Uncategorised

March 2026 T/MI eNews

Issue 251

institute newsletter

Build your understanding. Recruit new leaders!

This month I'm sharing some ways I've recently used AI to create a better understanding of some of my concept maps and blog articles.

I'm also showing new examples of what you'll find if you explore the Kumu.io map created by IVMOOC students at Indiana University to better understand participation in the May 1994 to May 2015 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences that I hosted in Chicago.

I've streamlined the number of links that I share each month. I hope it makes the newsletter more readable.

Visit https://tutormentorexchange.net/

In each month's newsletter I'll point you to a few new resources that I've found during the month, along with resources to help programs grow and to help volunteers, donors and parents find programs in the Chicago region and in other places.

While a majority of what I share is from my work helping Chicago tutor/mentor programs grow, the resources I share come from all over the USA and from other countries. The actions I've piloted since 1993 need to be duplicated in every area with concentrations of persistent poverty, where access to opportunity is consistently lower than in other places and where funding is scarce.

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

Have you tried to find your tutor/mentor program on this map showing 1994-2014 Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences that were held in Chicago?

logic model

In last month's newsletter I displayed work done by a team of students in an information visualization (IVMOOC) class at Indiana University. I encouraged readers to open the map (at this link) and try to find their own organization.

Above I is a view created by zooming in on 1997 conferences. I've circled the Midtown Center, which is one of the green nodes. In this LinkedIn post they show that they are celebrating their 60th year of service.

If you hold your mouse over any of the green nodes you'll get a view that shows all conferences that they attended. Below is what I found for Midtown Center.

IVMOOC 1994-2015

Actually, they attended at least five conferences.

This shows that they attended the May 1997 and November 1999 conferences. However, the Metro Achievement Center is also part of the Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers. I looked at the May 2002 conference and found the green node for Midtown Education Foundation. By holding my mouse over that node I can see that they attended the November 1996, May 2001 and May 2002 conferences. So actually, this organization attended at least five conferences.

I'm now working with a Spring 2026 IVMOOC team at Indiana University to update this visualization. In February I went through the Excel spreadsheet (6518 lines) that was used by the Fall 2025 team and tried to combine listings where an organization registered under more than one name, or changed its name over the 20 years that we offered the conference. I'm hoping they will create an updated map, that better reflects total conference participation. In addition, Ihope that you'll be able to search by organization to find a view showing all of the conferences they attended. I won't know if this happens until late April.

In the meantime, have some fun digging through the current interactive map. See what organizations you can find that you know and then share a jpg on social media, just as I've been doing.

What are the strategic reasons for business to adopt this strategy?

IVMOOC 1994-2015

Over the past few weeks I've used Google Gemini to create a fresh perspective and new understanding of some of the strategies I've shared with my concept maps, blog articles and visual essays. I've been pleased with the results.

The graphic above is from an article titled "R&D for Business Support of Tutor/Mentor Programs" which you can read at this link.

Here are other articles using Gemini

* "Can You Champion this Idea?" - click here

* "Tipping Point. Fixing the Distribution and Infrastructure Problem" - click here

* "From Blueprints to Careers: A Unified Strategy for Chicago's Future". It includes a sample speech that a CEO might give to a group of business leaders, showing her commitment to the ideas shared in this Tutor/Mentor Strategy Map. I posted this article on Medium. If you have an account you can "listen" to the post. - click here

* "Message from Faith Leader". I asked Gemini to provide a similar speech, but this time delivered by a faith leader. You can read that on this page.

You, or students and/or volunteers, can use AI to give you a better understanding of any of the ideas I've been sharing in my blog articles since 2005. Then, you can use what you learn to help build support for youth-serving programs in your city or state. I hope you'll try, then share links with me on social media.

"We are not very good as a country in dealing with long-term problems, except when they present themselves as a crisis."

IVMOOC 1994-2015

The quotes in the above graphic are from the early 1990s. You can see them in this article.

Most of what I've been doing aims to generate greater on-going visibility for EVERY volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region, to help attract more consistent support from business, philanthropy, faith groups, political leaders and more.

