Give Gold Medals for Ending Poverty

The 2024 Olympic Games have started in Paris, France.  My Chicago Bears will be playing on Thursday in the Hall of Fame NFL football game, kicking off a new season of  hope for me and fans across the nation. These events prompt today's post.

Since Gold Medals are being awarded for outstanding individual and team efforts I want to inspire you to read articles I've posted since the mid 2000s about giving "Gold Medals" to those who do outstanding work to help mentor-rich non-school programs be available to K-12 youth living in  high poverty areas. 

That award could have categories for a) building public awareness; b) recruiting volunteers; c) raising and/or giving money; d) supporting program infrastructure; e) starting new programs in places where more are needed, or where specific types of programs are needed.  

These are medals that can be earned by people who "help" tutor/mentor programs thrive and constantly improve. A second category could be awarded to those working within individual programs, such as a) outstanding student effort; b) outstanding tutor/mentor volunteer; c) outstanding tech support or infrastructure volunteers, d) outstanding program design; e) outstanding communications via website and/or blog;  etc.  

What categories would you recommend?  Who would judge such events?  Who would provide awards?

When you think of team sports, do you think of all the resources and talent needed to put a winning team in the Olympics, or in the NFL or any other professional or college level sport?

I've used this graphic in many articles to visualize the different roles that need to be taken to make high quality, non-school, youth tutor and/or mentor programs available to youth living in high poverty areas.  

While it's the responsibility of the people who organize the team (or the program) to find all of  these resources, couldn't awards be given to those who help draw these resources to one, or many, tutor/mentor programs in Chicago or other places?

Below are four graphics that visualize the need for "teams" of talented people to help youth have the support they need. 

The graphic below shows that such teams are needed in every high poverty neighborhood, in every individual program, and at the city-wide level, to assure that there are teams operating in every high poverty area. Here's one article using this graphic. 

The "Virtual Corporate Office" graphic shown below uses a map of Chicago to signal a need for tutor/mentor programs in EVERY high poverty area of the city.  It shows a variety of activities that could be happening within each program.  And it shows support that industries could provide to help one, or many, programs operate at a high level of efficiency.  Here's one article using this graphic.

Imagine how many more people might be thinking about these graphics if they were being promoted on social media by star athletes, in every sport, or celebrities like Beyonce or Taylor Swift.  Imagine an award ceremony, attended by the First Lady, or First Gentleman, giving gold medal recognition to those who help tutor/mentor programs help kids move through school and into adult lives, jobs and careers.

If celebrities, and every-day people, make an on-going effort, every week, for many years, to draw attention and support to libraries where they can learn about ways to help youth and youth serving programs, the attention and resources flowing to these programs will grow, helping them keep people in place longer, and build greater knowledge and capacity to help youth through school and into adult lives.  

That idea is visualized in the graphic below, used in this article.

Many awards are given for doing good work. I wrote this article in February 2024 about the NFL Honors Awards.  I wonder if anyone has a library that just lists all the different awards that are given to people who do "good things".  

If such a list existed, we could compare the award criteria to those I suggested above.  Do they make a long-term impact, or are they random acts of kindness?  

When I say, "long-term" I'm thinking of programs that connect with youth when in elementary or middle school, then stay connected through high school graduation, or longer. See this graphic in this article.

To help kids through school, these awards need to be given every year, in every city for many years, if the goal is to help end poverty for every youth through education and a decent job.  

Awards should even be given to bloggers who create their own articles calling for people to build and sustain youth serving organizations in more places. 

Maybe someone could give medals to youth who create and share new versions of these graphics. I outlined this idea many years ago on this page, but never found someone to make it a reality.  Could that be you? 

If you're doing this I'd love to see your article.  Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and/or LinkedIn. See my links on this page. 

If you value what I'm sharing, please consider making a contribution to help me pay my bills.  Visit this page. 

Jefferson Award for Public Service - New Name. Same Goal.

Jefferson Award - 1983

Among many honors that I've received over the past 40 years was the SunTimes Jefferson Award for Public Service, which I received in 1982.

I wrote about this a couple of times in the past. Here's one article, with a link to the original Chicago SunTimes article.

I was leading the volunteer-based tutor/mentor program at Montgomery Ward at that time, and still holding a full-time retail advertising management role with the Montgomery Ward Corporation.  Much has changed in the many years since then, but I'm still trying to support tutor/mentor programs and kids in poverty, by trying to influence others to get involved, and in how they use their time and talent.

