New School Year. New Role. Same Goals.

This is the first time in 37 years that I've not led a tutor/mentor program and been organizing student and volunteer orientations this week. As I've written in these articles I'm no longer directly involved in leading the Cabrini Connections program. Yet this week and next week they and almost every other tutor/mentor program in the country will be going through the annual ritual of interviewing and screening students and volunteers, organizing orientations, and doing the initial matches and start up activities that launch the new school year.

Through the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which was formed in 1993, I've tried to help these programs get volunteers and operating dollars. I've tried to help them find and use information they can use for training and supporting volunteers. I've aggregated information the students and volunteers can use in their own weekly activities.

I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to provide some structure to continue this work. Read the blog articles I've written in the past month and in past years and you'll see that my commitment to helping inner city youth from birth to work has not changed, just my financial resources and ability to support this effort.

If you're reading this article please keep this visual image in mind. Every tutor/mentor program in your community needs the same resources. Not everyone can be a one-on-one or group tutor or mentor. However there are many ways everyone in the entire metropolitan area can help build visibility for these programs, provide infrastructure support, and provide the operating dollars each program needs to build and sustain strong on-going programs.

Visit the Program Locator and use the maps or search screen to find information about tutoring and/or mentoring programs in the Chicago region. Research the programs. Learn what they do. Make a commitment to help one or many.

If you find out of date information or if you know of programs not in the directory email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net to help me keep the information updated. If you're a tech person/company become my partner and help me develop and maintain these tools. If you want recognition become a sponsor and help me hire staff to do this work.

I'm not leading a single tutor/mentor program as we start this new year. I am continuing to lead a strategy intended to help high-quality and constantly improving tutor/mentor programs reach youth in more high poverty areas.

I need your help. So do each tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities.

Good luck to all of you as you launch this new school year.

How can one person change the future?

I created this graphic a few weeks ago to illustrate an idea. This is an image of the universe showing thousands of stars. Think of these as the people we pass as we journey from birth do death in our lifetimes. How many are influenced by our ideas and actions?

I've been reading a series of Wheel of Time Books written by Robert Jordan. The term Ta'veren (pronounced: tah-VEER-ehn) describes "people around whom the Wheel of Time specifically weaves the Pattern with all surrounding life-threads."

Imagine if more of us were "Ta'veren" and as we went through life our actions influenced what others do. This graphic illustrates that concept.

As we enter the new school year there are countless numbers of people in the US and around the country writing about poverty, education, workforce development, urban violence, social justice. Many are highly visible leaders and celebrities. Many have huge amounts of wealth.

I am just me. I'm a grain of sand on the ocean floor -- and likely just as invisible and Un-noticed. Even if I had wealth, power and influence I could never be engaged in all of the discussions that are taking place. No one can.

Yet, I believe I and others acting like me can help shape the future. I've written about network building in articles like this and many others that you can find in the archives of this blog.

In addition I've constantly looked for ways to add my ideas into places hosted by others. This Debategraph form is the most recent example.


If enough of us put our ideas and work-plans on web sites and connect with each others in on-line portals we can expand our network. When we do connect in face-to-face events these can serve as "sparks" to ignite our imagination and as reinforcement to help us continue in our work.

I've done this for 35 years and via the Internet for the past 13 years. I know many who are following these ideas and have found many to help me in various ways. I hope more will connect with me in the Nov. 4 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago or through one of these on-line communities.

We can all help shape the future.

June 2017 update - Buckminster Fuller used the idea of a "trim tab" to show how one person can change the world.  See article.

Creating Learning Communities - Role of Interns

The problems society faces are complex and will take the work of many people working collectively for many years to even make a dent in some of them. That's why it is so important to begin to engage young people in this process.

Young people will become old people in a short span of life and if they begin learning to use the internet for problem solving, team building, and advertising they can build skills that will become more and more powerful as they do grow older.

Below is a graphic created by Sam Lee, and intern with me in spring 2011.

This has all the key ideas shared in this blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute site. It shows people forming into groups, based on what their occupation is, where they went to college, what faith they are part of, etc. These groups use maps to understand where poverty is most concentrated, what assets are in different areas, and what ways they can inspire people every day to provide time, talent and operating dollars for one, or many, tutor/mentor programs to operate in Chicago or any other city.

The graphic below was also created by Sam and shows that our aim is to constantly increase the number of people who are looking at this problem, looking at the research and ideas available on the internet, and innovating actions that make volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs available and more effective in more places.


This type of work has been done by interns working with Tutor/Mentor Connection since 2006. I coach the work in groups on our Ning Forum, such as this one.



To create her visualization Sam Lee used this one shown below, created by Dan Bassill, in the 1990s, to show how the Tutor/Mentor Connection was trying to build a  growing network of people who were looking at the information being aggregated in the T/MC library, and using it in on-going discussions within business, faith groups, colleges, etc., to innovate ways to make well-organized volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs available in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago.

