Issue 245

Support for Volunteers Creates New Leaders.

School has started and that means volunteer-based youth tutor, mentor and learning programs are in the middle of recruitment, orientation and start-up activities. My newsletters point to an extensive library that can be used by volunteers, students, staff, parents, educators and more. If you provide on-going support to volunteers they become more effective tutors and mentors and some become advocates and leaders. This issue shares some learning resources.

Visit https://tutormentorexchange.net/

While the primary focus of this newsletter and my website and blogs is to help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reach more youth in areas of persistent poverty, many of the sections have information that can be applied to any issue that needs support from many people, for many years. These resources can be used by anyone, in Chicago, or around the world.

Please share this so others in your city can find and use these resources!

Teach youth and volunteers to use resource libraries

Use the homework help section of the Tutor/Mentor Library

While September focuses on recruiting, training, orientating, matching and other start-up activities, this is only the beginning of what volunteer-based organizations need to be doing throughout the year to support matches and create new leaders. Open the links below and explore the resources.

Homework Help and Learning Resources - click here

Resources for training volunteers; for parents; and for program leaders - click here

Blogs by educators, youth programs, network builders, and fund raisers - click here

What's Your Strategy for Supporting Volunteers?

When I led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 1992, I learned that I could not do everything that needed to be done. I also learned, that volunteers who stayed with the program for longer than a year often grew to take on leadership and capacity-building roles. This graphic was created in the late 2000s to show the result of effective, on-going, volunteer support. A few years later an intern from IIT and South Korea created an animated version of this, which you can see in this Tutor/Mentor blog article.

Retaining Volunteers in Tutor/Mentor Programs - click here

Tips for Volunteers in Tutor/Mentor Programs - click here

Do you write a blog? Can you share your own strategies for training and retaining volunteers?

"Enough is Enough". Follow these steps. 

I studied history in college, then served three years in US Army Intelligence. Both focused on collecting best-available information and using it to support innovation, actions and decisions. I've applied this since I first became a volunteer tutor/mentor in 1973, to support my own efforts, and I've shared it to motivate others to do their own learning, drawing from a growing library of resources that I was building.

In the late 2007 I used the word "ENOUGH" to create steps for learning that anyone can follow. You can view it in this article. 

Build habits of learning among your students and volunteers

 

 

In the mid 2000s I created this concept map to visualize goals for using the Internet to support youth and volunteers and keep them connected in the years after they finished the program.

The Internet was still a relatively new resource at that time, but in the tutor/mentor program I led, we'd already had a computer lab with Internet access since the late 1990s. I used it as a "teaching and learning" tool, aimed at the youth, volunteers, staff and donors who were part of our program, and aimed at every other youth-serving program in Chicago and the world.

I understood that I could never teach "everything" that our stakeholders needed to know, but if I could build learning habits, they would know where to go on our website to find usable information when they were looking for new ideas and resources.

I also understood that as our kids and volunteers left the program we had too few resources to track them and know long-term outcomes, but that if we could build habits of "getting and giving" information from our website, many would continue using the resource in future years, enabling us to stay connected, continue helping, and show donors the long-term impact of our work.

I left the program in mid 2011, too early for these goals to take root. Those who took my place did not have the same commitment to on-line learning and networking, thus did not continue this effort. Yet, I'm now connected to several dozen alumni, who share posts showing their own kids finishing high school and college. Some even say "Thank you Dan". One recently posted on Facebook, "The tutoring program was the best. I wish you could do that again for the kids. They really need programs for the younger generation."

Here's one of many articles where I share this "learning goals" concept map.

Creative ideas that can be used by tutors, mentors, educators,  youth and parents.

The "Fluffy Ducky" graphic was shared on social media by Sheri Edwards, a retired teacher from Washington State. It's one of an on-going series of posts where Shari shows her own learning as she explores the challenges of "making art everyday".

The ideas she shares could be prompts that volunteers, educators and/or parents use to engage with young people. They can be prompts young people use for creating their own art. Follow Sheri on BlueSky or subscribe to her blog posts.

