Inequality. So much data. So little change.

In December I received the Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) from the UIC Great Cities Index. 

The introduction says  "The Chicago Community Area Hardship Index combines values from six indicators of socioeconomic hardship to quantify and visualize the significant variations in socioeconomic status across Chicago. This story map will present hardship index values at the community area level calculated using socioeconomic data from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS)."

View the report and maps at this link. The map shows areas of greatest hardship on the West and South parts of Chicago.    

This was last published as a 2016-2020 report which I shared in an article on the Mapping for Justice blog. You can see that most of the same areas are highlighted.

I've been using maps to focus attention, and resources, on high poverty areas of Chicago since 1993 in an on-going effort to help long-term, volunteer-based, tutor, mentor and learning programs reach more K-12 youth in these areas.  

One story that motivated me was this from the Chicago Tribune, in 1994, which also shows the West and South parts of Chicago as areas of high poverty where kids are most at risk. 

I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 as an information-based public education effort, intended to build a better understanding of what volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs were in Chicago and help draw needed operating resources and volunteers to all of them.  Since 2011 I've led this through Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

We published our first Chicago Tutor/Mentor Programs Directory in 1994 and updated it every year through 2003, when we launched an on-line portal to help people find programs and know where more are needed.

You can see that the map on the front cover of the Directory shows the same areas of Chicago as the 2024 UIC maps.  Not much has changed.

In April 2015, almost 10 years ago, I included this graphic in an article titled "After the Riots, Do the Planning."  

This shows an August 1993 Chicago SunTimes story, which leads off with a statement saying "Chicago neighborhoods that were poor 20 years ago are even more entrenched in poverty today because the city lacks a comprehensive battle plan".

It highlights the same areas of Chicago as were highlighted in the UIC report.

In this article I show the "Master Plan" that the Tutor/Mentor Connection created and presented to leaders at the 1997 Presidents' Summit for America's Future, held in Philadelphia. 

This article is one of several in this section of the Tutor/Mentor blog where I describe the planning process, commitment, and leadership, that has been needed for so many years. 

Since launching the Tutor/Mentor Connection the goal has been that others would use the information in the library to deepen their understanding of problems associated with poverty and inequality and solutions being applied in some parts of the world that could be applied in Chicago neighborhoods.

There are several hundred articles on this blog, and the Mapping for Justice blog, with maps that you can use in your planning and resource allocation.  You just need to spend time looking at them.

Below is Page 2 from the 2000 February-March issue of the printed newsletter that I mailed to about 10,000 people.  It describes a community-building process, where groups of people read the information I've been sharing, and use it in their own planning.  

As we enter 2025 I repeat my invitation for big and small groups of people to dig into my archives, my past articles, and the ideas I share and start a conversation with people in your network to better understand the information and find ways to apply the ideas.

Read these articles about having universities create on-campus Tutor/Mentor Connection study/research/action programs where students spend four to six years digging into my archives and the rest of their lives applying the ideas and generating new information that others learn from.   

"It just takes two or three people on a campus to launch a Tutor/Mentor Connection."  Or one wealthy donor.

I've been repeating this "call to involvement" every year since 1975 when I began leading the volunteer-based tutor/mentor program at Montgomery Ward.  I hope you'll accept the invitation and begin to add your own voice.

I encourage you to connect with me on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter and that you'll read my posts and share them with your network.

At the right is an example of what you could also be doing. Paul Signorelli, who I met on Twitter through the 2013 #ETMOOC, saw my National Mentoring Month post and shared it on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook, with  his own endorsement and encouragement.

As I said above, my 2000 newsletter only went to 10,000 people and many of those probably did not read it.  Too few ever saw these ideas. You can change that by sharing my posts, just as Paul and others have been doing. 

Thanks for reading. I look forward to connecting with you and your ideas in 2025.  

I want to thank those who sent contributions during 2024 to support my work.  I hope you'll give again in 2025 (even if you were not able to give in 2024). 

View my Support Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC page. Click here.

I cannot keep doing this without your help. 

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.  