As we start the new school year and reflect on the 9/11 tragedy I hope that sponsors will come forward to help me develop a platform where interns from high schools and colleges all over the world are doing what Sam Lee and our interns have been doing since 2006.

The result can be more people connecting with people and places where poverty created disadvantage and more people working consistently to create bridges of empathy and understanding where people on both sides learn and benefit.

Extending our Empathy - role of Mentoring

I encourage you to view this video.

Then tale a look at some of the ideas I've been sharing on this blog and in the Tutor/Mentor Institute. If we want to expand the empathetic world what are the steps that some of us, or many of us, need to take to bring more people into this type of world?

I've focused on volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring because of the way it connects people who don't live in poverty with places in neighborhoods with high poverty and with young people who live in those neighborhoods. If the volunteer is well supported because the tutor/mentor program is well funded and has effective, experienced leaders, I feel the volunteer will grow his/her understanding and begin to see the world the youth lives in through the ideas and experiences of the youth.

This creates empathy that leads many volunteers to sacrifice more time, talent and even dollars to help the youth overcome the challenges his world of poverty creates.

This graphic and video illustrates this growth.

Right now tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other cities are recruiting youth and volunteers and doing the screening, orientations and training that start the annual mentoring cycle. You can use the Tutor/Mentor Program locator to find contact information for places in the Chicago region where you can become a tutor/mentor and where you can offer your talent as tech support, communication, PR and marketing, or as an evaluator or book keeper.

There are lots of ways to get involved. If we want to expand this empathic world it starts with the first steps we each take today or tomorrow.

Labor Day - Creating Jobs

Do you think of Mentoring as a A Jobs Creation Strategy?

What if we could put thousand of unemployed people in long-term jobs while also helping more youth living in high poverty prepare for future jobs and careers?

In numerous articles being written this Labor Day weekend the unemployment rate is stated as being between 9% and 16% reflecting people out of work, no longer looking, or under employed.

Many talk of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure as a jobs creation strategy for putting people back to work. However, that does not address the large number of people who are in the birth to work pipeline who are not being adequately prepared for 21st century jobs and careers.

What if we had a jobs program that could create jobs for currently unemployed people and do more to help youth from inner city neighborhoods move successfully from high school to college and to jobs?

I’ve been aggregating information about poverty, poorly performing schools, social justice and workforce development for many years. This section of the Tutor/Mentor Connection web library contains many articles on this topic. (research library).

One article I found today is titled Overcoming Intergenerational Poverty (pdf). The writer recounts her own struggle to get through college and does research to show the barriers others from areas with high concentrations of poverty face.

In one of the conclusions she says “"Mentoring and Social Capital
A strong link between mentor support and academic success emerged in my study of students from generational poverty. I found that if students had mentors early in life and in college, they were more likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Mentors facilitated their understanding of social capital possibilities, expanded their networks of support, and let them know about important resources. In addition, mentors helped generate trust, and once participants felt safe and trusted, they were able to share their poverty related experiences with others. As a result, they received more assistance. Additionally, through their mentors, respondents learned new communication styles and behaviors that enabled them to communicate more effectively in the college environment. Mentors, and in most cases, the mentors’ connections, were pivotal when linking participants to information and contacts. This facilitated their success in achieving literacy and completing higher education. For example, mentors helped respondents understand the intricacies of filling out financial aid forms and taught them how to improve their study habits. In some cases, these resources reduced the stress of poverty and allowed the respondents to focus on their studies for the first time."”

Others are focusing on mentoring as a form of expanding social capital and my own view of a volunteer based tutor/mentor program shows youth surrounded by volunteers who come from diverse workplace backgrounds.

In a small tutor/mentor program with 50-70 pairs of youth and volunteers there could be five to 10 jobs. This infrastructure graphic shows what needs to be in place. The talent chart on page 5 of this Tutor/Mentor Institute PDF does the same. Most tutor/mentor programs don’t have this range of talent and they struggle. Our survey of tutor/mentor programs in Chicago shows many neighborhoods with few or no organized programs.

Since there are over 200,000 youth living in high poverty in Chicago, how many tutor/mentor programs might be needed to reach 50% of these? 500 programs with 75 youth each would cover the city and suburbs and still only reach about 38,000 kids.

How many jobs might be created if an effort were made to build a comprehensive network of tutor/mentor programs operating in all poverty areas of the city and suburbs. How many people might this put to work? How many internships might be created for youth in these programs? How might this contribute to the current economy in high poverty neighborhoods while also building the future workforce and lowering the costs of poverty at the same time?

I’m trying to build a team of people that will help me think through these topics and will help generate the resources and public will needed to make more and better non-school tutor/mentor programs available.

Maybe if we looked at this as a jobs and infrastructure program the government or some high profile foundations would take another look at this? What do you think?

Ten Years Ago -Just Prior to 9/11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Managing Complexity

As we move from an industrial economy to an information economy we are dealing with much greater complexity. That's what this video is describing. Read about The Complexity Challenge.

