after you view this.

"Thank You. Dan Card (1989-90) From Students and Volunteers from Daniel Bassill

I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 (and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011) to help mentor-rich non-school programs grow in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and since then have created a huge library and hundreds of articles and strategy presentations that are tools others could used to help with this strategy.

In the four-part strategy that we developed in 1993, step 1 focuses on collecting information, such as the database of Chicago tutor and mentor organizations. However, step 2 and step 3 focus on increasing the number of people who are using this information.

Since I never had many dollars for advertising, and I'm not a celebrity or part of a wealthy family, or politically connected, this strategy has always depended on others carrying the ideas I launch on this blog and my web sites forward to their own friends, family and co-workers.

This graphic illustrates how ideas I share can be shared by people who read them, with others who will read them and then pass them on to even greater numbers of people. I included this in a 2011 article, and in many others.

I was thinking about this last week during a Twitter chat with educators from around the world and the I began to think of this graphic as a form of fireworks.

Posting an idea, like this article, is like lighting the fuse on a fireworks rocket. As it explodes it creates a constellation of stars, which represents people who are exposed to the message.

Some of these also explode, creating another burst of stars, representing the message reaching a new network of people. Often there's a third, and a fourth blast, meaning the ideas are reaching more and more people.

Think of my Tweets and articles as a daily blast of exploding ideas.  

Below is an example of what I hope happens every day:

That's an amazing resource. Am saving it right away and will spread further. Thanks for sharing Daniel!#nt2t https://t.co/Xc2yw9swTh

— Manav Lalotra (@manavlalotra) September 16, 2017

Since 1975 several thousand youth and adults have been part of tutor/mentor programs I've led. Some have provided endorsements and "thank you, Dan" messages, like those you can see above.

However, so far, too few are passing on the ideas I share and taking actions that result in more and better volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reaching k-12 youth in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other cities.

In addition, too few are providing talent and dollars to help me continue this work, or to help me pass this entire library and mission on to a younger, more talented generation of leaders.  I saw a tweet this morning with a quote saying "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now"  I re-tweeted it with this message.

This is what I say about supporting Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I started in #Chicago in 1993. https://t.co/Gn4yrptIw3

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 17, 2017

Had a few leaders helped me "plant the Tutor/Mentor Connection tree" in early 1990s, and helped me continue to nurture it for the past 24 years, I feel Chicago would have a much denser network of mentor-rich programs helping kids in poverty, and many more people taking active roles to share these ideas, get more people involved, and build sustainable and on-going flows of talent and dollars to every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other cities.  Many might be able to show "thank you" cards from alumni students and volunteers on their own web sites similar to mine.

If this interests  you, read the  "do-over" articles I posted last spring.  And visit this page and  use the PayPal button to send me some financial support.