Study Guide - Tutor/Mentor on Substack.com

When I became the volunteer leader of the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program in 1975 I was holding a full-time retail advertising job with the company. The program started that year with 100 pairs of 2nd-6th grade kids and workplace volunteers.

There was no way I could personally train every volunteer, so I tried to create a "learning" organization by providing information they could use via our monthly newsletters and weekly handouts.

I continued that practice through email newsletters, blogs, a website and social media through 2011 when I stopped leading a single program. I've continued that practice through the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) in an effort to build more consistent support to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs reach K-12 kids in every high poverty area of the Chicago region and beyond.

I've posted articles on this blog since 2005 and on the MappingforJustice blog since 2011 (it was started by Mike Trakan in 2008). I've posted on the Intern blog since it was started by an intern from Hong Kong in 2006.

They are represent a curriculum of ideas that could be embedded in any leadership training program.

Since last fall I've posted a series of articles on Substack.com that aim to highlight featured ideas. Below you can see images for these posts.

You can find links to each of these at https://substack.com/@danielbassill319958

Open this 1984-85 Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program archive and you'll find copies of several newsletters like the one I shared at the top of this article. 

While the maps and much of the research points to Chicago where there are thousands of kids living in highly segregated high-poverty areas, the ideas and strategies can be applied in any city in the world.  I invite you to view them, and created your own versions, putting your own maps and ideas into them.

Then connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms and help build awareness and involvement with these ideas, and with youth-serving programs in more places. Find links on this page.

Thanks for reading.  I depend on a few long-time supporters for small donations that help me continue this work.  Visit this page if you'd like to help. 

Check out my articles on Substack.com

Since last August I've been using Substack.com to provide in-depth descriptions of some of my concept maps and visual essays.

This is my most recent. The headline is "What would convince you to support a tutor/mentor program?"

The headline of this article was "Shared Goal". It show actions that would lead to more youth moving safely through school and  into adult lives.

This article is titled "Start planning for fall 2026 tutor/mentor programs." It focuses on annual planning. While May-June is the end of one school year and tutor/mentor programs are celebrating, the new school year starts soon and programs need to be recruiting volunteers to help with planning and operations right now. 

This article asks "Can YOU champion this idea?"  It shows a role many leaders need to take to support birth-to-work programs that reach K-12 youth in areas of concentrated poverty. 

This article is titled "Mentor Kids to Careers - 4 Part Strategy"  

Read all of my Substack.com articles. Find the list on this page. 

Unless many people read and share these too few will ever see the ideas.  That's been the challenge since I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.  It's one reason I encourage others to create their own versions of these, and incorporate them into their own leadership and advocacy.

I've depended on a small group of donors to help me pay the bills since 2011.  Many are former Acacia Fraternity brothers from Illinois Wesleyan who I went to school with in the mid 1960s. We're all getting older and each year one or more moves from this life to the afterlife.  

I will join them in the near future. Nothing immediate, but that's not up to me.  Until then, I hope new supporters will visit this page, and offer help for me to keep doing this work.  Thank you. 

More on Substack

In August I began posting a series of articles on Substack to help build a deeper understanding of some of the graphics and concept maps that I've been putting in articles on this blog for the past 20 years.  

Here's one.
 

In this article I show actions that need to be taken to engage more people in efforts that result in more youth staying in school, being safe in non-school hours, graduating, then moving on to jobs and careers by their mid to late 20s.

At the bottom of the pyramid is the knowledge base/library that supports the understanding and actions of everyone who gets involved (or should).

I'll post a new article in the next few days.    Visit this page to see my collection.

Several years ago I created this animation, to encourage people to read articles on my blog and website then create and share your own interpretations.  See it in this article.

That's the goal. If more people share the articles, using their own talent and creativity, the number of people who become invested with time, talent and dollars, in more places, will grow.

At some point this could reach a tipping point where there are more people opening doors and providing opportunity for kids in economically disadvantaged areas, than there are who set up barriers.

I'd love to see your own interpretations. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram and/or Mastodon. (find links here).

If you value what I'm sharing please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the work.