Borrow from planning strategies I've shared for over 25 years

During the late 1990s I participated in many on-line discussions.  I printed copies of many messages that I posted and I've been digitizing these recently.  Yesterday I found a June 19, 1999 post made in response to a request for help from an educator in St. Paul, Minnesota.

She wrote "We are struggling with how to implement something in the wake of Littleton. We have no money and right now little direction.  How did you get started?"

Below I've posted JPGs showing my response. You can open the PDF and enlarge it to read it more easily.

I began by writing, "I've been listening to this conversation and have not entered because "venting" is not as productive as "building" solutions.  Michael (and others) asked for suggestions of what we could be doing.  Here's what myself and a few volunteers have been building for the past six years in response to these issues.  I invite any of you to borrow from these ideas, or join in."

I described the Cabrini Connections program that we created in late 1992 to help 7th and 8th graders connect with volunteers who would help them through school.  Then I wrote, "However, it's not that which I'm offering as a plan (although I welcome anyone who wants to borrow from what we do with these kids)."

I continued, "We recognized when we formed Cabrini Connections in 1992 that there are nearly 200,000 youth in Chicago alone who could be described as "at-risk" because of poverty, segregation, lack of jobs and poor schools.  We realized that the Mayor, the media and the leaders of the school system would never give day-to-day commitment to building quality afterschool/nonschool tutor/mentor programs with adult mentors serving as friends, coaches, counselors, career advocates and leaders.  These folks just had more pressing issues than this single issue.

So we formed what we call the Tutor/Mentor Connection, with a simple goal of reaching out to our peers with a "what can we do to help you succeed?" message.

Enlarge the JPGs to read more, or open the PDF. 

In the concluding paragraphs, I wrote:

Think of the potential.

"What this means is that anyone in this list could use the events we have in place in Chicago, duplicate them in their own cities, and lead a campaign which motivates people to be involved, motivates their peers to become leaders, and build resources for the movement. Each event builds to the next event and each year builds greater awareness of the movement, the programs in the movement and the leaders who champion the message.

This is not "venting".  This is an action plan started by individuals who said "the buck stops here" and each day for the past six years we've got up in the morning and said, "what can we do today to move this forward".  We had no money when we started. We had no corporate or foundation support and no rich friends. We still have little money and we've no government funding.

If we could build this in Chicago, think what any of you could do in your own communities."

---- end1999 message ----

In the mid 2000s I created this graphic to show the quarterly events we had piloted and how year-to-year repetition and support from high profile leaders could lead to greater and greater support for volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs throughout the Chicago area.

Open this PDF to learn more about the year-round strategy.  Visit this page to learn more about events piloted by the Tutor/Mentor Connection in the 1990s. 

I've shared this message over-and-over for many years with people in almost every state and in other countries.  In this folder you can view contact history with a few people in other places.

However, I'm like a prophet in the desert saying "there's a better way".

I've had too few resources to share these ideas as widely and as effectively as they needed to be shared, or to do the follow-up work to know who has tried to implement the ideas.

However, based on what I do see on my social media platforms, and the continuing persistent poverty in many places throughout America, the type of campaign I've described still is not taking place in most cities and states.  

Think of the potential.

Assign someone to do the research, digging through my archives, to learn what I and others have tried to do, then build a network of people who will use those ideas to do better work over the next 10-20 years.  

If you're leading a campaign like I describe, or know of others who do, please share links in the comment box so others can learn from your efforts.

I'm on Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. Find links on this page.  Please connect with me. Share your strategies and share mine.  

If you're able to help me, visit this page and make a small contribution to Fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Creating year-round attention

I have used graphics for 20+  years to communicate ideas. Almost all related to what we need to do to build mentor-rich non-school, and school-based, support systems to help kids in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives.

Because this blog has a vertical structure (you only see the most recent on the home page), some graphics don't get as much attention as they should. Here's an example.

We did the planning for the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and launched it with a first Chicago tutor/mentor programs survey in January 1994.  Over the next few years we developed a year-round series of events intended to draw attention, volunteers and donors directly to the youth programs we were learning about in our surveys, while drawing those programs together to learn from each other.  

View this video to see animation showing  year-round strategy, created by intern in late 2000s.

We published our list of programs in a printed directory each year from 1995 to 2003 and have shared the list on-line since 1998. You can find it now at this link. 

We started using maps of Chicago in 1993 to show where non-school tutor/mentor programs were most needed, based on poverty, poorly performing (and poorly funded) schools, etc. We plotted locations of existing programs on these maps. I've posted more than 250 articles demonstrating how maps can be used and created an entire blog focused on uses of maps. 

Conferences in May and November, a city-wide volunteer recruitment campaign in August/September, a Tutor/Mentor Week in November were events my team organized.  We drew upon the January National Mentoring Month publicity to try to build renewed attention to tutor/mentor programs in February, when many were looking to replace volunteers who had dropped out over the holidays.  We had other goals but they never were able to be developed.