As you read about the role of leaders in complex industries, look at this graphic and how the information that we share on this blog and Tutor/Mentor Institute web sites can support the involvement of many organizations in actions that build systems of support for inner city youth.

In this article "Malcolm Gladwell says that if you want to shine, put in 10,000 hours." In the article above the author says "transform or don't survive". This is a critical issue for business leader. While I'm sure many companies are spending millions of dollars on training programs, learning these skills requires motivation and hands-on experiences. My own learning and thinking has come from my 17 years involvement as a volunteer while working for the Montgomery Ward Corporation in 1973-1990 then the past 20 years as leader of a non profit.

My motivation to learn is driven by my passion for the cause. It's never been the paycheck.

If companies are looking for competitive advantage, or ways to survive in this new complex knowledge economy, why not encourage employees to learn to manage complexity through the volunteer roles they take with social sector organizations who are using the most recent business technology to support the learning and involvement of staff and volunteers in their organizations.

Embed the Tutor/Mentor Institute in your organization and let us help you develop this strategy.

Naming Rights? Why not?

In a previous article I wrote about MOOCs, or massive on-line organized learning communities. These are part of a series of articles focused on learning.

When we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 our aim was to "collect and organize all we could find related to volunteer-based non-school tutoring/mentoring" and how such programs could contribute to workforce development and social justice. This chart illustrates the range of ideas we've been collecting and adding to web libraries. This link points to one of four sections in our library.

While universities, libraries, think tanks and many other organizations collect and organize information, the Tutor/Mentor Connection also seeks to actively share this information with anyone who cares about poverty, racism, education, wealth gaps, social justice, democracy, etc. The goal is that as more people become personally involved and understand the infrastructure needed to operate and sustain long-term connections between programs, volunteers and inner city youth, more people will be proactive in seeking out places to offer time, talent and dollars.

This video illustrates the year-round strategy we've developed and this chart outlines the public awareness strategy we've been trying to implement.

Unfortunately we've never had much money to invest in what we do. Yet our network keeps growing each day. These are some awards that have recognized my work. Imagine what we might do to bring thousands of people to this knowledge in an on-going MOOC focused on helping tutor/mentor programs grow --- if we had a greater wealth of resources.

This is Ryan Field at Northwestern University. It's one of thousands of buildings at universities, hospitals, sports stadiums with the name of a benefactor or sponsor who has put up millions of dollars for that privilege.

While I enjoy football and baseball I think we'd all benefit from working together to help more kids born in poverty be in jobs and able to support their kids when they are adults rather than in prison or living in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Thus, I offer the Tutor/Mentor Institute, Tutor/Mentor Connection, or a component of our work, such as the conferences or the tutor/mentor program locator, as a "naming opportunity" for someone who wants to help us make this a better world for all of us.

If you search for the words "tutor mentor" on Google or most other search engines our sites come up multiple times on the first page. You'd need to spend quite a bit of money for that ranking. We already have it. You can too.

Contact me on Skype at "dbassill" or join the Tutor/Mentor Institute on Facebook.

Like to change the subject?

Instead of talking about losing a big game or becoming manager of another team, wouldn't it be great to be able to point reporters to how you're helping inner-city tutor/mentor programs grow?

Read the Sports articles on this blog, like this one, and see how athletes can become the cheerleaders who mobilize fans to be volunteers, donors and/or leaders in tutor/mentor programs all over the Chicago region and in their own home towns.

Anyone can be a leader and point volunteers and donors to tutor/mentor programs in different neighborhoods of a city .... as long as someone makes the effort to create and maintain a Tutor/Mentor Program Locator Directory like we have done since 1994.

The most important part of this idea is that we're pointing to all of the non-school volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs we know of, not just the high profile programs with brand names or celebrity leaders. We're using maps to illustrate this need for tutor/mentor programs in all high-poverty areas.

We need your help to continue to operate the program locator and to update it with new features and more current information. This is a social investment, not a charitable donation. If you want "naming rights" we'd be happy to talk with you.

Chicago Update - 100 Days

Last week the Chicago Tribune included an article about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first 100 days.

Today's Chicago SunTimes has a 100 day report on the Chicago Police Department since Supt. Garry McCarthy took command.

In June I posted this article using a graphic I created to illustrate how the Chicago plan might be improved by using maps and graphics.

This this short PDF articlePDF expands upon this idea. Browse the various past article on this blog and you'll see many more visualizations and examples of how maps could be used.

I'm in the middle of my own FIRST 100 DAYS. I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in mid July to provide a new structure to generate ideas like these and to mentor leaders into strategies that might support the growth of mentor-rich non-school k-16 programs in all of the high poverty areas of Chicago or similar cities.

My goal is to "Embed" myself and the ideas on the Tutor/Mentor Institute web site and this blog in the planning and strategy-making of many cities and organizations while providing direct support to the Tutor/Mentor Connection and its efforts to support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.