I received an email today saying that the foundation that makes this award is changing their name to MultiplyingGood.  They included this short video with the newsletter. I hope you'll look at it.



I don't come from a high profile or wealthy family, and never have risen to high levels of personal fame, so having the Montgomery Ward Corporation as a program sponsor for my efforts up till they went out of business in 2000, was really valuable in opening doors. Things have been a bit more difficult since then.

My Jefferson Award was presented to me by Governor Jim Thompson of Illinois. That's us in the photo at the right.  I've added an annotation to the photo, which sums up the frustrations I've had for the past 40 years.

While I've rubbed elbows with rich and famous people few have made an effort to consistently share news about the work I've been doing, so others would get involved.

I think the MultiplyingGood organization is attempting to do that.  As the Jefferson Awards for Public Service they maintained a blog, and in 2014 wrote an article about me.  I hope that as they change names, this archive of recognition will remain in place, or will be moved to a new web address.

Otherwise, I'll need to take some tips from my #clmooc friends who have been talking about content curation and web archives, and find a link to this on the "WaybackMachine" which is where I go to search for links to web sites that no longer are available.

The Best Recognition

I received an email yesterday from the Giraffe Heroes Project telling me of a private Facebook group they were launching in an effort to connect past Giraffe heroes to each other. I had received the recognition in 1997 which I show with the badge at the left. You can find my Giraffe profile here.

I've received many other awards in the past. Here's a list.  I appreciate the Giraffe label more than most because it's one that keeps on drawing attention and support to help me keep doing this work. It recognizes that the work we do is on-going and needs on-going support. 

Below is another type of recognition that I value. I spent time today talking with Darcel Washington, the founder of Mentoring You, LLC, who had contacted me last fall, asking for some ideas. We spoke for an hour on Skype today. Below is a reflection she posted on Twitter following our talk.

I just finished a @Skype video call with Dan @tutormentorteam, he’s a wealth of information! If you’re an organization that works with youth please visit his website https://t.co/lGdx8KWSeH . He has strategy maps, articles, blogs etc... you’ll thank me later 😘!

— Mentoring You, LLC. (@mentoring_you) January 15, 2019

Maybe the best of all are the things students and volunteers have said to me over the past 45 years.  I posted this Thank You Dan card on Slideshare last year.   I invite you to scroll through this collection of articles to see more like this.

Another form of thanks comes from the many types of reciprocation and idea sharing that takes place daily in a Twitter community that I've been building relationships with since 2013. I wrote about it in this post. Search #clmooc and #modigiwri on Twitter and scroll through the posts and see how this is on-going.


Below is a post made on Facebook in December 2018, encouraging others to read a blog article I've posted.  This is another form of thanks that I appreciate, because it shows alumni beginning to take part in the work I've been doing.

I appreciate all of this, but there's much work to be done to rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection to where it was before the recession that started in late 2008.  I've not had funds or staff to do that since 2011. 

Thus, another form of thanks comes in the form of contributions that help me pay the bills and continue doing this work. Click here if you'd like to offer that appreciation.

Connecting with IWU on LinkedIN

Scrolling through my Linkedin groups today and opened this Illinois Wesleyan University alumni group and saw that no posts had been made in quite a long time. So I decided to enter one.

I graduated from IWU in 1968, so this is my 50th anniversary. In August 2001 Minor Myers, Jr . who was President of IWU at that time, called me and asked if I'd come down to IWU in early September. He said they wanted to honor the work I'd been doing with inner city kids. That turned out to be an honorary PHD. You can see me in my robe in the montage of other awards and recognition I've received over the past 50 years.

While I started leading a Chicago tutor/mentor program in 1975 and informally started drawing program leaders together for idea sharing and relationship building, i formally started my network building in 1993 when I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Since then, I've been trying to build a network of business, education and professional leaders who work to make well-organized, on-going, non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs available to k-12 youth in all high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other cities. What I find is that while many people support individual programs, or well known programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters, few are looking at poverty maps and asking "how do we make the talent and resources available so that we fill more of these poverty areas with great programs?"

Furthermore, how do we help programs learn from each other so they are borrowing ideas that help them become great, then stay that way for many years as kids join their programs, then move through school and into adult lives and jobs, perhaps with IWU a stop along the way?