Another creative activity is the DS106 Daily Create (at this link), which has offered daily creative challenges every day since January 12, 2012. Each assignment should take no more than 15-20 minutes, so they could fit into school or non-school timeframes. You can find them on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/@This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on other social media platforms. Share your own creations.

Follow me on https://mastodon.cloud/@tutormentor1 or @tutormentor.bsky.social and view the daily posts from educators I've been following for more than a decade. Encourage your volunteers to do the same.

Below are resources to use.  

(I repeate many of these each month. That does not mean the information is old. These websites keep adding new resources to their own sites!)

* Advancing Social Capital Skills and Access in Education - article - click here
* Grantmakers for Education - click here
* Activism, Influence and Change (AICP) - How citizens, grassroots organizations and institutions influence for change - click here
* Why nonprofits struggle to network -- and how that's holding us back - click here
* Campaign for Grade-Level Reading - Focus on Tutoring - click here

* City of Chicago Violence Reduction Dashboard - click here for overview

* UCLA Center resources - click here;  Guide to Learning Supports pdf - click here 

* Every Hour Counts - network of intermediaries building after school systems - click here 

* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory. click here; visit the website - click here

* Chicago Mentoring Collaborative - click here

* Chicago Learning Exchange supports Out-of-School-Time community in Chicago - click here

* ACT Now - Championing Quality Afterschool Programs in Illinois - click here

* To & Through Project website - click here

* Center for Effective Philanthropy - click here

* Forefront -Illinois' statewide association of nonprofits, foundations and advisors.  click here

* AfterSchool Alliance resources - click here

* National Mentoring Resource Center - click here

* YouthToday online magazine - click here

* South Side STEM Asset maps - read about using maps - click here

* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here

* Prison Policy Initiative - click here

Read These Tutor/Mentor blog articles

(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media.)

Neighborhood Economics - Chicago 2025 Conference/Crowdfunding - click here

Dig Deeper into Ideas Shared on the Tutor/Mentor blog - click here

Create a New Tutor/Mentor Program Locator - click here

Learn about Tutor, Mentor and Learning Programs - click here

Follow Me on Substack.com - click here

Maps, Time, Social Capital - click here

Want to make a Difference? Re-Think Philanthropy. - click here

 

Bookmark these Tutor/Mentor Resources

* Lists of Chicago area, volunteer-based tutor, mentor programs - click here

* Homework help and volunteer training resources - click here

* Resource Library - click here

* Strategy essays by Tutor/Mentor - click here

* Work done by interns in past - click here

* Maps and Map-Stories from past 30 years - click here

* Political Action resources - click here, and click here

* Featured collections on Wakelet - click here

* Tutor/Mentor Institute Videos - click here

* About T/MI articles on blog - click here

* History of T/MC - T/MI articles - click here

* Create a New Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

* Reaching out to Universities to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy - click here

* Chicago Youth Serving Organizations in Intermediary Roles - click here to view a concept map showing many organizations working to help improve the lives of Chicago area youth. Follow the links.  If you know of other intermediaries that should be added please share that information with Dan Bassill.

Thank you for reading this month's newsletter.

Please share this with people you know who work in non-school youth serving programs, or in sectors that should be strategically supporting such programs, such as business, philanthropy, education and public policy. If they are not receiving these newsletters then we have no way of engaging them. Also encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. 

I encourage others to duplicate what I'm doing. Write a blog and share your own vision, strategy and challenges. Share your link and I'll add it to this list in the Tutor/Mentor library.

View current and past newsletters at this link. 

To subscribe, just Click here. 
(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email).

Please help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Visit this page and add your support so I can keep this information available to you and the world.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present)
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present)

Serving Chicago and the world since 1993.   Connect with Dan Bassill, founder and leader on one of the social media platforms. 

eMail Dan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to schedule a ZOOM call and learn more about the strategies and resources he is sharing. 