If you can introduce me to others who might want to incorporate these ideas in their own strategies, or help me develop the mapping and visualization tools we show on the sites, please do. If you want to connect with these ideas join the Tutor/Mentor Forum or just post an introduction here.

CeaseFire comments on UK rioting

Gary Slutkin who is founder of CeaseFire and based at UIC wrote this article for the Guardian, a UK newspaper: "Rioting is a disease spread from person to person – the key is to stop the infection"


I had posted this map showing London riots on my mapping blog a few days ago.

In 2007 I led off a blog article with this quote:

"Good education predicts good health, and disparities in health and in educational achievement are closely linked," writes Nicholas Freudenberg and Jessica Ruglis, in an article posted at http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2007/oct/07_0063.htm

I've created concept maps to show strategy and to show the long-term work needed to help youth born in poverty move through school and into jobs that enable them to live adult lives free of poverty.

I've hosted conference in Chicago every six months since 1994 and I've invited the Mayor, CPS leaders, CeaseFire and other leaders in Chicago to attend and to use the T/MC resources in their community organizing. I've also invited these leaders to help me find the financial supported needed to keep these resources FREE to Chicago.

In this difficult economic environment collective action intended to generate resources for all of those needed in this work just is not happening.

The next conference will be on November 4 at the Metcalfe Federal Building. I hope those who want to focus on prevention efforts will participate.

If you'd like to provide the financial support needed,use the PayPal on this page.

Volunteer Recruitment - Helping Others

In 1995 the Tutor/Mentor Connection began to organize an annual Chicagowide Volunteer Recruitment Campaign intending to help all programs in the city and listed in the Tutor/Mentor Directory get volunteers and donors. This photo shows how the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program of Metropolitan Chicago was part of that effort.

Between 1998 and 2002 we received a $26,000 per year grant that enabled us to hire a part time Recruitment Campaign Coordinator. Through his effort the campaign grew to include Mrs. George Ryan as honorary chair, and leaders like Paul Vallas, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, as speaker at campaign press conferences.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
This link shows the Campaign Manifesto from one of those years.

We don't do a printed Directory any longer but have created a map-based Program Locator that can be searched by type of program, age group served and zip code.

We've tried to enlist financial support from foundations, businesses, the Mayor and other leaders for this strategy but with inconsistent success. Even when we've found a major donor the terrible economy of the past decade has caused many to cease giving after one, two or a few years.

Yet the violence has not gone away, schools are still not able to change the aspirations and motivations of too many kids who come to school unprepared to learn and there are too few well-organized volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in most Chicago or suburban neighborhoods.

Too few leaders have this strategy in mind when they talk of improving schools and improving the workforce.

Due to a lack of funding the Tutor/Mentor Connection no longer exists as a non profit structure. I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to continue to support the T/MC services in Chicago. My hope is that big and small investors will see what we're trying to do and see how this strategy can also apply to other cities and will support us with time, talent and dollars.

Yet, while we seek support, all tutor/mentor programs throughout the region are now searching for volunteers and donors to support their efforts, too. While each program has limited funds for advertising, business, media, sports celebrities and elected leaders can adopt these leadership ideas and help create the advertising needed to attract and motivate volunteers and donors to browse the Program Locator and get to know the various tutoring and/or mentoring programs operating in the region.

They are all different. Some are better than others. They call can grow from good to great if enough people make the commitment to help them.

Help Ignite Social Impact

Today there's a report of a pregnant teen being shot and killed in Chicago. Does that make you mad? This picture is the front page of the Chicago SunTimes from October 1992. I've used it often to remind me and others of why the Tutor/Mentor Institute and Tutor/Mentor Connection exists.

In July 2011 I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. It's not a non profit. It is aimed at making a difference in the world. It needs your help.

Social Investing is a new concept. Here are some excerpts from two sites which are trying to raise money to support social innovators all over the world.

33 Needs.com. FAQ page
"I'm confused. Why do you call this an investment? Because it's important to distinguish this from charity. This is impact investing. Investors are being asked, and offered, the chance to make a personal and emotional connection -- an investment -- with a company. A social entrepreneur is being asked to make a reciprocal promise to its investors -- that it will use the investment to create greater value. It's an ongoing relationship, they're in this deal together."


Start Some Good FAQ page
"Q: Is my financial support tax deductible? A: Unless otherwise stated, your support is not tax deductible. However you will get some awesome rewards, and the even more awesome feeling of helping someone start good!"

Here are two other sites where donors are contributing to organizations and/or causes that do not have non-profit status.

GiveForward - "empowers friends and family to send love and financial support to patients as they navigate a medical crisis"
Social Actions - donate page

At some point I may describe the different projects of the Tutor/Mentor Institute and Tutor/Mentor Connection on one of these portals. But for now I've created this page and I invite you to invest in the vision I've outlined in these blog articles and my newsletters for the past 18 years.