Visit this page to read more about these activities. 

We're now in the Back-to-School volunteer-recruitment period and this morning I looked at this blog to see when I last used this graphic.  It was last November, in this article. 

It's an important concept because it emphasizes the role anyone can take to draw attention to youth serving programs in their community.  I'll share this on Twitter because while there are countless politicians calling for your votes, and your dollars, I don't see many (if any) using their Tweets to draw volunteers to youth serving programs in the districts they want to represent.

Maybe this can encourage a few to add this message to their posts. 

While I no longer organize conferences or a site-based volunteer-recruitment campaign, I still host a library and encourage youth programs, volunteers, youth, business, donors and others to draw ideas from it that they use to help kids in poverty move safely from birth to work.  Furthermore, I share history of events I organized, such as the recruitment campaign, and the tutor/mentor conferences, with the goal that others in Chicago and other cities will create their own versions of these, and their own year-round calendar of youth support events.

You can find me on each of these social media platforms

And, you can help me cover the costs of keeping this information available to you and others around the world by visiting this page and making a small contribution. 

Thank you for reading and sharing my articles. 

If you scroll back to articles from past years are there some graphics that I used in the past that you think I should emphasize with a new post?  Let me know. 

Super Bowl. Olympics. What's Involved?

Like almost everyone else around the country I'm going to be watching the Super Bowl football game tomorrow.  Many are also watching the Winter Olympics. 

Thus, I want to draw your attention to the infrastructure that is needed to build great teams. Then I want to ask you to think of ways volunteers in business, civic and alumni groups, sports, entertainment and faith groups, etc. can take on roles of fans and team owners to build and sustain great tutor/mentor programs in every high poverty area of Chicago and other cities.

Below is a graphic I've been trying to develop for many years.

The team on the field consists of youth and volunteers who are connected via the efforts of the staff and leaders of organized tutoring, mentoring and learning programs. Youth in poverty face many obstacles, thus the defensive line in this graphic represents some of those obstacles. However, organized tutor/mentor programs in high poverty neighborhoods also face many challenges.

Unless we as a city can overcome these challenges (visualized in this concept map) there will be too few great tutor/mentor programs in the many Chicago area neighborhoods where they are needed. Or in neighborhoods of other cities where NFL, NBA and other pro sports teams operate.

In this graphic, the fans in the stands are people who work in business, attend faith services weekly, attend local colleges, etc. These are the people who support great sports teams by their attendance, by watching on TV, or listening on the radio. They support sport teams, and sponsors, by the way they purchase sports apparel, and the way they talk about their teams on a daily basis. These are people who could be volunteering time, talent and dollars to support tutor/mentor programs.

In the sky-boxes are team owners, boosters, investors and others who pay millions of dollars to make great teams available...at the professional level, and at the major college level. Unless we find investors like this to support the growth of great tutor/mentor teams in more places, there will be too few, and there will be few who have long-term commitments to building great teams.

This next graphic shows the role of intermediaries. The articles I write and graphics I create are limited by the talent I have to do this work. The number of people who see these is limited by my own lack of personal visibility and advertising dollars. Thus, if we want more great teams we need more people doing what I do, taking on an intermediary role to help connect people they know with ideas and with programs where they can help implement these ideas.

I send out a monthly email newsletter, with graphics like these, and with links to different sections of my web library. This section points to almost 200 Chicago area youth serving organizations who need support from fans and owners to be world class at what they do.

The goal is that people use the information I'm aggregating to expand the range of ideas they have to support actions they take to help great tutor/mentor teams be available in more places. Volunteers from different places could help create a better design for this newsletter, could write articles, and could create their own versions to circulate this information to their own network of family, friends, co-workers, etc. 

Since most of my library points to Chicago youth programs, every city needs someone duplicating my efforts and building their own library of local programs, maps and research.  

Below is an animation that illustrates a role athletes could take on a regular basis to mobilize fans and owners to support constantly improving youth programs in high poverty areas.



This animation, and other videos in my library, could be re-produced in many ways, with hundreds of different athletes, celebrities, etc. giving the message.

This isn't something that happens once a year, like the Super Bowl, or NBA AllStar game, or every 2 years like an Olympics. But if it is given the same attention, the result will be better support of hundreds, or thousands of different youth serving organizations operating in Chicago and other cities.

And ultimately, that will provide more of the support youth need to move through school and into adult lives and careers.

I'm on Twitter @tutormentorteam, which is where I'll be commenting during tomorrow's Super Bowl, and every day after that.  Join me. Follow me. Share your own game plan in blogs like mine. Feel free to use my articles for your own game plan and play book. As you share your own strategies, I and others will borrow from you.

Thanks for reading. Let's go out and help great youth tutor/mentor programs grow in more places.

20 years ago - what have we learned?