Social Media Connections

Do a web search for "tutor mentor" and you'll find us on many platforms.

Connect with Dan  at 

BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/tutormentor.bsky.social

Dan Bassill  on LinkedIn

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLCon Facebook group

Dan Bassill on Facebook Page

Dan Bassill on Mastodon - https://mastodon.social/@tutormentor1,
https://mastodon.garden/@tutormentor1 and @This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dan Bassill on Instagram  and on Twitter (X)

Dan Bassill on Medium - https://medium.com/@danielfbassill

Since the 1990s the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) have shared a vision of professional athletes and celebrities using their visibility to draw support to high poverty neighborhoods where many different organizations are competing against each other for attention and resources needed to do good work.  This is one blog article where that vision is shared.  This includes an animation showing how an athlete can talk about his/her neighborhood when being interviewed.

In another blog article we recognize that professional athletes already are supporting many causes, and wonder if anyone is aggregating that information into libraries and concept maps that can be used to increase idea-sharing among athletes and help individual commuinities find people who already care about what's happening. 

Finally, in another article we show examples of network mapping and call for researchers to use their skills to map the sports philanthropy world. 
 

A brief web search done on 7-26-25 shows that some of this information is already being aggregated on a variety of websites. Some of those are listed below:

My Cause My Cleats - by team - https://www.nfl.com/causes/my-cause-my-cleats/2024/
My Cause. My Cleats - Philadelphia Eagles - https://www.nfl.com/causes/my-cause-my-cleats/2024/eagles

NFL charities Inspire Change campaign - https://www.nfl.com/causes/inspire-change/ 

Athletes for a Causes - https://auprosports.com/athlete-causes/  This site has a list of causes, with a drop-down menu showing athletes who support each cause.

MLB Together - https://www.mlb.com/mlb-together

MLB Charities - https://mlbcharities.auctions.mlb.com/

MLB Players Trust - https://mlbcharities.auctions.mlb.com/

MLB Players Trust https://www.trust.mlbplayers.com/

Baseball charities - https://probaseballinsider.com/baseball-charities/  (this site has list of foundations)

Big League Impact - players - https://bigleagueimpact.org/players/  (see lists for past years)  
On this page causes are shown, with a drop-down menu showing what charities benefitted. https://bigleagueimpact.org/causes-and-charities/

MLB Together - list of causes https://auprosports.com/athlete-causes/  There is a list of teams/causes on this site

Examples of using star power - 

NFL players amplify charity impact - https://thequickreport.com/entertainment/sports/nfl-players-charitable-impact/

Athletes and Causes - shows campaign with Allie LaForce - https://www.athletesandcauses.org/project-frontline-news/tag/allielaforce

Causes players support - https://nielsensports.com/sports-fans-are-looking-to-sports-leagues-and-athletes-to-support-social-causes/

Exploring charitable work of MLB players - https://sportstars.blog/real-mvps-exploring-charitable-work-of-mlb-players/

Sports media - https://www.sportpositive.org/reports/

It's not the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC's intention to be the most comprehensive resource for athletes and celebrities supporting causes. Instead, we seek to point to websites that are aggregating and/or mapping this type of information. If you feel your site should be on this list please introduce yourself to Dan Bassill on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitter and/or Facebook.  I'd be happy to add your link to this list and feature it in future blog articles. 

All of the concept maps shown below can be found on page 1, of the concept map collection, as listings under some of the featured maps. I've created two additional pages (so far) to draw attention to these, since many people probably won't open the links.   Click on the links below each concept map to view the actual map. Click on nodes at the bottom of each component to dig deeper into the library of ideas that are shared on these maps.  