If any of you are part of tutor/mentor programs, as alumni, volunteers, donors, board members, researchers, etc. I hope you'll introduce yourself and read some of the ideas I've been sharing on this blog, the MappingforJustice blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site

I'm not attending homecoming and my 50th reunion because I've not been able to raise money to pay myself, or the costs of the work i'm doing, since 2011. Thus, driving from the Chicago area to Bloomington, Il.  and getting a hotel room, is an expense beyond my budget.

That does not prevent me from connecting with IWU and it's alumni via forums like the IWU group on LinkedIN, or on Twitter or Facebook. Let's connect if this is something you're interested in.

If you want to help me pay the bills, just visit this page and make a contribution.

Do They Give Olympic Gold Medals for Ending Poverty?

Jefferson Award for Public Service 

I posted an article with this headline in 2007.  Since the 2018 Winter Olympics have just started, it's time for an update.

When I wrote my 2007 article Chicago had just won the right to compete with other cities around the world to host the 2016 Olympics (later they lost the bid).

I asked, "What do these cities have in common with Chicago?" They all have neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty and disenfranchised youth. They are all seeking ways to prepare their youth for 21st century jobs and careers.

So I proposed that a Gold Medal competition be established to see which city can do the most each year from 2007 until 2016 to build comprehensive, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in all of their high poverty neighborhoods, which are funded by the businesses who will get rich off of the Olympics, and who also are pointing fingers at public education because it's not doing enough to prepare low income youth for 21st century jobs and careers.

Read "Planning Steps-War on Poverty"

I suggested that there could be one winner each year from 2007 till 2016 and a grand prize winner at the 2016 Olympics.

I also suggested, "Maybe this will become a tradition and will continue until the 2116 Olympics. What would the world look like then as a result of such a focused effort in cities all over the world?"

Finally, I wrote "I just wish as many smart and powerful people in Chicago were focusing on the goals of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, as are focusing on getting the Olympic bid."

Where do you start learning about ways to compete for this award? Visit the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site and begin to use the links and forums for your own learning and collaboration. You can even take a leadership role now, by using your blogs and your own media and web sites, to point your customers to meeting places where these ideas are being discussed, on-line and face-2-face. 

I concluded: "So far there is no Olympic Medal for Best City in ending Poverty."  That is still true in 2018. 

 If you'd like to become a sponsor and partner to create such an award, email tutormentor2@earthlink.net, or connect with me on one of these social media sites.

Note: one outcome of lack of support for this strategy, and the recession that started in 2007-8 was that the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) strategy was discontinued in the non-profit where it originated in 1993. I created the Tutor/Mentor Institue, LLC in 2011 to try to find new sources of revenue to keep the T/MC alive in Chicago and to help similar intermediary organizations grow in other cities.

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.

New Year's Wish. Awards for Strategic Business Investment

If you've visited this blog I hope you've also visited the Mapping for Justice blog. This one provides a broader range of information and ideas intended to engage more people in support of organized, non-school programs that connect youth and volunteers in muti-year efforts. The Mapping for Justice blog focuses narrowly on the use of Geographic maps and visualizations.

During the last two months of 2014 I've posted a series of concept maps, like the one at the left, that illustrate strategies I hope are adopted in many places, that support the on-going growth and distribution of tutor/mentor programs in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other cities.

During the January National Mentoring Summit, several businesses will be recognized for their "outstanding contributions to advancing quality mentoring opportunities for young people". At the annual National Conference on Volunteering and Service , to be held in October 2015, the Corporation for National and Community Service provides this Award of Excellence to businesses with outstanding corporate volunteer engagement strategies.

In many articles on this blog I've used graphics to show the 12 years it takes for a youth to go from first grade to 12th grade, and the need for on-going operating support to organizations in every poverty neighborhood who have strategies to help youth succeed in this journey. I've pointed to challenges facing non profits, resulting from an inconsistent flow of operating dollars and an almost non-existing advertising budget, which makes it extremely difficult for high quality tutor/mentor programs to realistically be operating in every poverty neighborhood of any city.

Thus, my wish for 2015 and beyond is that awards be given to companies who form teams of volunteers who research ways their company can engage employee talent and company resources to provide on-going flows of talent and dollars to support youth serving organizations who show strategies aimed to help youth move through school and into careers. Such teams would use the maps I've pointed to here, and on the Mapping for Justice Blog, as part of their own research. Maps like the one below can be used as study guide, or to stimulate thinking on the benefits to adopting such strategies.