If you've contributed to the Tutor/Mentor Connection in the past I hope you'll continue to invest in the Tutor/Mentor Institute so I can continue to support the T/MC in Chicago. But I hope you'll also invest so I can help similar structures grow in other cities.

We need volunteers to help in many areas, or the money to hire staff. The talent map below illustrates the range of skills needed to implement the vision I've outlined on our web sites. With your help we can fill this map with names of people, organizations and businesses who share ownership of this vision and work responsibly and creatively to achieve its goals.

See actual map.

Help Build Understanding of Tutor/Mentor Programs in Chicago Area

Since 1993 I've been trying to build a master DIRECTORY of all of the non-school volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. I've been plotting this information on maps, and have created an Interactive Map-Based Program Locator that anyone can use to see the distribution of existing programs and to find contact information for specific programs.

This information needs to be updated each year and we need to build a much deeper understanding of what each program does and the differences between different programs. With this we also need to create communications and public education programs that draw volunteers, donors and other types of support directly to each program the way corporate advertising draws customers to retail stores every day.

I've never had the money to do this. Instead, my goal is to create shared ownership and a network of volunteers and partners who each have knowledge of the entire system, but expertise in local areas.

For the past two years a class at DePaul University has divided the city into sections and worked to build and share an understanding of what tutor/mentor programs are in different sections and where they are most needed.

In our Tutor/Mentor Connection forum we've created a list of "things to look for" when visiting, or building, a tutor/mentor program web site. In you can read how interns working with us are trying to communicate what they are learning about the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Building this type of knowledge and understanding could be the role of a service-learning team in a high school or college. It could be the volunteer project of a corporate or faith based team. It could be the role of a local intermediary organization.

If you want to take this role I can add you to one of our network maps, showing who is taking ownership of the DIRECTORY in different parts of the Chicago region. If we can build ownership in different sections the quality of information will be greater and it will be used by more people to help make tutor/mentor programs available to youth in different sections of the Chicago region.


No one can do all of this on their own. Yet the value of what a few of us create can benefit everyone in the entire Chicago region.

Using Emergence to Innovate Solutions

My network-building takes me into many forums. I participate in forums like this on the Linked-In Stanford Social Innovation group

As a result I expand my network and my understanding of what I'm doing, by hearing it described in new ways by new people I'm introduced to.

Today a post on this forum included this message: "The theory of change: personally I like the Margaret Wheatley theory of emergence that we find in Daniel approach (even if he don't know it. The writer pointed to this PDF by The Berkana Institute, titled Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale.

As the writer said, I did not know of this. I do now. As you read this take a look at the Tutor/Mentor Institute's "Four_Part Strategy" and see how much what I have been building since the mid 1970s fits with this idea.

This is not acceptable.

Today's bad news headline is " 6-year old girl shot to death.". I did a Google search to see what articles I could find about the "cycle of poverty and violence" to add to my own library of information on this topic.

I found this video. It could be Chicago. It's Hartford, Connecticut.



"How can people not care." What must we do to engage more people in ways that they become personally involved, and stay involved with time, talent and dollars for many years and in many cities?

Welcome to Monday. This is how I start my Tutor/Mentor Institute week. Hope you'll join me in looking for answers.

Civic Engagement - a focus on learning

This week I received a White Paper titled Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication

I was surprised when on page 18 I saw Cabrini Connections listed as a model. I was pleased because this on-going learning has been part of the elearning and technology strategy that I had championed in this organization for many years. This is pretty much on hold right now due to loss of our major donor due to economic reasons.

However, the reason I'm really excited to be in this White Paper was its emphasis on creating community information and stimulating on-going learning as a result of volunteering and service involvement. One group that was profiled in this White Paper was the Bonner Foundation, which "promotes the use of social media tools, such as wikis and videos, by all of its scholars.

I started putting my planning documents on wikis and on web site presentations more than a dozen years ago. However, the challenge I've found is helping people find the time and motivation to read these and become personally involved by editing and contributing ideas.

I was invited to be a contributor on the ACT NOW Drop Out Prevention wiki many years ago. I wonder how many other people use this?

I'm also part of many on-line forums where ideas are shared and networks built.

One of the five strategies of the White Paper is to "Generate Public Relational Knowledge." I've been piloting ways of doing this with maps, graphics, and network analysis tools, yet have never found enough people who really understood the value of this who were willing to invest the resources needed to build this.

In the White Paper Carmen Siranni's book, "Investing in Democracy" is quoted saying "you cannot get community summits and other forms of excellent engagement on the cheap. They take a long-term effort and resources that are normally a mixture of money, policies, and people's volunteered and paid time."

Amen.

I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to expand the ways I attract revenue and build partnerships so that I can do more to continue to develop the tools and resources we've been working on for more than a decade and make them available to more cities than just Chicago.

This talent map shows the skills I need and some of the people I'm learning from. If you want to be part of this map and an investor/sponsor of this process, please introduce yourself here or on the Tutor/Mentor Forum.