Today is the 20th year since the tragic 9/11/2001 attack on the American people. I was on the Kennedy Expressway that morning, headed to my office in Chicago, when the first reports came in on the radio. When I got to my office I turned on the computer and followed events the rest of the day. One of my Board members worked for Aon Corporation and around mid-day I emailed and asked if he knew anyone there. He replied, "We have an entire office there. I have many friends."

Twitter has been full of memorials and I posted a few Tweets pointing to articles I've written on this blog since 2005.

Here's what I wrote on #September11th, 2008. I concluded, "this is a daily reminder of the work that I need to do to try to create a better future for my own children and future grandchildren." https://t.co/K8EUq3UKfT pic.twitter.com/o2mvVcPo2S

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

and this

In September 2011 I wrote an article titled "ten years ago..." Today I could repeat that saying "20 years ago". The message would be the same. However, many of the links would no longer function. https://t.co/t4z6vHmDWm #September11th pic.twitter.com/SCbFsFApr3

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

earlier in the week I posted this

I continued to lead a #Chicago youth program & #Tutor #Mentor Connection after #September11th but lower resources made it much more difficult. This timeline show highlights till now. https://t.co/ixrPfxAGUL pic.twitter.com/2GzNbsYlO4

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 10, 2021

The timeline shows work I had been doing prior to Sept 11, 2001 and work I've continued to do since then.  one post I saw was by Nicholas Kristof, a writer for the New York Times.

I was on the Kennedy Expressway headed to my office in #Chicago when the first #Sept11 reports came over the radio. I spent the day doing work to help kids in poverty while listening to the bad news and fearing for friends. I'm still trying to help kids, 20 years later. https://t.co/MZn65d2M8G pic.twitter.com/oTpFJypwS8

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 11, 2021

Kristoff wrote, "If only we had tackled America's child poverty as seriously as we confronted Al Qaeda. If only we had fought addiction the way we fought Saddam. If only we had bolstered American education the way we bolstered our military."

That's what I've tried to influence for 25 years, before, and after, 9/11.  Now that we're out of Afghanistan, and not spending all that money on that war, can we spend the money to do the things Kristof argued for?

Juneteenth Celebration starts today

 Cook County, Illinois launches it's first Juneteenth Celebration today, recognizing the June 19, 1865, freeing of the last slaves in Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.  

During the week I encourage you to spend some time digging through the sections of my web library (using this cMap),  which focus on social justice, inequality, poverty and the history of slavery in America.  Deepen your understanding of the challenges that Black Americans have faced in the past, and continue to face in the 2020s. 

As you do, let's celebrate how far we have come.  While most people of color still face discrimination in many ways, just because of the color of their skin, many have become hugely successful, in all walks of life.  While President Obama and Vice President Harris are two highly visible examples, we can see all around us people of color who are successful in business, education and as parents raising their own kids.

I've used versions of the graphic below to show the support kids need in the non-school hours, from first grade through high school and beyond.  However, it also shows that many of the kids who were part of tutor/mentor programs that I led from 1975 to 2011 are now parents and grandparents, celebrating the success of their own children and grandchildren. I'm connected to many on Facebook and see posts regularly celebrating these successes.

While I point to the successes of students I've known, I also point to multiple other examples. For instance, below is a photo from a website titled "Because of Them, We Can". showing 2019 Black graduates of Harvard Law School.    

I've seen similar photos showing West Point graduates and graduates from HBCU (Historical Black Colleges and Universities).  In 2017-18 48,300 degrees were awarded by HBCUs. 74% (35,742) went to Black students.  That's just one year.  That's just graduates of HBCUs.  (see website). 

There are 42 million African Americans in the United States. 9.3 million (2019) are living in poverty.  That means there are many, many more who are having economic success in America.

There's much to celebrate during Juneteenth.  Let's  not overlook the progress that has been made since 1865. 

Yet, if you read the articles I point to from my cMap and web library, and follow the daily news, there's still much work to do.  

Remembering the sacrifices of June 6, 1944 - D-Day

As America and friends around the world celebrate D-Day, the landing of Allied Armies on the beaches of Normandy, on June 6, 1944, I've been looking back at articles I wrote in past years to recognize this event.

In 2009 I posted an article with a link to the Serve.gov web site which announced President Obama's "United We Serve" campaign, intended to mobilize citizens to get involved in community problem solving. The site still promotes volunteerism, but that campaign is no longer on the site.

The introduction said, "people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools."

 "President Obama was asking us to come together to help lay a new foundation for growth. This initiative aims to both expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own "do-it-yourself" projects."

 

I found this photo showing troops that were landing on the Normandy Beach during D-Day. Think about what this photo illustrates, and compare that to the current mobilization of volunteers to do service. 

 These troops had been training for months. This invasion was planned for years. The landing craft were being built years be for the invasion because it was anticipated that they would be needed. The solders were well armed, well fed, and led by well trained leaders. 

That costs money. Lots of money. 

There are lots of ways volunteers can do service. Some projects, like cleaning up a park, or building a house, might take a day, or several weeks. However, these are short term. 

