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 The book titled, The Starfish and the Spider, illustrates the T/MC and T/MI role as a catalyst in building a decentralized network of leaders who support volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and around the world.
Role of Catalyst in Building Network. The book describes the role of a catalyst who inspires the growth of a decentralized network of people focused on a common goal. This is a role Dan Bassill, founder of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011 to present) has taken since 1975. The graphic below illustrates how volunteers and leaders reaching into their own networks on a regular basis, can draw volunteers, donors, partners, etc. to information hubs like the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net web site, then on to various neighborhoods in Chicago, or any other city, where they become volunteers, donors, leaders, etc. at existing programs, or where they help form new programs to fill voids. In a single program, where each volunteer works one-on-one with a student, and all students are different, this same concept applies. The volunteer is accessing all of the resources of the program, and fellow volunteers, to find ways to help the youth take charge of his/her own future.
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Collaboration and Capacity Building
Within the 