Looking for tutor/mentor volunteers?

School starts in a few weeks and every volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago, New York, Dallas, LA, etc. is ramping up efforts to recruit volunteers and other support needed to operate.

However, very few of the mentoring programs in America have the power and influence of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, who can run professionally made radio ads and recruit volunteers for their programs. Most of the small programs don't have the resources to do this.

So what do we do. I presented the information in this PDF to an advertising class at Loyola University Chicago in April and at the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in May. It shows how each of us has personal power that we can unleash through social media and one-on-one network-building.

What if volunteers, staff, students and leaders in neighborhoods across the country mounted a social media campaign aimed at enlisting 1% of the richest people in America to become deeply involved in helping tutor/mentor programs grow in high poverty neighborhoods.

This Chicago Tribune report, shows the "wealth gaps between whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels since the U.S began tracking more than 25 years ago."

This link points to charts that demonstrate the growing gap between rich and poor.

What would it take to recruit volunteers from affluent backgrounds and keep them involved for dozens of years so some become as committed to this cause as I have become in my own 35 years of involvement?

The graphic at the top of this page illustrates the role thousands of people could take to expand the number of people who become involved in tutor/mentor programs.

This graphic is from this video. It shows how people who stay involved longer become more personally engaged, and do more to help a youth succeed in life. Some of these people could do much more to make tutor/mentor programs available if they were from the 1% of the wealthiest people in the country.

Read more of the ideas we share via this blog. Help us share these with an ever-expanding network of people. Take ownership of these in your own community, company, faith groups and social network.

Together we can connect those who can help with those who need help and through this we can build bridges from poverty for those who are now isolated on islands of inner city poverty.

Networked Learning via MOOC

Vance Stephens who is one of the creators of the Webheads network is one of the people who constantly inspires me with his thinking and writing. Today I read this article and this article.

The first article introduced me to the concept of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)

It pointed me to this blog where a short video video gives a quick over view of what MOOC is.

Follow the other articles in this blog from one written May 28, 2011 to the most recent and you can see how a MOOC has been developing around an "e portfolio" course. You may be interested in the topic, or like me, you may be interested in the networked learning process.

The second article makes the connection between Josh Grobin, volunteerism, mentoring, and the innovative thinking of Sir. Ken Robinson, which you can see in the video below.



In sharing these links I'm trying to inspire people in Chicago and throughout the world to see that volunteer-based non-school tutor/mentor programs reaching youth in inner-city neighborhoods could provide the type of learning sparks and opportunities Robinson envisions, even when they are not provided by the local public or private school.

Since I can only reach a few people with my own articles, and there is so much information to learn if we want high-quality tutor/mentor programs to be available in most of the high poverty neighborhoods of big cities like Chicago, the ideas of a MOOC really appeals to me. It's a way to organize the information I've collected in the Tutor/Mentor Institute and share it with thousands of other learners, collaborators and experts who have their own ideas to contribute to this process.

Learn more about MOOCs. Learn more about what motivates volunteers to give more time and talent to a cause than paid workers often do on a job. Think about how these ideas intersect in a long-term process of learning, innovating and actions.

UPDATE: 8/22/2011 - This slide share by Vance Stevens provide a great deal of additional information about MOOCs and self-directed learning.

- http://www.slideshare.net/vances/meportfoliosputting-the-me-in-melearning

Imagine a MOOC timed to coincide with the November 2011 and May 2012 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences, or with the National Mentoring Month event in January.

Network Building - Who Is Helping?

This was the front cover of the Chicago SunTimes in October 1992 when I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The editorial writer says ending this violence is "everyone's responsibility". For 18 years I've been reaching out to build a team out of "everyone" who would work collectively to make more and better non-school, volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring and learning centers available in all high poverty areas.

Due to recent changes I am creating a new organizational structure to continue this mission. It's called Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and is based on the ideas I've been sharing on this site and this blog for over a dozen years.

This is not a non-profit structure so the challenges I face in building a team of people to help me are different than when the Tutor/Mentor Connection has a non-profit status with the Cabrini Connections program. I intend to build a new leadership team and re-establish the T/MC as a Chicago non profit, but that will take up to a year. By creating the Tutor/Mentor Institute I can continue to support the T/MC web sites and can offer my expertise to help similar networks grow in other cities.

So "who is helping?" That's a question people have asked me for many years. I'm connected to so many people, and the way people help is often in short term bursts, that it's always been difficult to describe the range of help offered. So I've created visualizations to demonstrate this and I continue to look for volunteers who can convert these into interactive Social Network Analysis maps.

This graphic shows the range of talent needed in the Tutor/Mentor Institute and in almost any innovative social enterprise. You can see the live version here.