Build information base to support anti-violence efforts

 I saw an announcement that Chicago business leaders were pledging $100 million to support anti-violence efforts in Chicago.  Gee. When have I heard that before.  

Let's see. Here's a 2013 article talking about a $50 million business commitment.  How'd that go? 

Of course, I've been pointing to this October 1992 Chicago SunTimes article for over 30 years. 

What's not happening? 

First, there's no comprehensive strategy, and nothing has lasted for 10-20 consecutive years.

What should be in a comprehensive strategy?

First.  Maps.  Maps can show where poverty is most concentrated in a geographic region like Chicago. They can show other indicators, such as poorly performing schools, violence, health disparities, etc.

This concept map points to many data platforms leaders can use to build their own map stories and map-based strategies.  I've posted more than 280 articles on this blog demonstrating ways maps can be used.  I've posted many more on the MappingforJustice blog. 

Second. Understand the different needs of kids living in areas of high poverty vs living in other areas. Then inventory existing youth serving programs to understand what programs are serving which kids.

View the graphic shown above in this article.  It's one of several articles in this group, that focus on designing youth programs based on the needs of the youth being served.  View this article to learn of the Tutor/Mentor Connection's 1992-2010 efforts to collect, map and share this information.

Then, look at articles like these, asking "How Many Youth Programs are Needed?"

Concept maps can also serve as blueprints, showing what's needed at each age level. Use this map as a starting point, then create your own version.

Understand what other programs and leaders are already doing, in Chicago, and around the world.
Open the Tutor/Mentor Library and look through the different categories and sub-categories.  There are more than 2000 links to other people's ideas that you can borrow for your own planning.  Don't reinvent the wheel if you can avoid it.  Don't start something new if there's already a project in place that you can support.  

Third. Use this information in an on-going planning process.

This concept map shows the planning cycle. 

This concept map shows planning needed, that fills areas of the map with a full range of programs helping kids through school and into adult lives, and keeps those programs fully funded for 10-20 years.

Before you do any of this, view this "Role of Leaders" visual essay, which I created in the late 1990s.  Look at "Step 2" on Page 10, where it says "Appoint a "get it done" leader.  and "Step 3" on page 11, where it says, "Do your homework."   Then, look at "Step 7" that focuses on CEO commitment to  year-to-year growth and process improvement.  

Role of Business Leaders - Helping Kids From Poverty Areas Move to Careers from Daniel Bassill

I share 30 years of thinking on this blog and on the www.tutormentorexchange.net website that leaders can use to build a comprehensive, long-term plan that actually reduces violence because it reduces the root causes, reaches kids and families in every high poverty area, and reaches the larger community to build and sustain the commitment, and financing, needed.

I've been spreading this message for over 30 years.  But, too few have ever heard what I've been sharing because I had too few resources to tell the story with reach and frequency.

That's still the case. But now, anyone who reads any of my articles can share them with their network, create their own versions, and build the awareness and commitment needed for building and sustaining strategic, long-term plans.

I'm on Twitter (X), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky and other places. You can find links on this page.  Please connect with me. Share your own vision and strategies.

I'm also dependent on a small group of  donors to help keep this information available.  Visit this page and send a contribution if you'd like to help me. 

What Am I Doing? Why Do I Keep Trying?

I've posted variations of this article often since 2005 when I launched this blog.  Here's what I wrote in 2015:

----- start 2015 ------

When we first launched the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program in November 1992, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection in January 1993, we had no money and no deep pocketed friends. We just had a 20-year history of connecting workplace volunteers and inner-city kids in organized non-school tutor/mentor programs, and a firm belief that this was a "good thing to do".

While leading a single program at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago from 1975-1990 I built an understanding of how important it is to be able to connect and learn from others, and a realization that without someone maintaining a master database of programs, it was not only difficult to invite people to connect and learn from each other, but for city leaders to build a sustained, long-term master plan, that would make high quality, mentor-rich programs available in all high poverty areas of Chicago and its suburbs.

