Friends Friends

Vol.
Network
Donor
Open Network
IDEA Space Alumni Grows Alumni
Individual Co-
Invite others OVER TIME
worker

Co-worker Co-worker
Vol.
Network
Donor

Co-
worker

Network Growth: Making

Ideas a Reality
This article shows how one person’s
idea can grow into a movement of many As a result of the collective effort of
thousands of people. The examples are many people more youth living in high
taken from the 1975-2023 experiences of poverty neighborhoods will be
Daniel F. Bassill, who led volunteer-based connected to networks of adult tutors,
tutor/mentor programs in Chicago for 35 mentors, coaches, friends and
consecutive years and is founder and advocates who help them through
leader of the Tutor/Mentor Connection school and into jobs and careers.
(1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute,
LLC (2011-present).

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net

 IDEA Friends
Vol.
One Person Network
Dan Bassill Donor
Network
1994 Alumni
Grows
Co-
Friends
OVER TIME
Vol. worker

Network
Donor Co-worker
Network Vol.
Grows Alumni
Network
Co- Donor
OVER TIME
worker Friends
Vol.
Co-
Co-worker worker
Network
Vol. Donor
Network
Network
Grows Alumni
Donor
Co-
OVER TIME
worker
Co-
worker Co-worker
Vol.
Network
Donor

Co-
worker

1994-2015
Over time, network grows to include more people, from more places.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 2
Dan Bassill, Chicago SunTimes, 1994
Friends Friends
Vol.
Network
Donor
Open Network
Space IWU Grows Alumni
Alumni Co-
Invite others OVER TIME
worker
IDEA
Individual Co-worker Co-worker
Vol.
Network
Donor

The involvement of a few key people Co-

is critical to the successful growth of worker

a network.

This Idea will only reach more people

when a few others adopt it as their own.
Anyone who has had their life transformed because of the
involvement of a mentor, should be interested in taking this
role so others have the same opportunity.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net

Pg. 3
 MY IDEA- Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Information-based strategy designed to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor
programs, similar to the one I led from 1975 to 1992, grow in all high poverty
IDEA neighborhoods of Chicago by helping programs get resources needed to
Individual
constantly improve products and services.

Chicago
1990s

The Cabrini Connections program, which we formed in Nov. 1992,

at the same time as we made a commitment to build the
Tutor/Mentor Connection, is one of the programs we helped grow.
I led it until July 2011.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 4

 War on Poverty – Complex System!
In order to have well-trained troops in places where the enemy is concentrated the military has a sophisticated
planning process that extends to mobilizing public support for expensive war efforts. We need the same thinking to
have tutor/mentor programs and adult learning support in all high poverty neighborhoods.

4 1

7
Goal
The Tutor/Mentor 5 2
Connection strategy
borrowed from how
companies support
multiple stores in many
locations, as well as from
how generals win wars.
6 3

Goal

?
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg 5
Tutor/Mentor Institute Goals
• Fill all high poverty zip codes, and non-school hours, with
mentor-rich, K-12 programs

• Help each program have resources to constantly improve ways

they keep youth and adults involved

• Enlist leadership and financial involvement from every

business, professional, faith, university

• Define strategy as workforce development and business

benefit, not as philanthropy

• Duplicate in every city in the US and the world

• Increase the network size from year to year

• Sustain the effort for decades

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 6

 Create web platform to support involvement of leaders from any sector.
Browse each section quickly to
The Tutor/Mentor Connection know what’s on the site.
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC,
focuses on four on-going
strategies

Resource
Generation

Collaboration,
shared learning

Public
Awareness

Research
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
This is the home page of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Pg 7
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net
Network Building – on-going actions
2. Create
map/databases 3. draw
attention to
1. Collect and this
share information information

4. Create

Strategy
10. Constant learning
learning and circles
process
improvement
5. Motivate
volunteers,
donors, to
“shop and buy
9. Track long-
term
connections of
youth, 6. Map the
volunteers and 8. Document growth of
programs what people networks,
7. Map annual
are doing to growth and
achieve these distribution of
goals programs

View T/MC 4 part strategy - http://tinyurl.com/TMC-4-Part-Strategy

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 8
 Strategy
1. Collect and share information related to this issue, drawing from thought leaders
around the world;
2. Create portals that host map/databases of network of organizations needed to help
youth to careers, like Tutor/Mentor Program Locator – view archive at
https://tinyurl.com/ProgramLocatorMap-archive;
3. Innovate new ways to draw attention to this information every day, the way the
Super Bowl and TV shows draw viewers to their shows;
4. Create learning circles in thousands of places, where people who are familiar with
the information help other people learn to use it, so they can then teach others who
are unfamiliar with it;
5. Create events at key times each year that motivate volunteers, donors, to “shop
and buy”, choosing from all of the programs in a city, and supporting programs in
zip codes throughout a city;
6. Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, etc to share ideas
from library and connect and learn from others;
7. Create tools that map the growth of networks, showing how the number of people
and organizations involved grows from year to year;
8. Create maps and visualization tools that help show the increased year-to- year
growth and distribution of needed programs in all poverty areas;
9. Use documentation portals to collect information that shows what people are doing
to achieve these goals, and to give recognition to those who do this work well.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 9
 Concepts to Understand
• Talent Map * Network Map * Village Map
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Documentation Systems
• Concept maps; systems thinking
Friends Friends
Vol.
Network
Donor
Open Network
IDEA Space Alumni Grows Alumni
Individual Co-
Invite others OVER TIME
worker

Co-worker Co-worker
Vol.
Network
Donor
We need tools to show growth of network
from one person to many people so more Co-
worker
investors will value/support this role.