In this Shoppers Guide I show some indicators that I feel should show up on the web sites of non school, volunteer based tutor/mentor programs. As I talk to my peers I encourage them to create their own strategy graphics and blog articles, showing the challenges they face and encouraging business to support them, and all other, youth serving organizations in the city where they operate.

Companies might use this Role of Leaders PDF as a guide for launching internal teams.

I'd like to see a similar guide showing indicators that would appear on business web sites, showing a CEO commitment to engaging company resources in strategic, on-going efforts to help more kids move through school and showing strategies the company is applying to mobilize more and more resources and distribute their influence to all locations where they do business or where employees live.

If companies from every industry and profession were encouraging volunteer involvement in neighborhoods throughout the city, programs from throughout the city might be able to show a greater diversity of volunteers and funding. Using Social Network Analysis tactics every program might begin to publish graphics similar to this, showing the different jobs/careers modeled by volunteers within their organization, or showing sources of operating resources, technology, talent and ideas.

Finally, my 2015 wish includes a hope that one or two investors/benefactors will step forward and put their name on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, with a major contribution and long term commitment. This strategy map shows what I've been building and all the different places where investment is needed to do this better than I've been able to so far.

I recognize the vast amount of information I've provided in 2014 and in past years and that while my visualizations make sense to me, they may not make sense to others who've not spent as many years thinking about this as I have. Thus, I encourage you to invite me to your company or organization (for a small fee) where I can spend time talking with you about any of these articles or graphics.

Happy New Year to all who read these articles. Best wishes to you, your families and the people who serve in your own efforts.

Were you volunteer tutor/mentor in 1980s? Still involved?

This pin was given to myself and other volunteers in the early 1980s. It recognized volunteers who had given five to 10 years of consecutive service the Montgomery Ward-Cabrini/Green Tutoring Program in Chicago, where we were working with Cabrin-Green elementary school youth.

There might have been 20 to 25 people who received these pins. It was only awarded in one or two years. Mine showed 10 years of service. I had joined the tutoring program in 1973 as a tutor, then became part of the leadership committee the next year, and the volunteer leader the following year. When I took the lead in 1975 we were starting each year with around 100 pairs of volunteers and youth, but the number was down to about half of that by the end of the year.

At that time 90% of the volunteers were employees at the Montgomery Ward Corporate office and Catalog Distribution Center in Chicago.

By 1990 we were up to 300 pairs of volunteers and youth. More than 80% of those who started in the fall continued all year and with constant recruitment of replacements, we ended the year with more volunteers than what we started with. On 10% of the volunteers were from Montgomery Ward. After the Catalog operation closed in the early 1980s many volunteers went to other companies, then began to bring co-workers from those companies to volunteer.

I continued to lead the tutoring program at Wards until the fall of 1992 (we converted it to the non profit Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Inc. in 1990. It was renamed Tutoring Chicago in the past couple of years). In the fall of 1992 I created Cabrini Connections, to help kids who aged out of the original program after 6th grade have a similar support system to help them through high school. At the same time, we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to help similar programs grow in all high poverty areas of Chicago.

I led Cabrini Connections until mid 2011. I'm still leading the Tutor/Mentor Connection, but under the structure of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

One of the other volunteers who received an award pin along with myself was Allen Tyson. He started tutoring a few years before me. He is still tutoring, now with Tutoring Chicago.


When I became a volunteer in 1973 I was assigned to work with a fourth grade boy named Leo. That's him with me in this picture. We're still connected today via Facebook, over 40 years later.

I'm connected to dozens of youth (who are now adults) and volunteers (who are now older) who I met between 1973 and 2011. I'd like to find a way to build a "great reunion" on the Internet, so more of those who were part of these programs in the past would reconnect.

One of the things I focus on every day is finding ways to empower some of those who have benefited from their participation so they will become leaders who share the vision I've shared in these blog articles and who will carry this forward in future years when I'm no longer here to provide that leadership.

Jefferson Award for Public Service - 32 years later

On February 11 I was honored to be featured in this article on the blog of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service page.

I received this award in 1982, when it was the Chicago SunTimes Jefferson Award. You can see the newspaper story from then at this link.