Birth to Work Challenges Facing Youth & Families

 https://tinyurl.com/ChallengesFacingYouth-TMI 

Complex Problems - Leaders Needed

https://tinyurl.com/TMI-complex-problems

"It Takes A Village" - Leaders needed from every sector

 http://tinyurl.com/TMC-VillageCMap-1 

T/MC and T/MI Goal - Increase Funding Stream

http://tinyurl.com/TMIGoal-FundingStream 

 

What We Need to Think About

 http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Logic-CMap 

Influencing Change - Make a Difference

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-InfluencingChange   

Volunteer Opportunities - Use this map to find tutor/mentor programs

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Volunteer-Opportunities  

Social Justice, poverty, inequality resources

https://tinyurl.com/Law-Justice-Poverty-Links 

Research articles in the library

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Library-Research   

Resources for starting and building a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program

http://tinyurl.com/TMILibrary-ResourceLinks  

Innovation, collaboration, mapping, knowledge management links

http://tinyurl.com/TMILibrary-Innovation-etc  

Websites that map poverty, demographics, school issues, etc

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-MappingData  

Volunteer Growth strategy

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-volunteer-growth   

History of T/MC and T/MI use of maps since 1993

https://tinyurl.com/TMC-Maps-History  

Return to page 1 of concept map library.  View page 3. 

Since the 1970s Dan Bassill, founder of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (led by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011) has used visualizations to share strategies and resources. The visual essays on this page share some of the background and history from when we were created in 1993 by volunteers who were also starting a new program to serve teens in the Cabrini-Green area of Chicago.

The original collection of PDFs are listed on this page. 

Create your own versions and focus the strategies on your own city.  Show your support with a contribution. click here

Why did one, new, small Chicago tutor/mentor program create the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993? - click here

Case Statement of Tutor/Mentor Connection, from 1990s - click here

Four part strategy of Tutor/Mentor Connection, launched 1993. This is from 1990s report.  - click here

2010 University of Chicago Net Impact comparison of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago to similar intermediaries in other cities - click here

Review of 2000-2010 Tutor/Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program - click here

2010 was the final full year that the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections were a combined non-profit. In mid 2011 Dan Bassill created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to keep the T/MC alive in Chicago.

This visual essay was created in 2012 to show the value the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC offered to Chicago and other cities - click here 

View growth of Tutor/MentorConnection network on Ning between 2007 and 2012. Work done by Chul Wan Park, and intern from South Korea - click here

 

Read this blog article to read about this network analysis work by Chul Wan Park and Mina Song. 

View growth of Tutor/MentorConnection network on Ning between 2007 and 2012. Report created by Mina Song, and intern from South Korea - click here

Understanding the growth of a metwork from a people to thousands of people over a period of years  - click here

This visual essay was created in 2012, showing Dan Bassill's networks on Facebook and LinkedIn, using Social Network Analysis tools. 

Introduction to Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) - click here

Master Plan for Saving Kids. 1998 review of Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here

Using HS drop-out data to create a strategy that makes mentor-rich programs available to more youth - click here

What are the primary most critical resources needed in a program? Survey results from early 2000s conferences - click here

 

Invitation to researchers and universities.  Adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Do this type of research to build an understanding of all youth-serving programs in your community, who they serve, what challenges they face, where more are needed.  Teach other students marketing and public awareness skills that they can use to draw users to the information you collect, and to the programs operating in your community. 

Thank you care from 1989-90 students and volunteers of the tutor/mentor program I led since 1975 -  click here

View more of our visual essays:  Page 1   Page 2   Page 3  Page 4

Since the 1970s Dan Bassill, founder of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (led by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011) has used visualizations to share strategies and resources. The visual essays on this page focus on starting and operating a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program.

The original collection of PDFs are listed on this page. 

Create your own versions and focus the strategies on your own city.  Show your support with a contribution. click here

Steps to start a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program (and keep it going) - click here

Mentoring youth through school into careers: Success Steps - click here

I led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program for 35 years. What were my operating principles?  - click here

Planning year-to-year growth of a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program - click here

Strategies for recruiting volunteers for a tutor/mentor program - click here

Building a Team. Recruiting Talent. Strategies to  use - click here 

Ideas for volunteering and service. Created by intern in 2011 - click here

Resources on this website to help people build on-going programs  - click here

This interview from the mid 2000s provides an in-depth understanding of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which is still led through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC - click here

Role athletes, celebrities, CEOs, etc. can take to mobilize volunteers and donors - click here

View some of the visualizations used in Tutor/Mentor essays and blog articles - click here

Build your own map-based directory of youth serving programs. Follow media with map stories - click here

After negative news stories who keeps attention focused on area where the news happened? See use of maps - click here

View more of the maps created between 1994 and 2015 on this Ning.com site.