If you click on the nodes at the bottom of the different units on this map it will take you to groups on the T/MC Ning site where you can see people who are "members" of that group. You can also see links to Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in pages that point to groups of people, or individuals who are working more closely with me. Ultimately a visitor should be able to click on any of these boxes and find names, profiles, discussion groups filled with people who are working in various ways to help the Tutor/Mentor Institute achieve its mission. Right now few of the boxes are filled and updating this map is a time-consuming process.

While my maps are built using power point and a free c-map application, this video shows how networks can be visualized using emerging free applications. I'm trying to apply this technology to show the growth of the T/MC and the different constellations and networks of people within the network. I just need to find the talent, time and/or investment to build this.

Introducing Gephi 0.7 from gephi on Vimeo.

However, if you are already working with the T/MC or want to help me help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs reach more inner-city youth in Chicago and other cities, you can show your involvement just by joining one of the Ning groups. As you take an active role, it will be demonstrated by the work you do in each group. For those who want to go to another level, you can even join the OHATS group on Ning and become a recorder to document your actions.

"Rome was not built in a day" is a saying that implies the long term effort to build anything that is great and stands the test of time. This map will not fill in in a few months and might take years. However, as it does fill in with partners, volunteers, investors and leaders who share the same vision what we do to change the path from birth to career for youth living in poverty will dramatically change.

Indianapolis Mentoring Summit - Aug. 11

This page shows how the Mentoring Summit in Indianapolis is borrowing from ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago.

Join the Tutor/Mentor Conference planning and follow up group on the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum.

I'm trying to organize a November Conference in Chicago, but need to find at least $10k in sponsor dollars and/or donated space. We'll offer this under the Tutor/Mentor Institute LLC structure which I've created in July to support the continued growth and operations of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago.

Contact me on Skype, Linked In, Twitter or Facebook, to offer your ideas and support. Sign up for the Indianapolis Summit via their web site.

Embracing visualization

This video is a demonstration of Gephi 0.7 which is an open source network analysis tool. If you read some of the network building articles I've written, perhaps you can envision how the different groups I've connected with over the past 20 years could seem like constellations and could be visualized using a tool like Gephi 0.7.

Introducing Gephi 0.7 from gephi on Vimeo.

My goal is to demonstrate that network building has a value, and must be supported consistently over many years if the size, composition and impact of the network is to have meaning. If we can demonstrate this then we can also teach network-building practices at universities and high schools and coach it in businesses and civic organizations.

Growth of the Network

This graphic illustrates the growth of my network since October 1992. At that time there just seven volunteers created Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. However, as this timeline shows, I had been building a network since 1973.

What I've not been able to do is show the growth of this network, nor show what people and organizations have helped in the past, or are helping now. This article is a list of people and organizations who help in the 1990s.

Now I'm preparing to launch the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, using the ideas we've been sharing on this site for over 12 years. Through the Tutor/Mentor Institute I'll continue to fund the web sites that support the Tutor/Mentor Connection and I'll continue to host conferences, one-on-one consultations, and on-line meetings and forums. My goal is to attract revenue from more than philanthropy so that the tools and services we build can have greater impact on the growth of tutor/mentor programs than we have been able to provide in the past due to lack of revenue and leadership support.

While many people have offered encouragement and some are more involved in helping me with this transition, I don't have a good way to visualize this, or to connect the people who are helping to each other.


I've been using concept maps to illustrate the range of people and organizations who need to take ownership of the ideas I've been sharing and how I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to support the growth of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago as well as similar groups in other cities.

This map is my first effort at showing the goals of the Tutor/Mentor Institute.

Today I'm working with a new concept map that illustrates the range of talents I need, and points to groups where I'm connected to people with that talent, as well as to some people who have stepped forward a bit to help me recently.

If you've been helping me already your name may show up in one of the nodes on this chart. If it's not there and you want to add it, just join one of the groups on the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum and take an active role, or join the Tutor/Mentor Institute Facebook group.

There is much to do and too many holes not yet filled on the talent chart. If you share the vision and want to take some ownership, please connect with me.

Obama Urges Business Support for Education

July 18th article in Washington Post talks about an "unusual education roundtable" hosted by President Obama. It's considered unusual because business leaders and not educators are the main attendees. 

 I posted this comment: It would be great if these leaders were using their visibility, communications and influence to do on-going advertising that draws employees and customers to schools and non-school youth tutoring/mentoring programs in high poverty neighborhoods and if teams of employees were volunteering time to help high-quality tutor/mentor programs grow and operate in the same manner that corporate offices help hundreds or thousands of branch locations operate throughout the country.

Such a strategy needs to go beyond supporting the brand name and well known organizations that only serve a small fraction of the kids in neighborhoods with poverty and poor schools. Cities need to create on-line program locator/map-based directories such as the one we host in Chicago. See http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net .

With platforms like this volunteers can choose from programs in many neighborhoods. They can help small and under funded programs constantly improve, while helping well funded programs draw from ideas of local, national and international programs to also constantly innovate new ways to keep youth and volunteers connected. 