Other projects, like tutoring/mentoring require more consistent, long-term involvement, if the benefit is that the youth being tutored/mentored has overcome his own learning difficulties, and the negative influences of his family or community which might be modeling examples and behaviors that don't lead to high school graduation, college or productive jobs and careers. 

In both cases, volunteers time is well spent when there are leaders who have the experience to organize their efforts, and support their involvement. Sending volunteers into organizations which don't have this leadership is like sending troops onto a beach without rifles or bullets. 

I was a member of the Chicago delegation to the 1997 President's Summit for America's Future, which pledged support for the 15 million kids in America who were being left behind because they lived in high poverty. Lots of great rhetoric and patriotic speeches were given by General Powell, President Clinton and others that shows the vision behind the Summit. 

The problem was, not one was thinking of the infrastructure needed across America, and in the neighborhoods where these 15 millions kids were living, which would support this flood of new volunteers, and keep them engaged for the many years it takes to help a first grader living in a high poverty neighborhood become a 12th grader graduating from high school and headed for college or a job. 

I remember sitting in a meeting following the Summit, with a business leader sitting next to me. When I asked about the money needed to support added volunteers, I was told "we're focusing on volunteers, not philanthropy." 

You cannot have good volunteerism without good philanthropy! 

And in today's economy, when many of the small non profits who are working with inner city kids are struggling to find operating dollars to keep existing staff employed, how can you expect them to ramp up programs to support more volunteers in significant efforts that can lead to a victory over poverty? (That was my question in 2009, amidst the financial crisis. The same concern is in 2021, amidst the Covid19 crisis.)

I've focused on the planning process since starting the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993. And, I've created numerous visuals to focus on the steps needed to fill all high poverty areas with a wide range of needed, long-term solutions. That process always includes one focused on building and sustaining public will.  That was required to win World War 2, and it has been needed (but missing) in the War on Poverty since the 1960s.  

I pointed to this planning process in this 2014 D-Day article.  View the concept map below at this link.

No elected, or business or philanthropic leader that I'm aware of has used visual essays like these, and maps, to mobilize the army of talent needed to do all the work that's needed.  Thus, we still have embedded poverty in Chicago and other cities, and in many rural areas. 

In this Tweet I point to a map showing massacres of Black Americans extending back to the 1860s.

I've not found a link with any of these maps, however the Zinn Education Project has a library articles about massacres in U.S. History. https://t.co/1NyuHJyrJJ

Sites like this make the information available. Now we need to motivate learners to visit, read, reflect & respond. https://t.co/OCT2NiHhab

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) June 3, 2021

The killing of George Floyd and following attention to racial justice and systemic efforts to keep Black and Brown Americans as second class citizens, invites new investigation into this history.  I have been building a section of links to articles about Black History and Racial Justice in my web library and this concept map points to several sub sections.

Good planning requires in-depth reading.  Without a broader understanding of history, we don't fully understand why we've failed for so many years to win the War on Poverty. 

States and local governments can pass laws that prevent teaching this history in schools. But as long as the Internet remains available they cannot prevent people from finding and learning from this information. 

I call again for the current President to use his bully pulpit to call on faith leaders, business leaders, civic and social groups, to reach out to volunteer based organizations like those I show on this list of Chicago area volunteer-based tutor and/or mentor programs,  with flexible operating dollars that they need to pay the rent, insurance and staff expenses. 

There's still time to point to web libraries and forums where people can gather and learn.  

 Remember:  "people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools."

We can make sure that when these volunteers hit the beach they succeed, and they stay involved until we win this war.

Happy Valentine's Day! Spread Hope & Opportunity to All

It's Valentine's Day, so I'm pointing to these graphics which were created by two interns from South Korea during a a seven week internship in 2012.  I wrote about it and included a link to the animation in this article.

This article from the DePaul University Center for Writing-Based Learning includes its own message of Love.  Another article, by Simon Ensor, a professor in France, communicates the same idea and points to ideas I've been sharing at the Tutor/Mentor Blog.

Here's another graphic, also created by the 2012 intern team. Song Me Lee wrote this article, to show how the graphic was created, and to show what she'd been learning during her internship.  I encourage you to look at all of the messages posted by Song Me during her internship.  

On this page of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site I post a list of interns from 2006 till 2015, with links to articles they wrote to introduce themselves at the start of their internship, and then links to final reflection articles.  Some provide more information than others, but all show an intent that the intern learn new ideas and new skills from working on their projects.

As I've interviewed students for these internships I've emphasized that one of my goals is that these students continue to stay connected to the Tutor/Mentor Connection library of ideas and to each other, so that in future years they become a community of people who help each other, and who apply these ideas to making the world a better place.

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

 

I created this presentation to show a goal of having student-led Tutor/Mentor Connection-type teams growing on high school and college campuses throughout the US and the world.  Anyone who takes a few moments to view my blogs and then shares what I'm writing about, as Simon Ensor has done on his blog, is providing inspiration and motivation for one or many people to take this roll.