Not having a committed source of revenue makes it difficult to do this work. While I raised over $6 million from 1993 to 2011, I started from zero every year and constantly had to find new donors to replace those who stopped giving. I had to put nearly $100k of my own money into this effort, and never was paid as much as I had been earning in 1990 when I left my retail advertising job at Montgomery Wards. The financial meltdowns between 2000 and 2010 had a negative impact on my personal finances, as well as my ability to raise the money needed for the work I was doing.

Thus, over the years I've had to occasionally remind myself why I do this. Since I'm at a low period, both in terms of confidence, and revenue, that's what I'm doing now. The image below shows the progression of my thinking. I have gone through this over, and over, for more than 20 years.

The first panel says "connecting a youth and non-family adult in a supportive relationship is a good thing." If you don't agree with that then you don't need to read any further.

The second panel says that in big cities like Chicago, where poverty is measured by miles and the number of kids in poverty numbers over 200,000, organized non-school programs are needed to enable volunteers from many different backgrounds to connect, and stay connected, to kids for multiple years. Some of the programs themselves become anchors in the lives of kids, offering safe places and a community of supportive adults and learning activities beyond what a single mentor might offer. I've been building a list of organizations that provide various forms of tutoring and/or mentoring in Chicago, which you can find here.

If you agree that organized programs are needed, then the next progression is to think of ways to make high-quality, mentor-rich programs available in every high poverty neighborhood for kids as early as first grade and as old as age 16 to 26. While non-profit organizations compete with each other for limited resources, making it difficult for more than a few really great programs to operate in the city, businesses use sophisticated corporate office strategies to support the growth of retail stores reaching customers in multiple locations. I've been trying to apply that thinking to my leadership of the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1993.

Below is a 1995 story about the work I've been doing, written by John McCarron of the Chicago Tribune

This is evidence that what I write today is something I've been trying to build support for over many long years. Below is a presentation I created in 1998, showing the strategy I was sharing with city business, political and philanthropic leaders then, and which I now share with leaders in cities across the country.

Master plan for saving Chicago youth - 1997 version from Daniel Bassill

View video from 1997 President's Summit for America's Future in this article.

This graphic is one of many that I've created to communicate ideas and strategy. If you look at the top of the pyramid, it shows we all want kids to "finish school, graduate, stay safe in non-school hours".



I believe that the work at the bottom of this pyramid, which I've been doing for over 20 years, is essential for making that happen. I still don't find others who incorporate this four-part strategy or this learning network strategy in their own efforts. That makes me believe what I do is still needed.

Every article on this blog, and each section of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site are active parts of this strategy, and each is an example. However, so much information also represents a weakness. Too much information and too little time for busy people to try to understand it is a problem. Too few dollars, or talent, to create new web sites, or fix things that are broken, or out of date, like the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, make it more difficult to demonstrate what I'm trying to do. This is something you need to take some time to read and understand.

Even though I'm at low point now, I still believe Chicago and other cities needs someone doing what I'm doing, but from a much stronger organizational base, such as a stand-alone Institute and think tank, or as a college-based Institute funded by one of those people who I seek continually donating $25 to $100 million to various universities.

In fact, I think there needs to be someone doing this work in every major city where poverty and inequality can be plotted on maps and where leaders can mobilize people and resources to fill map-areas with needed programs and services. I've a library of ideas that others could use and I'm hopeful I can become part of your planning teams if you want to take on this role. You don't need to start from scratch if you take some time to investigate and get to know what I've been doing.

I'm not certain how many more years I can sustain this work, but I'm confident that I need to keep trying. If you want to help, please introduce yourself or email me at tutormentgor2 at earthlink dot net.

---- end 2015 ----

It's August 2023 and I'm still trying.  But it gets more and more difficult as the places where I've been able to connect with others, at minimum expense, like Twitter, and before that Google+, and Vialogues, all are deteriorating or have been shut down.

You can still find me on many platforms. I share links on this page. 

Thanks for reading. I look forward to connecting with you. 

Please consider a small contribution to help me pay the bills and keep doing this work - click here. 

Tutor Program? Mentor Program? Tutor/Mentor Program? What's the Difference

"What kind of tutoring do you offer?" That's a question I've been asked over and over for nearly 25 years.  Here's a blog article I wrote in 2007, in an effort to show what a tutor/mentor program offers. It starts with these two paragraphs:

Between 1995 and today I've created several visualized presentations to try to show what an organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor/mentor program might offer, based on what we were trying to offer in the Cabrini Connections program I led until 2011.