Several cities do have program locators, but don't use these as platforms to attract volunteers and donors directly to the programs they list. It's hard to know if they use them to assess the distribution and availability of needed programs in areas with highest concentration of need based on poverty and locations of poorly performing schools, or high drop out rate schools. 

The service we host in Chicago is a pilot and has room for much improvement. Yet, I've found few map-based marketing strategies used by business to encourage volunteer involvement in programs designed to provide long-term mentoring, tutoring and career-education resources. 

President Obama was a speaker at a conference we hosted in 1999. Arne Duncan attended our first conferences in 1994. I hope they'll come back and take another look and apply some of these ideas in their efforts to expand the networks of support for kids living in high concentrations of poverty. and use them to attract volunteers and donors directly to

Life is a Jouney. Detours happen.

Today is my last day on the payroll of Cabrini Connections, the Chicago tutor/mentor program that I and six other volunteers created in the fall of 1992. I've been the president CEO for the past 18 years.

While we operate a single tutor/mentor program serving a small group of youth, my 35 years leading a tutor/mentor program, and my advertising background with the Montgomery Ward Corporation, led me to create the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 at the same time as we were creating Cabrini Connections.

Our goal was to build a system of supports that would help more children in Chicago be able to participate in high quality tutor/mentor programs by increasing the way those programs are supported by volunteers, donors, media, etc.

The video below illustrates some of the ideas I've developed over the past two decades.

Unfortunately we've not been able to attract the high profile leadership, celebrity or political support that is essential to raising the philanthropic capital needed to do what we're trying to do. In the end, the struggle to find money to operate the Cabrini Connections part caused the volunteer Board of Directors to decide they can no longer support the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Thus, I'm leaving the organization I started and have led for so many years and re-launching the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Initially I'm creating Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, which will enable me to move forward in organizing a November Conference, and see financial support from investors and others who believe in what we're trying to do.

I'll be working from my basement in Park Ridge and from donated space at HIGHSIGHT, located at 315 W. Walton in Chicago, which is one of the many Chicago tutor/mentor programs I've been connected to for more than 15 years.

The change from being part of Cabrini Connections to being a separate entity has happened quite quickly so many of the important details -- like how to generate income to support what we do and pay me and others to provide our time and talent -- have not been worked out.

Yet, in February 1990 when I left my job at Montgomery Ward, I did not know where the money was going to come from, yet I was committed to continuing my leadership of the tutoring program at Wards which I had led as a volunteer since 1975.

When I left the my role as Executive Directory and founder of the Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program in October 1992 I did not know where the money and help was going to come from to start Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Yet we've raised more than $6 million and involved more than 580 teens and 800 volunteers in the Cabrini Connections program since 1993. We've created a Tutor/Mentor Connection that connects the web sites and ideas of most of the tutor/mentor programs in Chicago to each other, and connects Chicago programs to the ideas of others around the world.

We still don't have a leadership system in Chicago or any other city that applies the ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Connection or draws consistent financial support to tutor/mentor programs in every neighborhood on a consistent and on-going basis. Thus we have an uneven distribution of programs, uneven quality, and inconsistent growth caused by constant changes of personnel.

So by leaving the CEO role at Cabrini Connections I will have much more time to devote to building tools that support collective efforts, collaboration, innovation and the on-going general operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other big cities of the world.

I hope you'll follow my progress, join the journey, and help put some financial gas in the engine so we can do this better then we've been able to in the past.

Thank you all for your support and thank you to the youth, parents, volunteers and friends of Cabrini Connections who have let me be part of your lives for so many years.

To those who give, much is given in return. I have given over 35 years to Cabrini Green youth and I believe I have been well rewarded through the love and friendship of the people I've met.

RIP Latino Education Alliance

I received this message in today's email: "Latino Education Alliance (LEA) is closing its doors after 10 years as a nonprofit serving Latino high school students and families in Chicago. The decision to close Latino Education Alliance follows a year-long effort to reduce costs, the exploration of an affiliation with other agencies and conversations with our historic funding partners."

If you've been following my blog you know that Tutor/Mentor Connection also faces an uncertain future. Funding challenges have led the Directors of the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection to decide to no longer support the T/MC strategy. Friday, July 15, 2011 is my last day as President, CEO of the combined organization.

However, it's not yet the final act. I've decided to create Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to continue to innovate new products and services that can help cities support the growth of high quality, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that reach a growing number of k-12 kids living in high poverty areas.

For me to succeed I need to attract volunteers and leaders with the skills shown in this graphic and/or I need to attract investors and donors who will provide the funds for me to hire people with these skills.

This is not starting over, or even starting new. I'm continuing on the same road, just changing from one mode of transportation to another. For a while that might seem like a move from a used 2005 Ford to a used 1999 Chevy. But as long as I'm able to steer and stay on the road, I think I can find a newer vehicle to carry the T/MC forward in the future.

If you're interested in helping join in at the T/MC forum on Ning or lets connect on Skype. My handle is "dbassill".