I'm still waiting for the first university or high school to adopt this strategy, and for the first corporation or benefactor to endow it with 10 years of funding, but as they say "Rome was not built in a day."   

I created this concept map to illustrate this vision. If you start writing about my ideas and/or creating your own visualizations, share the link in the comment box and I'll add you to this map.

Better yet, create your own map, and add my blog articles to it.  

Through the collective effort of many, we'll gather the bricks needed to build the "Rome" of this vision.

Service-Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream

Millions around the USA are celebrating the life and words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today.  Here's an ESRI story map you might include in your learning.  

As in past years I'll be celebrating by learning and adding information to my web library.  Today I'm working on creating a page listing Instagram sites of Chicago area programs. 

I've been using this blog since 2005 to share what I've learned about leading a youth tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 2011. I used an email and printed newsletter to share this in previous years.  

My goal (Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC) is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

The graphic below visualizes my thinking. There already are many youth tutor/mentor programs operating in Chicago and other places, along with countless other non-profits aimed at helping reduce poverty and inequality in America.  Yet, if we plot where these organizations operate, and what age group they serve, or what they do on maps of Chicago, we quickly can see that there is a need for  more programs in many places.

Rather than start new programs from scratch, why not borrow ideas from what is already working? How can existing programs constantly improve? How can donors improve how they provide needed operating dollars? 

I have spent time almost every day for more than 40 years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using T/MC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I am trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

For more than 40 years my goal has been to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include students, volunteers, staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where our kids live.

It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

The Internet is our meeting place. Covid-19 has made this an even greater reality than in past years.  

It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection web sites I collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing from this information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process has already started. We need to nurture and grow it in 2021.

Can you help?

Read past articles and visit the various web sites at the left side of this blog and start your own learning. Share these ideas with others via social media, ZOOM calls, videos and create  your own interpretation. Apply the ideas to your own city. 

I encourage you to read the Power Point Essay titled, Theory of Change which is one of several illustrated essays I've produced to illustrate our goals and the community that we seek to engage.

Since mid 2011 I've not operated under the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) non profit umbrella, due to strategic changes made in April-June 2011. I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in order to continue to support the growth of the T/MC in Chicago and similar organizations in other cities.  Thank you to those who have made contributions to help me continue this work over the past 10 years. 

Call goes out for Volunteers

 Below is a column from the 1997 Chicago SunTimes, telling about the Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign that my organization (the Tutor/Mentor Connection) launched as an annual event in 1995.  From 1998 to 2002 we grew the campaign to include more than 100 youth programs who were recruiting volunteers at more than 30 sites throughout the Chicago region during the first week of September.

Visit this page and see media stories from 1990s.

It's now almost September 2020 and once again volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs in Chicago and throughout the country are searching for volunteers. This year is different. Most of those calls now seek virtual volunteers who can support youth via ZOOM and other remote platforms, until face-to-face contact can safely return.

What always made my efforts unique is that while I led a single tutor/mentor program reaching youth in one neighborhood of Chicago, the campaign organized through the Tutor/Mentor Connection intended to draw volunteers to every youth tutor, mentor and learning program in the Chicago region.

We supported the volunteer recruitment campaign in the 1990s with a printed directory listing more than 100 different youth serving organizations. We started putting this list on the Internet in 1998 and in 2004 we launched a map-based program locator, that enabled people to find programs in different parts of Chicago by searching for type of program, age group served and location.

In 2008-9 we created a map-based version of this Chicago Program Locator, which you can see at this link. That site has not been updated since 2013 due to lack of funding and talent and is now only available as an archive. Yet it still serves as a model of what communities might create to help services required in multiple places get the resources needed to grow and thrive, such as youth tutor and/or mentor programs.

We never had consistent funding to do this work, although from 1998-2002 we were well supported by several foundations.  Yet the work of helping youth through school, by helping organized volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs be part of their lives, is on-going work. These programs need help to grow in 2020 more than in the past.

Because I've created a program locator template and a Chicago Programs Database anyone can use their own voice to draw attention and support to all youth programs in a geographic area.

Below is a recent Tweet from NBA Basketball star LeBron James:  

Change doesn’t happen with just talk!! It happens with action and needs to happen NOW! For my @IPROMISESchool kids, kids and communities across the country, it’s on US to make a difference. Together. That's why your vote is @morethanavote ✊🏾 #BlackLivesMatter

— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 27, 2020

He and other athletes are now taking a lead in calling attention and response to social justice issues. They are focusing on get-out-the-vote strategies, and supporting youth development programs in different places. 

Let's invite them to use those voices to help youth tutor, mentor and learning programs grow throughout Chicago and other cities.

I've posted several articles in past years featuring this image of LeBron James, focused on roles athletes and other celebrities can take to help tutor/mentor programs grow in cities where they play or where they grew up.