I've embedded a few of these for you to review:

Defining Terms: Tutor. Mentor. Same Words. Different Meaning.

Defining Terms. Tutoring. ... by on Scribd

Virtual Corporate Office. Think of a tutor/mentor program site as a retail store for hope and opportunity. What types of activities, tutoring and mentoring might need to be available? How can we make such programs available in more places?

Virtual Corporate Office: S... by on Scribd

What will it take to assure that all youth born or living in high poverty are entering careers by age 25? What Role Does Mentoring Have? What can we learn from others? This shows work done by Tutor/Mentor Connection through 2015. Much of this is now in archive form, ready for other leaders to give it new life.

Career Ladder - Helping Inn... by on Scribd

In addition to creating visual presentations to communicate ideas I've also created a library of concept maps. Below is one that shows the many supports that kids need as they move from pre school through high school, then on toward adult lives, jobs and the ability to raise their own kids free of poverty.

Mentoring kids to careers concept map

No single organization can provide all of these supports and few are designed to keep kids involved for 20 or more years. That means an ecosystem of organizations needs to be available in every high poverty area, to provide as much of these supports as possible.

If you open the map and look in the lower left corner you'll see that I show a role of volunteers who become part of organized tutor/mentor programs is to help make all of these supports available.

That's the final presentation. I'm pulling from Slideshare for this one.

Mentor Role in Larger Strategy Of Helping Youth In High Poverty Areas from Daniel Bassill

Any of these presentations can be shown to a small group at a church, business or small gathering, or can be shown to an auditorium full of people. They are intended to stimulate thinking, discussion, then actions that generate the flow of resources needed to make mentor-rich programs available in more places and keep them there for more years.

Any of these can also be improved.  That's an open invitation to students, volunteers and people/organizations who'd like to partner with me, to update all of the Tutor/Mentor Connection resources and carry them into the next decade.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Let's connect.

If you like what I'm sharing, you can help me keep this work available, with a small contribution. Click here for information.

Connecting People, Ideas and Inner City Youth

Ten years ago, in 2009, I posted an article using this map of the Austin neighborhood of Chicago's West side with headline of "West Side Community can't fight gun violence alone."

In my 2009 article I pointed to a July 21, 2009 Chicago SunTimes  column by Mary Mitchell which was about the Austin (Chicago West Side) community's Number 1 ranking for weapons violations in the past 90 days. Her plea was for tougher gun laws so more young offenders will know they will go to prison, and think twice about carrying a gun.

She ended her article by saying "We need to do more to stop these offenders".

Ten years later, and that's' still true.  Too many in Chicago are still fighting this battle, working alone, or in silos, of a few organizations, research groups and resource providers.

Mayor Daley was still Mayor of Chicago then. Rham Emanuel had not yet been elected. Barack Obama had just become President. There was a lot of optimism.

Sadly, I doubt that any of these leaders, or any who have been trying to reduce violence and create more opportunities for kids growing up in high poverty areas of Chicago or other big cities, read my 2009 blog article, or have read many that I wrote before then, or since then.

Too bad.  Since I led non-school tutor/mentor programs in Chicago from 1975-2011, and created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to help fill all high poverty areas with similar programs, maybe I've some ideas that might be worth looking at.

Below is a Chicago Tribune story written about the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1995, talking about a "Master Plan for saving our kids". 

view this story here

The Master Plan was just developing at that time.

In 1995 the Tutor/Mentor Connection was just two years old. We had held the first three Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences, published our first program directory, and were launching the first Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment campaign that year.

We had not yet launched our first web site, or the on-line tutor/mentor program locator. Social media was science fiction. Yahoo groups had not yet begin. We were just developing our #GIS mapping capacity and had not yet learned to use concept maps to visualize strategies.

Thus, our "master plan" had just put seeds in the ground.  I've been watering and nurturing these every week since then, with whatever resources I could find.

