Building Public Awareness in a Cluttered Media Landscape

"We created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 because we recognized the problem charities have of consistently attracting donors. While a few programs are great at getting funds, not every program is as good, thus there is a poor distribution of good programs in all places where they are needed."

Step 2 of our four-part strategy focused on building public awareness and drawing volunteers and donors directly to various youth tutor and/or mentor programs in the Chicago region.  

Getting media attention for youth tutor/mentor programs in a world where the latest negative news can put your story on the back page, or out of the news all-together, is a problem I've dealt with for many years.

Above is a photo from the 1999 Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign kick-off press conference, held at the James Thompson Center in Chicago. We had media from every major news station. Yet, our story did not make it into the news because on the same day the Mayor was attending an event hosted by a major corporation. On a different year, it was news about President Bill Clinton that knocked our event out of the electronic news.

This illustrates how difficult it is to draw attention to important issues.  If we'd had the Internet in the 1990s we could been creating and sharing our own stories. 

Yet, this would not have guaranteed public awareness.  With all of the people on social media looking at news about the indictment of our former President, how many will take time to look at my posts? 

Below is a letter to the editor that I wrote, published in Crain's Chicago Business in 2013.  

This week a Chicago business coalition announced that it was making a multi-million dollar commitment to fight violence in Chicago. I posted the Tweet below, encouraging them to look at the ideas I've been sharing and apply them in their own leadership.

I invite CEOs in #Chicago Civic Committee to review this "Role of Leaders" PDF & create versions of this concept map, with their name/company logos in the blue box at the top. https://t.co/zsQk4cG8ZD pic.twitter.com/25yE5LG6yE

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) June 1, 2023

For several years I have used this graphic in an article, to illustrate how volunteers from different work backgrounds could help build learning activities in different programs that would help build youth aspirations and skills for careers not modeled consistently by family or community in high poverty neighborhoods.  Imagine what might happen if Chicago business leaders adopted this commitment. 

When I write about "business teams" my vision is that teams from media, arts, video, banking, engineering, etc. might work as a "virtual corporate office", with goals of identifying existing examples where youth already are exposed to different types of learning, then recruit and support volunteers from their industry who would help embed these types of learning activities in other programs throughout the Chicago region (or in other cities).

I've already created a section of my web library with links to Chicago tutor/mentor programs, and with links to organizations that include health, STEM or arts as part of their activities. Existing programs can learn from what other programs are already doing. They can bring these ideas into their own programs if volunteers and business partners will help make that happen. 

How do we make mentor-rich programs available to K-16 youth in all place where they are needed? This can only become a reality if businesses, and business volunteers, help make that happen.

How do we get attention for this message within the ocean of other news?  

Anyone reading this can share it on social media, in their own newsletters, or in one-on-one conversations with others.  If those people do the same we create a chain reaction that reaches people throughout the world.

 I created this graphic more than 15 years ago to visualize how an idea shared by one person, and shared by a few followers, can reach throughout the world. 

This Tutor/Mentor blog provides 18 years of templates that others could use to create their own articles, focused on helping youth in different cities, or in different parts of the Chicago region.  If others were writing such stories, and linking to each other, and amplifying each other's articles, more would be seeing these.  

I do this all the time. Here's an example, where I reTweeted a Mentoring New York post with a link to their blog. 

For this month's blog, @MENTORNewYork's own Joie Golomb, the Associate Director of Partnership Development & Engagement, shares the three C's that lead to a Powerful Professional Network and the benefits! Read more: https://t.co/tzoNRDQ1Pp #MentoringAmplifies

— MENTOR New York (@MENTORNewYork) August 16, 2021

Here's another Tweet that I posted, while listening to a webinar hosted by the Brookings Institute. You can find my posts an more at #BrookingsRacialEquity. 

@CamilleBusette talking about business leaders setting example. The could create versions of this #conceptmap w their name/logo in blue box at top. https://t.co/lHeYxjMPiZ#BrookingsRacialEquity pic.twitter.com/IF7jwzVaAX

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) June 8, 2023

You can do this, too.  

If you're writing a blog share it on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and/or Facebook.  If I see it, I'll try to amplify it to my own network. 

Thanks for reading.  All of the issues the media point to are important and need attention.  However, kids need constant attention too.  Without millions of dollars for advertising we need to be creative and consistent in telling our stories. 

If you're able to make a small contribution to help fund the work I'm doing, please visit this page and use the PayPal to send your help.