Please read them. Share them with athletes you know.

Here's what they can do:

a) they can support efforts to build comprehensive youth program databases, segmented by type of program, age group served and location

b) they can support efforts to build interactive program locators, borrowing from my example (and others if they can find them)

c) they can use social media, traditional interviews and public speaking opportunities to urge people to look at these databases, locate programs in specific areas, and donate time, talent and dollars to help each program become the very best at helping kids through school and into adult lives.

Athletes know that it takes many years of hard work to build great sports teams, and it takes many years of individual effort, along with support from coaches, friends, family and others to reach an elite level of performance.

That's the same range of on-going support needed to help single youth tutor/mentor programs become great, then stay great.  Instead of supporting just one program, athletes like LeBron have the abilityto draw support to every one of these programs.  However, without the database, a search engine and on-going effort, that won't happen.

Imagine this. Look at my website and the articles on this Tutor/Mentor blog, which I started in 2005. What if one of the Chicago sports stars, from the Bears, Bulls, White Sox or Cubs were the author of all of these articles? How many more people might have responded and how many more youth might have been helped through school and into adult lives?

Please share this knowledge and help great youth development and birth-to-work mentoring programs be available in every low income area of Chicago and the rest of the world.

I'm on social media at these sites. Let's connect.

If you value my articles and web library, please help fund Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here to learn more. 

If you're in the room are you being heard?

Tonight the Chicago Tribune is hosting it's #ChicagoForward event. I plan to be one of the people in the crowd expected to attend.  I've attended events like this for many years, and the graphic below visualizes my frustration.

If you're sitting at one of these tables, who can hear your ideas?

The image above is from last Monday's #ChiSTEPSummit, "Steps to End Poverty" hosted by Mayor Lightfoot. She'll be one of the featured speakers tonight, too.

It's great to hear what the featured speakers have to say, but I suspect others besides myself have been working in this arena for many years and have some good ideas about what works, what does not work, what needs to change, etc. 

this visualizes
Tutor/Mentor Library

I've been sharing my ideas since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, using print newsletters, email, websites, blogs and social media as libraries where people can dig deeper into my thinking and experiences.

In the Tutor/Mentor web library I point to more than 2000 websites where other people are sharing their own ideas. The goal is to borrow and build rather than constantly reinventing the wheel.

Furthermore, the goal is to influence philanthropy, business involvement, government funding, etc. so programs throughout Chicago have consistent, flexible funding to hire and retain talent and innovate solutions.

I use Twitter to draw attention to these ideas, to find ideas from other people, to connect and build relationships, and to try to build greater involvement of more people in solving problems like tonight's ChicagoForward meeting will focus on. 

The concept map below shows a strategy that the Tutor/Mentor Connection launched in the 1990s and that I continue in 2020.  Across the top you see events and actions that draw people together and share ideas.  The vertical paths show how people are supposed to be using these ideas to innovate better solutions to problems we face in Chicago and other places.  This one of a collection of cmaps that I've developed since 2005. Take a look.

This cMap shows how I use media to draw attention to ideas

While I sit at one of these tables and listen to speakers, I'll also post a few Tweets using #ChicagoForward hashtag.  Tomorrow I'll scroll through the Twitter feed to see who else has been posting and what ideas they are sharing.  I'll re-Tweet some, LIKE others, and add a few people to my Twitter lists. You can do the same.

If you want your ideas to be heard, this is a way to do it.  If you want to know more of what I've been thinking and suggesting then scroll through past articles and follow the links to my websites.  I've been writing the blog since 2005, but the library of PDF essays on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC site, was launched in 1998.

If you want to borrow my ideas and create new versions, please do. Just include a link to the original source material.

I've used maps since
1993

Confused? 

If you're wondering how the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (T/MI), which I launched in 2011, differs from the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), launched in 1993, the only difference is tax structure. 

I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 in an effort to keep the Tutor/Mentor Connection available in Chicago after the strategy was discontinued by the non-profit where it was born in 1993.  Since every major city in the world could produce maps showing areas of concentrated poverty, I've been sharing T/MC ideas with the goal that one, or more, cities would embrace the strategies I'm sharing....including Chicago. 

I hope to connect with you on Twitter tonight or in the coming week. I'm @tutormentorteam.  You can find me at these other social media sites, too.

NBA Allstar Game Scores Big Points for Chicago Scholars

I watched most of the NBA Allstar game last night and it was a great show. Most impressive in my point of view was how two Chicago youth serving organizations were singled out for attention and as much as $400,000 in donations, based on which team won the first three quarters and the final score.  Here's one Tweet that shows @ChicagoScholars as the big winner.