View concept map library at https://tutormentorexchange.net/conceptmaps

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 10
Network Building – An Intentional Process
As we teach people to map their network, we need to also teach them how to
expand their network, and how to focus members of the network on the
group/project that we are focused on.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 11

 Network Building Year-round
This is a year-round process that can involved anyone who is concerned about the
issues the group focuses on. It involves using your communications tools to point
people to information and connect them to each other. It involves inviting people to
come together at certain times each year. It involves a constant “call to action”,
e.g. “be a volunteer, be a donor”, etc.

View in article at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2009/09/violence-is-just-on-other-side-of.html

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 12
 Talent Map
Without the right mix of talent in a working group it is less likely that a project will be successful or
that a movement will grow. This talent map shows a range of skills that are needed in the
Tutor/Mentor Connection. A SNA tool could be created to show the members involved in this talent
network, and the growth of membership over a period of years.

http://tinyurl.com/TMCSupportNet

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net http://

Pg. 13
 Network Map Includes Key Sectors
Without representation from
important civic leaders,
businesses, civic and social
networks, a talented group will
still be without access to the
leadership and philanthropic
capital it needs to grow.

This “network” map shows a

range of organizations that are
needed in the Tutor/Mentor
Connection. A SNA tool could be
created to show the members
involved in this talent network
and what sector they represent

Maps should show the growth of

membership within each sector
View this at http://tinyurl.com/TMI-NetworkMap over a period of years.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 14

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

Leaders from every sector need to be strategically involved supporting tutor/mentor programs and
birth-to-work activities in every zip code. This leadership needs to be sustained for many years,
assuring that youth born today are in the workforce in 25 years. It will take innovative
communications and leadership strategies to build and sustain such a network of leaders for that
many years.

View “birth-to-work challenges” concept map at https://tinyurl.com/ChallengesFacingYouth-TMI

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 15
 Strategic Use of Maps
It is essential that communities
and leaders learn to use maps
the way Generals and
business marketing managers
use them.

Maps show where kids need

more help and they show
where existing services are
available. They can be used to
plan marketing campaigns to
distribute needed resources.
They can be used by leaders
to help fill in gaps where no
programs exist.

2021 - The Chicago

Tutor/Mentor Program
Locator, created between
2004 and 2008, is now an
archive only.
See our vision for uses of maps at
http://tutormentorexchange.net/mapping-the-programs
http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/mapgallery.html
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 16
Current Chicago Programs Map

View in article at
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/02/help-youth-tutor-mentor-learning.html

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 17

 Friends Friends
Vol.
Network
Donor
Open Network
IDEA Space Alumni Grows Alumni
Individual Co-
Invite others OVER TIME
worker

Co-worker Co-worker
Vol.
Network
Donor

The involvement of a few key people Co-

is critical to the successful growth of worker

a network.

This network-growth needs to be

happening in every industry, in every city.
Meet on these sites to discuss:
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/TutorMentorInstitute
http://www.twitter.com/tutormentorteam

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 18

 Accountability. Who Does What?

It’s fashionable to call on educators and non-profit leaders to be accountable. However, until people beyond poverty
hold themselves equally accountable, not much will change for young people attending poorly performing schools or
living in high poverty neighborhoods.

Collaboration portals need to engage a growing number of people in idea sharing, reflection, innovation and actions
that draw resources to programs and help programs constantly improve impact on kids. Documentation systems can
show what people BEYOND the NON PROFIT SECTOR are doing to make sure the information, awareness,
learning and resource flow is happening in their own community.

See video describing OHATS. https://youtu.be/fpqpveo9rro

View archive of site at https://tinyurl.com/TMC-OHATS-archive
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 19
If we can grow the network…
We can do much to change the
future for youth living in poverty.

Growth has continued through 2023

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 19

 HELP WANTED
I have had the help of many different people and organizations since 1993 but never
consistent funding at a high enough level to do all we wanted to do. Since forming the
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 there has been even less funding to build an
organizational structure to do this work.

As we look beyond 2023 I seek institutional investors (of time, talent and dollars) who will
take ownership of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, rebuild platforms like the Tutor/Mentor
Program Locator, and events like the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences, then spread
the entire strategy to multiple cities. We need to do that now so that it is able to continue
in future years, even if I’m no longer able to be involved. Please help me find such
partners.

I can be reached at tutormentor2@earthlink.net and on

many social media platforms.
I welcome ZOOM meetings.

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 20

 Visit these web sites to learn
more about the Tutor/Mentor
Institute, LLC and
Tutor/Mentor Connection

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC sites:

http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
http://tutormentorexchange.net/conceptmaps
https://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
http://www.scribd.com/daniel-f-bassill-7291

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg 20