Below is a timeline, showing highlights of what we built from 1994 to 2011, despite inconsistent funding and major disruptions like losing Montgomery Ward as host and major sponsor, then suffering through economic collapses following the 2001 technology bubble burst, the 9/11 terror attack and economic collapse, and the financial sector depression, starting in 2008.

1992-present Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC time line

Below is a second map, showing work I've done to maintain the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago and share its ideas and resources with the world, since 2011.  This map shows work with interns between 2006 and 2015 who came from Chicago area and South Korean universities. It also shows connections with educators from around the world, via a Connected Learning #clmooc network on social media.

sharing ideas since 2012 - click here

If you take the time to browse through past articles on this blog, or visit all the sections on the www.tutormentorexchange.net site you'll see more than 1000 articles focused on filling high poverty areas with mentor rich programs where volunteer tutors and mentors help kids grow up safely and move through school and into jobs and careers.

There is a lot of information, the result of more than 40 years of leading a single tutor/mentor program in Chicago while also trying to find ways to get thousands of people involved in strategic thinking, learning and acting that would make such programs available to more people.

See graphic in this article

The graphic at the right shows that since 1994 I've had inconsistent support, and major set backs, in efforts to fully develop and implement the Master Plan describe in 1994. 

Current news stories show we're facing many of the same problems, so that means there is still opportunity for new leaders to adopt and energize these ideas.

Since 2011 I've not had a nonprofit organization supporting me and while I've been trying to find new partners or universities who would use my history to rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection to have greater impact over the next 25 years, I've not yet succeeded.

I've been getting older, which means there has been more urgency to find these partners.  I've said to many "What if I get hit by a car, and I am killed?"  Who is prepared, or interested, in carrying this work forward.

Well, I did get hit by a car, on April 1, 2019. Fortunately, a fractured leg and shoulder were my worst injuries.

But, what if it had been worse.

Everything I have learned, and that I share on my web sites would potentially (likely) be lost.

I don't want that to happen. I hope someone with deep pockets but no vision of where to direct her wealth, will start to look at my web sites and blogs, follow me on Twitter, @tutormentor team, or on LinkedIN, or Facebook, and think about how they might be the lamp that lights the way for this work to go forward.

Have you looked at these Maps?

I've been writing this blog since 2005 and hundreds of stories include maps, intending to show where youth tutor/mentor programs are most needed and where existing site-based programs are located.

1993 T/MC Plan

This is part of a strategy launched in 1993 to collect information about existing tutor/mentor programs, and share that in on-going efforts to attract talent and dollars to each program, to help every program constantly improve their impact on the lives of kids and volunteers who participate.

On the left side of this blog are tags that I've applied to each article written to help you search for different topics.  If you look in the maps, media and violence sections you'll find stories with a constant use of map.

However, this is not the only resource where the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) have been sharing information about using maps.  I also host the MappingforJustice.blogspot.com site, which is more focused on showing  uses of maps and visualization tools than is this blog.

Below I'm highlighting a few recent stories.

This is a map view showing youth in poverty in the Chicago region, created using the Community Commons platform. See it in this article.

This map is from an article posted on March 13, showing updates to the Chicago Health Atlas web site.  View it here.

This map is part of an ambitions new plan, titled Resilient Chicago, to create a Chicago "where residents, neighborhoods, institutions, corporations, and government agencies are successfully connected to each other in the pursuit of economic opportunity, safety, equity, and sustainability."  Click here to view the article.

This map is from the Field Foundation of Illinois web site. It would be great if every foundation were using similar maps (or the same maps) to guide their giving decisions, and to assure a more equal distribution of resources to all parts of the city and to suburban areas with growing levels of poverty.  See article.

The above maps are from recent articles. This map, showing the 34th State Legislative District, was created in 2008, as part of the first collection of maps created by Mike Traken, who was hired after the Tutor/Mentor Connection received a $50,000 anonymous donation to rebuild our mapping capacity.  You can see this article at this link.

Mike used donated ESRI GIS mapping software to create a variety of sophisticated maps, which he then put into blog stories. He did this until early 2011, when we finally ran out of money and had to take him off the payroll.  He created this Map Gallery to show maps he had created.