We still don’t have the words to describe how full our hearts are. Thank you to @KingJames @JHarden13 @kawhileonard @AntDavis23 @luka7doncic @CP3 @russwest44 @jaytatum0 @Dsabonis11 @BenSimmons25 @Dame_Lillard @DevinBook Nikola Jokic @NBA @nbacares #TeamLeBron pic.twitter.com/WoTn7xnxV6

— Chicago Scholars (@ChicagoScholars) February 17, 2020

Use your visibility

I hope that other sport copies this formula and that every year two or more youth serving programs are given the opportunities to meet with players, be interviewed by media and receive huge donations.

However, I want to see more. 

I want to see these players talking about the need for youth programs in every poverty neighborhood, and the need to find ways to generate consistent attention and financial support for ALL of the youth programs in a city, not just one or two.

I used this photo of LeBraun James in a 2011 article which includes two videos done by interns working with me. Below is one of them.

High Profile Stars 

In 2013 I used Derek Rose's picture in another article, along with an animation showing a role any athlete could take on a regular basis, to talk about where tutor/mentor and learning programs are most needed, and what programs operate in different neighborhoods, who need continuous support from fans, donors, volunteers and media to be world class in what they do to help kids move through school and into adult lives.

I've even suggested that some of these athletes could use my articles as templates and create their own versions, for their own web sites.

In the graphic below imagine each slice of the pie chart at the left representing one category of sports (baseball, football, basketball, soccer, golf, etc) or one category of entertainment or business.

Build year-round support

The only way we can generate enough attention, and enough money, to support hundreds of youth tutor/mentor programs in Chicago, and in other cities, is to have many people doing what the NBA AllStar broadcast did last week. Highlight one, or two programs. Then say "Here's a place where you can learn about others programs who also need help."

Then use social media to draw attention to this message. 

Use T/MI map

Look through the articles I've tagged, #maps, #media and #violence on this blog, or on the MappingforJustice blog and you'll see the maps that I've created showing locations of nearly 200 youth serving programs in the Chicago area. You'll also see how I use other data platforms to highlight where these programs are most needed, based on indicators such as poverty, health disparities, poorly performing schools, violence, etc.

Use this information to decide what neighborhood you want to support, and which youth programs in that area you want to help become the best in the world at helping kids.

In this 2014 article I encourage youth to create map stories on a regular basis, for the same purpose that I do. Athletes and celebrities could coach them to do this and give recognition to those who do it well.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin and a few other social media spaces. If you're doing this type of work or want to share ideas, let's connect.

Go Beyond What's Expected

Below is a video that focuses on volunteer-involvement in youth tutor, mentor programs as a form of service learning. I created a power  point essay in the mid 2000s to communicate this idea, based on my own experiences leading a tutor/mentor program from 1975 to 2011.  Then in 2007 an intern from Hong Kong created an animation to show the idea. In 2011 a second intern, from South Korea created a new version. Since Flash Animation no longer works I've created a video to show the animation.



This shows that as a volunteer learns about a volunteer opportunity, then joins a program, they begin a learning process that repeats every time they meet with their student. After each meeting the volunteer has the opportunity to share what she has learned with friends, family, coworkers, etc. in ways that often draw others into service.

"figure eight" graphic used often

The middle of this figure eight graphic is where program leadership and knowledge reside. It's the role the Tutor/Mentor Connection (and Institute, LLC) have taken since 1993.

If we provide information that helps people find where to volunteer, and helps them become a more successful tutor or mentor, we do more to help kids. If we provide tools and information that volunteers can take back to family and friends to educate them on why these programs are needed and ways they can help, we grow the support needed for tutor/mentor programs to operate and reach more youth.

Below is another presentation, showing the ways a volunteer can do more than what he/she does each week when they meet with their student.

Mentor Role in Larger Youth... by Daniel F. Bassill on Scribd

These videos and presentations can be found on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site at this link and this link.  The library is intended as a resource for anyone who wants to help reduce poverty and inequality by providing more learning opportunities for K-12 youth.  The ideas can be used in any place where there are pockets of concentrated poverty. 

They can also be used as a model for information-based problem solving, that applies to many other issues.  Take a look.

I'll be 73 on December 19.

Each year since 2011 I've asked people to help me celebrate my December 19th birthday with a gift to support the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  The T/MI is not a 501-c-3 so making a birthday gift is one way to support my efforts.  Click here to learn more.

All of the ideas I share on this blog and on Tutor/Mentor web sites are free to any user. I'd be happy to connect on Skype or Twitter to help you understand the ideas. I'd love to find institutional partners who would help rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection and spread these ideas in more ways.

Here's a link to my social media page, where you can find platforms where we can connect.

Movement Building - Afterschool Conference and More

Yesterday I attended the Afterschool Development Conference in Chicago, along with about 100 other people.  A video in the introductory session talked about the importance of afterschool youth development programs and the urgency of improving the funding stream. The keynote speaker, Dr. David J. Chard, of Boston University, furthered the idea of network building in his comments.