I've received other awards since then, such as in 1999 when I received the Publisher's Clearing House Good as Gold Award on the Dec. 31 telecast of the Montel Jones TV show.

The best rewards for the work I've done have come from students and volunteers testimonials of how much a difference the programs I've led have had in their lives, or how much help the Tutor/Mentor Connection has offered to their own program-building efforts. I met my wife through the program at Montgomery Ward thus my two kids are also one of the unexpected rewards of doing this work.

I've never gotten rich. In fact, I've never earned as much since 1990 as I was earning in my last year with the advertising department at Montgomery Ward. However, I have a wealth of experience that I try to share via this blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site. And a vast network of people who I've met and learned from, just as they have learned from me.

I've been putting as much of my ideas as I can on these web sites. I've also been working with interns to help create new interpretations of these ideas. Visit this site and see new work added every six months by interns from IIT and South Korea, and from other universities. Visit this page to see more work done by interns.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me do this work and thanks to those like the Jefferson Awards for Public Service who help us share our story with thousands of others.

Lend a Hand and help create the future you want

Today I attended the Ninth Annual "My Hero" Awards Luncheon organized by the Lawyers Lend A Hand to Youth organization based in Chicago. Close to 200 lawyers, judges, members of the legal community, and youth organization leaders gave recognition to volunteers from the legal community who are going the extra mile to help kids in poor neighborhoods connect with mentors and tutors who support those kids as they make their way through school and into their adult lives. UPDATE: See story in the Daily Law Bulletin, written 9/21

While the My Hero Awards event is nine years old, the Lend A Hand Program started organizing events to raise awareness and dollars to fund volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago starting in 1994. The photo above shows myself with my son Jacob, Betsey Densmore, Executive Directory of the Chicago Bar Foundation, and Chicago Bar Association President Richard J. Prendergast at a 1997 event held at the Chicago Children's Museum.

In today's event Dan Cotter, current Chair of the Board for Lawyers Lend A Hand, presented a check for $45,000 which he had personally raised through a "Lifting to Lend-A-Hand" campaign. Dan personally has raised more than $250,000 to support the Lend-A-Hand efforts since 2002. Imagine if hundreds of lawyers and other professionals were making the same commitment to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

This year's Law Firm Partnership of the Year Award went to Freeborn & Peters LLP who has provide long-term support to Chicago Scholars. At the conclusion to the event Genita Robinson, Executive Directory for Lawyers Lend-A-Hand said "If every mentor program in Chicago had a partner like Freeborn & Peters, LLP, what a difference it would make."

I'd like to see that vision extend to every industry in Chicago, not just every law firm.

No single donor funds more than a small percent of the full operating costs of any tutor/mentor program. Thus dollars need to come from multiple sources, not just from one or two. At the same time, one of the greatest benefits of a tutor/mentor program is that it connects young people to adults and experiences beyond the poverty neighborhood where they live. If tutor/mentor programs had volunteers coming from many different industries and professions each program would offer a wider diversity of experiences and mentoring to their students.

This could happen if every person who attended today's lunch were to read this article and make an effort to encourage people he/she knows to get involved. It could happen if the volunteers in every program funded by Lend A Hand were to actively encourage their companies, faith groups, college friends and families to devote part of their giving pie to support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in different parts of Chicago.

Merri Dee was MC for today's lunch. I first met her in 1990 as I was creating the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Inc. I've always been inspired by her "If it is to be, it is up to me" statement.

If we want to help reduce poverty and violence and improve the quality of Chicago's workforce, it is up to every one of us to try to build the resources and talent flow that is needed in programs throughout the city and suburbs.

Ten Years Ago -Just Prior to 9/11

10 years ago I was preparing to go to Illinois Wesleyan to receive an honorary PhD recognizing my work connecting youth and volunteers. This photo is from that ceremony. Minor Myers, jr., President of IWU in the 1990s was one of my strongest supporters. He wrote in one note, "You've done this so well it strikes me you could provide a service to other major cities. This is first class work."

At the same time, I’d just been appointed to the Illinois Commission on Volunteering and Community Service by Governor George Ryan. His wife was the honorary chairperson for the annual Chicago area August/September Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign that we had organized since 1995. This photo is from a press conference where Paul Vallas, CEO of Chicago Public Schools also showed his support.

In 1999 I had received the Good As Gold Award from Publisher’s Clearing House on a Dec. 31 national telecast of the Montel Williams TV Show. We had received other awards prior to this and we've received other awards and recognition since.

