During the COVID-19 crisis millions of people are restricted to staying at home, making the Internet and TV, along with the telephone, their main means of connection to the larger world. 

During this time the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC's  information-based resource library can be a useful source of information and ideas to help people find their way through these challenging times and to help build and sustain volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that will still need to be reaching youth in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other cities once this crisis is over. 

Use the resources on this web site to support your learning.  Do a Google search using "tutor mentor" and any of the words in the tag cloud below, and find articles intended to stimulate and influence thinking of leaders across Chicago and the rest of the country.

Click here to view to an interview with Dan Bassill, founder of Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011).

Click here and use the PayPal button to send a contribution to support this work.

Thank you Dan card, from students and volunteers, 1989-90

View here

Learn what's on this web site.  View this video to learn what's in each section.

Here's an article that shows what's in each section.

Open and close each section, starting at top left, and going down, then moving to top right, and going down. Get to know what's in each section. Come back often and use these ideas and resources.

See list of illustrated PDF presentations on this web site.

I'm Dan Bassill. I encourage you to read these blogs weekly and share them with your networks.  

Tutor/Mentor Blog

Mapping for Justice Blog

Tutor/Mentor Exchange Blog

Intern blog - click here

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

New additions to the library - click here

To help you navigate the site, we've numbered sections of the home page on this graphic.

1) this is a progression of steps you should take to better understand issues, build a geographic distribution of resources and programs, involved leadership from all sectors, start new programs where needed, etc.

2) this is a list of links to other web sites we host with additional information

3) these are links to blog articles that connect the information on the web site to current events and attempt to build greater support for tutor/mentor programs in more places

4) the menu bar at the top of the page points to information spread throughout the site, and to visualizations done by interns to help build a better understanding of our strategies

5) this points to a list of Chicago tutor/mentor programs where you can volunteer time or talent; and to pages where you can offer support for helping continue the work being done by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

6) this section includes history, mission, planning resources, etc.

7-9) The middle section of the web site will be refreshed regularly to focus on some of the ideas contained in the sections along either side of the home page. Once you browse through the site and the links you'll see that this web site provides a wide range of information in many different sections. It may be difficult for first-time visitors to know where to start, or what to look for.

View this video to help you navigate this site,  created by an intern from South Korea and IIT in Chicago

Projects done by interns - Page 3

Below are additional visualizations  created by interns to illustrate ideas originally posted in Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC blog articles.  Browse past articles on the Intern blog to see meet some of the interns.  View the intern workspace on the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum.

Join this project. Students and volunteers from many places can be creating interpretations of these ideas and sharing them with people in their own communities. Email tutormentor2 at earthlink.net to learn more.

NOTE: some of the projects below are created using Prezi.com. When viewing the presentation click in the lower right corner of the image area and you can create a 'full screen' view.

See additional Strategy Presentations by intern: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Strategy videos by interns.

Introduction of work done by other interns in past years.                   This graphic is from an video posted on  YouTube, done by Kyungryul Kim, a 2013 IIT Intern. It's goal is to give attention to projects done by past interns. Click here to see this presentation.	Introduction of past interns, using Prezi. Project by Byeonghui Kim, completed in June. 2013.  click here
Video encouraging people to use Tutor/Mentor Connection resources to "make a difference", by Kyungryul Kim, 2013 intern click here	If we want more youth to succeed in school, what are actions needed to support youth tutor/mentor programs in more places? Introduction of Tutor/Mentor Strategy by Byeonghui Kim, using Prezi, 2013 click here
Planning Strategy for War on Poverty, video by Kyungryul Kim, 2013 intern click here	If we want high quality tutor/mentor programs in more places, what are strtegies that will lead to this? Four-Part Strategy - 2013 presentation by Byeonghui kim, using Prezi click here This is different version of the "problem solving" strategy seen above.
Power of Small Change - Video, by Sunjoong Yoo, 2014 intern. Click here to view.	This video was created by SUNJOONG YOO, and IIT intern from South Korea working with the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC during 2014. It enplanes ideas in this blog article.
This Prezi visualization, by Sunjoong Yoo, 2014 intern, introuduces work done by past interns - click here to view	This is one of four shot PSA videos created by Sunjoong Yoo in 2014 to call attention to essays posted on Scribd.com See all four here

Return to first page of Strategy Presentations - Click here

 

Know your network. Use your Network.

This graphic is part of an essay that you can read at this link.  It describes a need to share ideas from the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC with a growing number of people in Chicago and around the country if we are to achieve long-term success in connecting larger numbers of inner city K-12 youth with adult tutors/mentors through well-organized non-school and school-based tutor/mentor programs.

What is Network Analysis?
If you have not thought much about network analysis, or how networks of people need to work together to solve complex problems, the links below provide a path for your learning.

How does this impact youth?
If you would like to follow our progress in mapping and understanding the Tutor/Mentor Connection network which has grown since 1975 when founder Dan Bassill began his leadership of a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago, follow the links below.

Understand Geographic Mapping, Too.
Tutor/Mentor Connection has piloted uses of GIS maps since 1994. See ideas here, here, and here.

Links to follow:
*  Social Network Analysis Workspace for Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection - here

*  Read report showing analysis of 1994-2014 Tutor/Mentor Conferences by IVMOOC2015 team at Indiana University. Looking for researchers who will do follow up on this work

* Collaboration and Community building articles - library

* Social Capital articles and research articles - Library

* Articles on Tutor/Mentor Blog. a) Network Building, b) Network Analysis c) Networking

* Social Capital links in Wordpress blog

* Mapping social network using NodeXL - tutorial

* Talent needed to support this work - network map (this could be used as worksheet for any organization)

Work Done to Map Tutor/Mentor Connection Network Growth

* Tutor/Mentor Conference analysis - 2008-2009
* Maps showing Tutor/Mentor Conference participation
* Growth of Ning network from 2007-2012 - Intern project
* Building Networks of Purpose - Network Analysis using Facebook Group . This also is an example of how SNA could demonstrate value of long-term tutor/mentor programs.

New advances in network mapping -
Visit the ICouldBe web site and follow the work they have started to expand social capital and map network growth of their students.

Help make mentor-rich programs available to youth throughout Chicago and other cities.

Read article titled ROLE OF LEADERS

Read more about National Mentoring Month and ways to get involved.  Follow Tutor/Mentor Institute blog articles and build your involvement.

Become a sponsor of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and my efforts.

Read my Dec. 2016 Holiday Letter

Daniel F. Bassill, D.H.L.
Tutor/Mentor Connection,  Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

The graphic below shows the talents that the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC seeks to combine in a team of people and organizations working to help more and better volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs reach kids living in high poverty areas of the world. That's our mission. This is the team we need to build to achieve it.

One section of this graphic focuses on "knowledge management" and includes visualization and social network analysis. Such talents are needed to turn this graphic from a static image, to a concept map such as this, to an interactive platform where people can log in, choose what group they want to be part of, then show up on an updated version of the concept map.

Another role of knowledge management and visualization would be to create debategraphs, like this one, to help organize the ideas we're talking about and show how they connect to each other in an on-going process aimed at building and sustaining our work for many years. In this case, the goal is not just to sustain Tutor/Mentor Institute, but to help sustain hundreds, if not thousands, of individual tutor/mentor programs operating in multiple cities.

If we can create these tools and apply them to our own team building, we can share them to help with team-building in any tutor/mentor program, any intermediary network, and any social benefit cause. If we can earn income from leasing these or training people to use them we can sustain our efforts without dependence on government or philanthropic support.

If you want to be part of this team introduce yourself on the T/MC Forum or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.