Tutor/Mentor Connection used this survey from 1994 to 2010 to learn about Chicago tutor, mentor programs -  click here

View this essay to learn about the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, built in 2004.

View more of our visual essays:  Page 1   Page 2   Page 3  Page 5

Celebrate 33+ Years of Impact!  Thank you for helping.

I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011.
While I began my tutor/mentor journey in 1973 as a volunteer, and led site-base tutor/mentor programs from 1975 to 2011,  it's been for the past three decades, that I have dedicated my life to building learning networks, and expanding volunteer-based tutoring and mentoring programs across high-poverty neighborhoods in Chicago and beyond.  Please contribute to help me continue. (scroll down to bottom of this page to find PayPal button and/or mailing address)

Take some time to walk through the sections of the www.tutormentorexchange.net website and see what’s available every day of the year to anyone in the world who looks for information about helping volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs grow in high poverty areas. Look at the library and see the 2000+ links to articles showing where kids and families need extra help, why, and what some of the challenges are.

This is all free to anyone, thanks to you and others who have continued to provide contributions to help me pay the fees required to keep this site on-line and share it with others. This entire website is full of reasons for helping me help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in every area of persistent poverty. It's also a resource for any type of problem-solving!

The image asks "How can we do this better?"

It recognizes that there are many volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs already operating in big cities like Chicago, but that too many neighborhoods still have too few programs or none serving specific age groups.  It shows a goal of connecting "everyone" in an on-going learning effort aimed at helping existing programs get the on-going flow of resources needed to innovate and grow, while helping new programs start where needed.  It asks others to help.

Rather than trying to be a single leader in a huge city, the T/MC, and now T/MI, have sought to provide an information platform that all leaders can use to LEARN, EDUCATE, and INNOVATE ways to support long-term, mentor rich, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning program growth in more places and to solve other complex social, political and environmental problems facing this country and the world.

Test AI Prompting: Ask tools like Gemni, “Where can I find resources that help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs serve K-12 kids in high poverty areas?” I did that last spring. The “Key Takeaway” for my search was “When you use the specific slash format "tutor/mentor", the search results shift away from general "tutor" ads and toward The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC). Gemni wrote, “This is a framework developed by Dan Bassill that treats tutoring and mentoring as a single integrated strategy for poverty reduction and student success.” View the article at https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2026/04/where-does-tutormentor-land-using-ai.html


With your help, I can continue.

If someone you know has become ill and needs money to pay bills, they set up a "Go Fund Me" page and ask for contributions. So, this is my "fund me" page. I (Daniel Bassill) have been self-funding most of this work since 2011, supported by a small group of continuing donors.

Please send a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500 or more to help me continue in 2026, 2027 and beyond.

Thank you for your help!

Supporter $25.00 USDBooster $50.00 USDCollaborator $100.00 USDMake a Difference $250.00 USDBe a Champion $500.00 USDYou're the Best! $1,000.00 USD

Mail contributions to:

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
c/o Daniel Bassill
932 N. Salem Avenue
Arlington Heights, IL 60004

Thank you for helping me help others.
Note. The Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC is not a 501-c-3 non profit, so your contributions are not tax deductible. They will be used to support social benefit and the lives of thousands of young people born and living in high poverty areas of Chicago and other places.

If you are viewing the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website your phone you do not see the full website, which is pictured here.  Instead you will need to scroll on  your phone from section-to-section, starting with the featured content in the middle of the home page, then moving down the left side of the site, then the right.

For more information about "getting started" visit this page. 

This change is described in this blog article.