Even though the stock market had begun to plunge and we had lost our major sponsor, the Montgomery Ward Corporation, things looked good for Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

That was 10 years ago. Only a week later came the 9/11 attack on America and the beginning of a decade of struggles for us and millions of others around the world. Last December I wrote a series of blog articles and created this PDF report showing how we had continued to build connections between youth and volunteers and expand our network of tutor/mentor programs despite severe financial challenges.

Then in April the Board of Directors of Cabrini Connections voted to no longer support the combined strategy of a local program and a global strategy. Read announcement. I was given ownership of the ideas and assets of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and resigned my role as President and CEO in late July.

Since then I’ve formed Tutor/Mentor Institute LLC with the goal of continuing to support the work of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago while helping similar groups form in other cities. This concept map shows this strategy and points to some of the people I’m reaching out to as well as the talent I will need over the next 10 years to have the impact I wrote about in this article http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2009/09/no-i-did-not-win-macarthur-award-but.html

The world has changed since ten years ago but the courage of some people who want to create a better world has only been strengthened. Through the Internet the networks of people who share ideas and learn from each other has grown dramatically, as have the tools for collective action.

This photo shows a montage of people who have been part of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections in the past. This video illustrates how networks can be mapped to show constellations of people and groups focusing on common goals.

With luck, faith, and an abundance of optimism I intend to recognize 9/11 the way I did when the original attack took place 10 years ago. I’ll be sitting at my computer trying to connect people and ideas that might prevent such terrorism in the first place while keeping my ear to the events taking place and praying for the survival of those who have been so terribly impacted by the man-made and natural disasters of the past 10 years.

I own much to my own family for my ability to do this work. My daughter was born the year I first launched the tutoring program at Wards as a non profit. My son was born in 1997. They have grown up while I've been spending countless hours trying to help "other people's kids". My wife has carried much of the load on the family front. I hope they realize when they are older how what I do is intended to create a better future for them, not just of "other people's kids".

POWER OF THE PRIZE

I attended an Advertising & Public Relations Reception at Loyola University Chicago last night. I was not quite sure what the event would include beyond “free wine” but was really please with the result.

First, this event showcased work that teams of Loyola students in Kay Felkin’s advertising and PR class had done since January to support five small non profits in the Chicago region. One of Kay’s students was Jordan Merlo, who was an intern with us a year ago. In early April I was a guest speaker and presented this information to Kay’s students. So I was really pleased to be invited to see the work the students had done.

Second, this was a competition! The students were competing for The Ebeling Pr-ize not just for an academic credit. The winning student team received a $2000 award from Chuck and Vicki Ebeling, along with a signed letter of recognition for the success the campaign achieved on a professional level.

I was introduced to Chuck and Vicki during the networking part of the event and they were very polite in listening to what I do with the Tutor/Mentor Connection. However, it was not until Mr. Ebeling spoke that I realized that he was a founding member of the McDonald’s Global Communications Council and what the purpose of the event really was.

It totally related to my own goals and strategies.

Mr. Ebeling talked about how prizes and competitions have the potential to change the world and he described the Orteig Prize as an early example and inspiration for his own efforts.

The Orteig Prize was first announced in 1919 by Raymond Orteig, a French-born New York hotelier. It offered $25,000 for a pilot to fly nonstop between Paris and New York.

The Orteig Prize is what inspired Charles Lindberg to become the first pilot to fly nonstop between Paris and New York City in 1927. The result was a transformational event that led to the airline industry as we know it today.

I did some research on this today and found this Innovation in the Crowd web site that provides more information about the Orteig Prize, and also provides extensive information that can be used in creating competitions like this.

Why is this important?

I see competitions as one strategy to draw more attention to the ideas we share on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site and to draw more consistent visibility, volunteers and philanthropic support to tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago. I also see it as a way to earn income to support the T/MC efforts. The graphic below illustrates how a competition at key times each year could be a "spark" that motivates more people to get involved, or stay involved, with volunteer based tutor/mentor programs.

Competitions and awards that recognize people and businesses for how they support one or more tutor/mentor programs could provide such a spark. So could competitions that recognize teams of students and/or volunteers for work they do to help the T/MC increase the reach and frequency of its communications.