The hashtag #2019afterschooldevelopment was shared on the screen throughout the conference.  Below is one Tweet that I posted:

Good turnout today for #afterschooldevelopment conference at 150 N Riverside Plaza.#2019afterschooldevelopment https://t.co/FQ87iJrlbk

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 15, 2019

If you look for other Tweets using that hashtag, there is only one.  If we depend on those already doing this work to help amplify the message of afterschool development and attract new supporters, I feel we must encourage more to use Twitter. Hopefully in coming days there will be more Tweets that share ideas from the conference.

The lack of Tweets by people in the Afterschool Development Conference is not unique. Below I've posted Tweets from a few other events that are important to youth development, tutoring and mentoring.  I encourage you to click on the hashtag and see who else is using it.  Then you can even add your own comments or reTweet posts that  you feel are important.

#EveryKidConnected - Chicago Mayor Lightfoot's youth development initiative

I attended the #EveryKidConnected, #EveryYouthConnected meeting on Thursday. This is more relevant now that I know the goals. It's one of hundreds of articles on my blog that planners might look at for ideas. https://t.co/yOfH87OYTD

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) October 11, 2019

The Metropolitan Planning Council hosted an event on Sept. 19 using #MPCLuncheon. Here's a Tweet I posted:

I used my #tutor #mentor blog to show how I've been connecting w others on Twitter. #readyyouth #MPCLuncheon #MakingPositiveChange#GlobalGoals #17rooms#myglobalvision #myglobalvision #TalkCityClub #NodeXLhttps://t.co/UMGO81xsJm pic.twitter.com/iFJT7DUBgC

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 27, 2019

City Club of Chicago host several luncheons each week, which are live streamed using the #talkcityclub hashtag. This is one of my posts.

Search #TalkCityClub and view posts I and others made today during @CityClubChicago luncheon.

There were more than 100 at the event but few were connecting on Twitter. https://t.co/KjTrH9ZU16

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 5, 2019

This year's #ObammaSummit offered another opportunity to draw people together on Twitter. Here's a post I shared:

I share uses of #maps on one of my blogs. Here's example. https://t.co/sZtiJbWY9K@BarackObama emphasized telling stories during #ObamaSummit . These maps provide fuel for those stories. pic.twitter.com/ACY0hGGjZR

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 1, 2019

Here's a post where I encourage programs that use Facebook to also use Twitter:

I like & follow more than 100 #Chicago k-12 #tutor #mentor programs & Intermediaries on Facebook, but few show up regularly in my news feed. Here's the list: https://t.co/H3t0s29DrS

If they used Twitter I could search my TMPrograms list & find them daily. Few doing that. pic.twitter.com/OU5iU6ocLJ

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 4, 2019

Below you can see a concept map that I created to enable me to re-visit past conversations. Some are not updated since being held one or more years ago. However, others have new posts.  All enable you to scroll through the list of Tweets and expand your knowledge base and your network.

Open cMap to click into each Hashtag

I use Linkedin and Facebook, along with Pinterest, YouTube and a small amount of Instagram.  I promote the use of Twitter because it's the only one that enables you to search a hashtag, or a list, to narrow your focus on people and conversations that interest you.

Below is a screenshot showing the some of the people included on my list of Chicago and national Tutor and/or Mentor programs.

Many people use Twitter lists. Thus, if you see someone who shares information you're interested in you might look at the lists on their profile to see if there are other people you want to connect with.  I don't think the other social media platforms offer these features, which are really important if your goal is to build a movement, connecting all stakeholders in the ecosystem, to each other and to you and your ideas.

You can be the blue box in this graphic

The graphic at the left visualizes the idea I'm sharing.  As more people use Twitter and other social media to attract people "who can help" to "libraries of information, including maps and program directories" they can draw volunteers, donors and other needed resources directly to every youth program in Chicago or in other places.  This is more than drawing people together to discuss ideas. It's an every day attempt to provide needed resources for people to put the ideas to work.

There's a downside to Twitter.  Some of the more high profile hashtags, such as ObammaSummit, attract spammers and haters.  This is a negative of all social media.  I ignore them and look for the value in the conversation, rather than the negatives.

To summarize: Twitter can be a powerful network-building tool, but you have to use it. If you review the hashtags in my concept map, you'll see that few have a history of drawing participants from events like the Afterschool Development Conference into on-going, on-line, network building.

Here's one last Tweet I'd like to point to.

Great to see @SchottFound use their newsletter & blog to encourage people to connect on Twitter. What if other Foundations did same to encourage more #Chicago area #tutor #mentor orgs to connect on Twitter? https://t.co/EMbmBImVb2 pic.twitter.com/GpHnu744M7

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 14, 2019

The Schott Foundation uses their newsletter and blog to share Twitter accounts of a small group of people they follow.  If every foundation who funds youth development and tutor/mentor programs in Chicago did this consistently I feel we'd draw more programs to Twitter, and be able to do more work to attract consistent resources and help programs grow in more places.

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll share this on Twitter and connect with me @tutormentorteam.

If you appreciate the ideas I share, consider sending a contribution to help me pay the bills.