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Happy New Year
To All. May You
Enjoy a Boat
Load of Health,
Hope and
Happiness.
The ideas
shared in
this monthly
newsletter
can be used
by youth
organization
leaders,
resource
providers,
political
leaders,
universities,
volunteers
and youth to
help
mentor-rich
programs
thrive in
all of the
neighborhoods
where they
are most
needed.
Encourage
friends,
family,
co-workers
to sign
up to
receive
this
newsletter. Click
here.
(If you
subscribe,
don't
forget
to
respond
to the
confirmation
email)
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25 Years Ago, In
January 1994, the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection (T/MC)
Launched in
Chicago.
The goal was to
collect and share
information that
would help
volunteer-based
tutor/mentor
programs grow in all
high poverty
neighborhoods of
Chicago.
In 2011 the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC
was created to
keep the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
library of ideas
and resources
available to
Chicago, and to
try to help
similar
intermediary
organizations
grow in other
cities. As we
enter 2019, that
work continues.
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I'm Dan Bassill. I led the team that created the T/MC in 1993 and still lead it as we enter 2019. That's me in the graphic at the left.
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 in this newsletter.
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I Focus on
Helping Strong
Programs Grow,
that Enable
Volunteer Tutors
and Mentors to
Build On-Going
Connections With
Inner City
Youth.
This is a
graphic I've
used since the
mid 1990s to
visualize a site
based program
design, where
volunteers and
learning
experiences come
from many
different
industries.
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.
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.
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.
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I Use Concept
Maps, Geographic
Maps, and
Visualizations to
Communicate Complex
Ideas
Take a look at the
maps I share on the
Tutor/Mentor blog.
I feel that most of
us have an unspoken,
or highly
articulated goal, of
helping kids move
safely through
school and into
adult lives. I
share my thinking in
concept maps with
the goal that others
will use these to
support their own
planning, and/or
will create their
own maps.
 In
the upper left
corner of this
concept map is an
image showing news
stories about
violence and poverty
in Chicago. At the
left is the front
page from the
Chicago SunTimes of
October 1992,
following the
shooting of a 7
year-old boy from
Cabrini Green. These
stories remind me,
and I hope others,
of why
well-organized youth
tutor/mentor
programs are needed
in Chicago and other
places.
Read more.
My reflection
continues in
this January 3, 2019
article on the
Tutor/Mentor Blog.
Please take some
time to read it, and
share it with
others, as you move
through January and
the rest of 2019.
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As A Volunteer,
Your Main Question
is "What Do I Do
With My Student this
Week?"
As the leader of a
volunteer-based
program you're
asking that question
for 25 to 500 or
more volunteers.
You're also asking
many other
questions, such as
"how do I pay the
bills?".
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? Since
becoming a
non-profit in 1990
the questions
expanded to "how do
we find the money to
pay for this?"
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?
How do we get
leaders,
volunteers,
staff, youth,
donors,
researchers,
policy makers
and others into
on-going
conversations
that focus on
understanding
these
challenges, and
then finding
solutions?
My
blog articles
show ways I try do
that. And they show
ways I'm connecting
in on-line
communities.
I hope you'll take
time to read them.
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January is National
Mentoring Month
As you
celebrate
mentoring
and the
roles
volunteers
play, think
of other
ways
volunteers
can help
build strong
programs
that help
kids in
poverty
overcome
challenges
and move
more
successfully
through
school and
into adult
lives.
Visit MENTOR
Illinois web site
for a calendar of
activities for
National Mentoring
Month. Below are
additional resources
to help Chicago area
organizations and
supporters connect,
learn and work
collectively to help
build support
systems for youth:
* National Mentoring
Summit - Jan 30,
2019 -
click here
* To&Through Chicago
Project focuses on
college success. - click
here
* Civil Liberties -
resource map
(recommend other
links). - click
here
* Chicago
Organizations in
Intermediary Roles -
click here
Additional
resources from
Tutor/Mentor
Connection/Institute,
LLC
* Links I frequently
point to, including
tutor, mentor
training -
click here
* Select blogs
showing T/MC and
T/MI goals -
click here
* Blogs of educators
that I follow -
click here
Dan Bassill (that's
me) is available to
discuss any of these
ideas with you, or
others, via Skype,
Google Hangouts or
in person if you're
in Chicago.
In the late 1970s,
my "blog" was a
weekly newsletter,
printed on a copy
machine, and handed
out to volunteers.
It pointed people to
a library of
information they
could use to
understand why they
were needed, and
ways they could do
more to help kids.
I'm still collecting
and sharing
information, and now
use a blog to help 5
to 10,000 site
visitors a month
find information
I've been
collecting.
Can you help
Fund the
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC?
If just 40 people
make $25
contributions I
cover the annual
costs of sending
this email
newsletter each
month.
Click here
to view my
Fund
Tutor/Mentor
Institute,
LLC
page.
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Tutor/Mentor
Connection,
Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC
Merchandise Mart PO Box
3303, Chicago, Il 60654
tutormentor2@earthlink.net
| http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
How Can You Help
Tutor/Mentor Connection
"do-over" - click
here
Connect with Dan (tutormentor)
on one of these social
media platforms.
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