For instance, I’ve had the idea of a Business School Connection on the drawing board for more than a decade. This wiki was created by a University of Chicago NetImpact fellow in May 2007 but I’ve not found other volunteers or sponsors to help move the idea forward since then.

In this article, I show work interns are doing of converting illustrated essays into animations and videos and the potential that this could be a competition involving students from all over the world.

As one of the professors said to me at the Loyola reception, “It’s a good concept but making it operational is your challenge.”

He’s right. However, the people I met at this reception, and the information I’ve found about using prizes to inspire innovation, are more fuel for my efforts to add these competitions to the Tutor/Mentor Connection’s year-round strategy.

If you want to help, let me know.

Vote in Pepsi Refresh for Tutor/Mentor

Yesterday I wrote about President Obama asking for $900 million to reduce the high school drop out rate.

I don't have much influence with my single vote on how the Federal government uses my tax dollars, but I can influence the futures of inner city kids by what I do as leader of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Now you can have an influence on what the Tutor/Mentor Connection does to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs grow, and thrive, in all parts of the Chicago region.

Here's a pdf showing resources provided by T/MC

Here's some articles showing the Network of Purpose.

View the Program Locator and see how it helps you find where tutor/mentor programs in Chicago are located.

Vote for us in the Pepsi Refresh Project.

With your help we can win a grant of $250,000, which is a full year of funding for the Tutor/Mentor Connection. With this we upgrade the maps, the web library, the outreach and we help every tutor/mentor program in the city get the ideas, the volunteers and the dollars they also need.

If you help the Tutor/Mentor Connection grow in Chicago you also help similar strategies grow in your own city because your leaders can borrow ideas from the T/MC and the resources we share in our library and through the May and November Conferences, as well as on-line forums.

This contest runs through March 2010. Right now we're in 284th place. We need to be in the top two to win the grant. Can you help?

Nobel Prize. Earn it.

Here's an article I wrote three years ago about earning awards and recognition like a Nobel Prize.

Like any other achievement, hard work, perserverance, creativity and innovation, are required. I have led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program for 34 consecutive years, which I think is probably longer than most other people in this country.

Thus, I've spent more time thinking about the problems involved in changing the thinking and aspirations of kids living in neighborhoods of high poverty, where the community around them models different aspirations. I've also spent lots of time thinking about how to get adults involved in tutor/mentor programs, and how to convert some to leaders, who will spend much more time than one or two hours a week, working and thinking with me, on ways to make our programs effective.

I've also spent loads of time trying to figure ways to keep such programs funded, well led, and sustainable over many years, because it takes six years for a 7th grader to graduate from high school, and another 4 to 6 years for them to be in the early stages of a job and career.

Finally, I've been accused of being a habitual visual and spatial thinker, because of the way I use maps and focus on helping all poverty neighborhoods of Chicago have great, and constantly improving, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

You can follow my thinking if you want to spent the time, by visiting the links and tags on this blog, or by browsing the sections of the Tutor/Mentor Institute.

In fact, so can President Obama, Mayor Daley, or any other leader, including the student council at a local high school. Furthermore, you can use the same graphics tools to create your own vision, and blueprint, and use your own blog to invite people to look at your ideas and use them in their own efforts.

Maybe YOU will earn a Nobel Prize because of how you apply this thinking, or of how you lead others into this information.

Time will tell. Let's see if you're still involved five, ten, fifteen, or even 35 years from now.

No. I did not win a MacArthur Award. But.....

I encourage you to read this article, posted today on a PCWORLD blog. It profiles a list of people who Phil things are deserving of the MacArthur Genius Award.

The first name on the list is me, Daniel F. Bassill.

I've known Phil for a long time. I met him through the networking and information sharing I've done on the Internet since 1998 when I was first introduced to the web. I was honored when he first suggested to me that he was going to write this article. I thank him for taking the time to recognize myself, and others, for the work we're doing.

This type of network building is really the core concept of the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy. As more and more people look at the information on our site, or become involved with youth via their own tutor/mentor program roles, the can all reach out to people in their own networks with stories of what they do, and what is happening in other tutor/mentor programs. If enough people do this every day, we'll all have the resources we each need to earn praise from people like Phil and awards from foundations like the MacArthur Foundation.

However, we've not won the award. You can change that if you share this article with enough people. Or, we won't need the award, if others read Phil's article and decide that they want to be the benefactor that supports our innovations.