We used half of that grant to create an interactive mapping platform, where anyone could create map stories, based on the same data and logic that Mike was using. Below is just one map created since then.

You can see this map in this story and you can find many other maps created since 2009 using the Program Locator, on this blog and the MappingforJustice blog.

As I said above, we ran out of money to keep investing in the mapping in 2010 and 11, due to the depression that hit the financial markets. This also led to the separation of the Tutor/Mentor Connection from the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program, where it had been born in 1992 at the same time that the CC program was launched.

I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 to continue the T/MC in Chicago and try to share it in other cities where there were large concentrations of people living in poverty.  Since then I've not found partners, volunteers or resources to update the platform, collect the program data, or do the outreach needed to teach people to use it to create their own maps.

However, I've kept the platform on line as a model and template that could be used to build a new version, using newer coding and GIS technology than we had in 2008.  If you're reading this and want to know more, browse through the articles on these blogs, visit this page on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site or reach out to me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

It costs me $100 a month to keep the Program Locator on-line. This is one of many expenses I've been paying, drawing from my own savings, and a small pool of contributions. If you'd like to help, click here, and send your own support. 

What the Heck Am I Trying to Do? Annual Reflection.

Every year I start out with a reflection, aimed at clarifying to myself, and others, “What the hell am I trying to do?” Why should anyone listen, or give me support?

Thus, this annual reflection is as much for my own reinforcement as for readers, but I hope you'll take the journey with me.

I found out more than 20 years ago that my words were not clearly communicating my ideas, in large part because too few others had the same background as I did, and too few others were thinking the same way. My college and Army background in history and intelligence gathering, and my corporate career in retail advertising for a company with 400 stores in 40 states, armed me with a commitment to collect and share best available information to support my decisions, and those of other people and to use daily communications to try to draw people to the ideas I was sharing...which focused on helping hundreds of big and small youth tutor and/or mentor programs grow, not just the single small program I was leading.

Thus, I started creating visualizations to share my ideas. I've been doing that for over 20 years. I'm going to post a few today.

Let's start with this one.

In this graphic, the photo on the left, from the mid 1990s, is a group of 7th and 8th graders. The photo on the right is one of those kids who came back in 2010 to speak at the annual year end dinner. I'm still connected to her and many former students and volunteers on Facebook.

From leading a youth tutor/mentor program that served 2nd to 6th grade kids (1975-1992) then became a 7th to 12th grade program (1993-2011), I began to think of volunteer mentors and tutors as people who give extra help to young people as they move from first grade through high school, and college or vocational school, and into jobs and adult lives.

This has led me to focus on the role of organized programs, that create a safe space, and an opportunity for youth to connect with a wide range of mentors and learning opportunities over a period of years. I created this Total Quality Mentoring graphic in the 1990s to communicate that idea.

Read TQM description.  Read Virtual Corporate Office pdf.

On Facebook and Twitter I'm finding stories from a few programs about alumni who are doing great things. However, too few programs are doing this. Too many may not have program designs that make long-term support possible.

In the next graphic, I then ask “If we want to help kids move from 1st grade to careers, what are all the things we need to be thinking about to make organized tutor/mentor programs available to k-12 kids in more of the places where they are most needed?” Open the map and read it from top left to right, as a circle of thinking. On the bottom row you see a focus on program infrastructure, funding and learning.

View cMap - click here

Kids need a lot of different supports. Organized programs, with a mix of volunteers from different business, education and age backgrounds can be people who help make these extra supports available, if they are encouraged to think beyond the “what do I do with my kid when I meet with them this week” question. The concept map below shows various supports kids in elementary school need. It is is part of a larger “mentoring kids to careers” cMap which shows that kids in middle school, and high school need similar supports, plus a fee more.

View Mentoring Kids to Careers cMap

As a volunteer in 1973, I started each week asking “What will I do with Leo, my mentee, when I meet with him on Tuesday evening?” I'm certain that every volunteer is asking the same questions. My goal has been to provide a library of information and ideas that volunteers could draw from, and to help programs build a talent pool of veteran volunteers and staff, who could provide answers to this weekly question, and many others that arise.

Dan Bassill - year end graduation, 1970s

I became the leader of that volunteer-based program in 1975 and from then until 2010, I started each August with “How do I recruit 100-300 volunteers and kids?” then moved on to “How do I keep them involved from the beginning of the school year till the end?” and “How do I recruit some to volunteer time to help me do this?” The questions kept growing as I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. How do we help this happen at several hundred locations in Chicago, not just the single program I was leading?

Since becoming a non-profit in 1990 the questions expanded to “how do we find the money to pay for this?”

That's what this next graphic is focusing on.

Click on graphic to enlarge, and few in greater detail.

The questions keep growing and ultimately focus on “how do we build and sustain public and private sector support for hundreds of separate programs, and for intermediaries, like myself, who work to support the entire system, the same way people in the corporate office of big companies work to support a vast network of stores in different places, distribution centers, technology and logistics and an army of talented people?

How do we build and sustain the public will to support this?

Then I think of how helping kids grow up is just one of many many complex problems that people throughout Chicago and the world focus on every day. How do we find a few leaders who will give daily attention to the problem I focus on, while also helping leaders grow in other sectors and other places?

Open map - click here

I don't know all the answers to these questions. Heck, I don't know all the questions.

What I've been doing for the past 40 years is building a library of “other people's ideas” that I use to stimulate my own thinking, and that I share to help others become involved in this process. This PDF describes the graphic at the right.

This PDF describes the Tutor/Mentor Learning Network, which is what I've been trying to build through the leadership of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present)

So I think what I do has value.

I collect information others can use to build and sustain programs that connect kids and volunteers in places where they are needed. I also lead a communications effort to increase the number of people looking at that information and reaching out to support programs with time, talent and dollars. And I spend time trying to help other people make sense of all of this.

I don't find anyone else who is writing articles like mine, hosting a web library like mine, or using maps and visualizations the way I do. If you find such people, introduce me. That's what keeps me going every year. 

Four Part Strategy

This graphic visualizes that process, showing a 4-part strategy that I've been following since 1993. Open the link and dig deeper into this cMap.

Below are a couple of more graphics to think about.

We all want every child born today to grow up and have a great life, and be a contributor to the well-being of others and the planet.

Common Goal - read more

If we don't collect the knowledge showing how some people are already doing this, we will constantly be starting from scratch, rather than learning from others. We'll never had the best information available to innovate solutions that we're willing to commit support to for many years.

Influencing Actions

Furthermore, if we don't figure out a way to influence both resource providers and program leaders and volunteers, as well as young people, we'll never have enough of the resources needed to build long-term solutions, nor will we have enough program providers looking at ideas they can use each year to improve work they are doing.

Is that all? 

In this article I've shown just a few of hundreds of graphics I've created to share what I'm thinking and what I'm trying to influence. Thanks for reading along with me.

Visit my page on Pinterest.com/tutormentor to see more.

Do a Google search for “tutor mentor” then look at the images, to see more.

Visit this article and find a list of links to all sections of my library, my cMaps and PDF presentations. Build these into a learning and planning curriculum in your community.

And for your viewing pleasure, I converted one of the power point files that I use when creating these graphics, into a pdf, which I posted on Slideshare.com/tutormentor

Tutor/Mentor Institute, llC Strategy Graphics from Daniel Bassill

There are 36 slides with a progression of ideas. I have several similar PPTs with additional graphics like these. If you browse articles I've posted, you can see how they have been used.

If you think what I'm doing is worth doing, and has value, then, do one or more of the following things

*) read my blog weekly and spend time looking at articles written in past years

*) join me in on-line learning groups such as the #clmooc group on Twitter, or in one of the many conversations I point to in this concept map.

*) share this and other blog articles regularly with people in your network

*) start a conversation with me to explore ways you, your company, your classroom, or your college can take a meaningful role in doing this work, now, and in future years..

*) make a contribution to help me pay the bills – here's my FUND T/MI page

Visit this page to find places to connect with me on social media.

Thank you again for reading.

I wish all of you to have a boat load of health, hope, happiness, peace and good news in the coming year.