In the above article where I show sample speeches generated by Gemini I've shown how business and faith leaders can use their own positions of leadership and influence to draw others to the information I share on my website and blogs. My lists of youth-serving programs are the most valuable part of the library, because by maintaining a list I'm enabling others to help draw attention and resources to programs in EVERY part of Chicago and its suburbs.

By sharing this on the Internet I'm inviting people in other cities to use the resources and duplicate my strategies, if they don't already have someone doing what I've been doing.

"It takes a village to raise a child" is true. But it takes consistent, on-going outreach to bring people together to do the work and build the resources. In these trouble times, it's more and more difficult to get this message distributed. That's why it's more important than ever before that some people adopt these ideas as their own.

Note: If you find broken links or organizations that no longer operate, or know of other organizations that should be included, please share that information with me.

Steps to start and sustain a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program

IVMOOC 1994-2015

Most of the resources in the Tutor/Mentor library are intended to help people start and sustain, on-going, mentor-rich, non-school programs that reach K-12 youth in high poverty neighborhoods and build long-term connections between youth, the program and its volunteers.

In this blog article, and this section of the Tutor/Mentor website I share three visual essays with "Steps to Start a Program"; "Operating Principles"; an an "Annual Planning Calendar".

Use these ideas to help existing programs constantly improve and to help new programs grow where more are needed. If you're posting similar information on your own website or blog, based on your experiences, please share the links with me on social media platforms.

View latest links added to the Tutor/Mentor library - click here

Resources and Announcements.

* Chicago NonProfit Formation - Digging Deeper into the Data - click here

* "The Time Has Come for Youth Development". Wallace Foundation article - click here

* Prison Policy alternatives - click here

* "Talent is Evenly Distributed. Opportunity is Not." "National Education Opportunity Network aims to change that. - click here

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

Visit this page for the list of Featured Links that I usually post in this newsletterclick here

Read These Tutor/Mentor blog articles

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

* Mapping Black History using Kumu.io - click here

* Many Leaders Needed - click here

* Tribute to a Larger-Than-Life Leader - click here

* No Coding. Just a Vision - click here

* Expand "Who-you-Know" networks for K-12 kids in high poverty areas - click here

Visit this page to find a list of highlighted resources that I usually have included in this newsletter.
click here

Thank you for reading this month's newsletter.

For those who don't want to receive this newsletter in their email, a copy of this and past issues can be found in my www.tutormentorexchange.net website.

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

Dan Bassill on Substack.com - https://substack.com/@danielbassill319958?

February 2026 T/MI Newsletter

Issue 250

institute newsletter

Thanks for what you do to help kids

This week I spent a few minutes deleting 450 people who have unsubscribed and no longer receive this newsletter. It was painful to see names of people who I've known for such a long time. Some were even people who still send me money to help pay my expenses.

Someone once said, I don't read the newsletter because it's repetitive. About 40 years ago an marketing VP at Montgomery Ward told me that we get tired of sending the same advertising messages every year, but we keep doing it because there are always new people looking for what we offer.

That's what motivates me. Each year kids only grow one year older, so the things we did last year need to repeat this year, with new ideas for older kids and improved ideas for new kids now joining tutor/mentor programs.

Visit https://tutormentorexchange.net/

In each month's newsletter I'll point you to a few new resources that I've found during the month, along with resources to help programs grow and to help volunteers, donors and parents find programs in the Chicago region and in other places.

I appreciate the occasional feedback from those who say, "great newsletter", but would also like to know what you'd like to see added, or deleted. While a majority of what I share is from my work helping Chicago tutor/mentor programs grow, the resources I share come from all over the USA and from other countries. The actions I've piloted since 1993 need to be duplicated in every area with concentrations of persistent poverty, where access to opportunity is consistently lower than in other places and where funding is scarce.

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

Here's another view of participation in 1994-2014 Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences

logic model

Last month I showed work done by a team of students in an information visualization (IVMOOC) class at Indiana University. Another example of that is shown below.

A second team of students also looked at the conference data and created an interactive map that shows participation by zip code for each conference from May 1994 to November 2014. Zip codes with darker colors were those with larger numbers of people attending the conferences.

The team also did an analysis of the data, which they shared with me in their project report. Since that information is not available through the map I put it into this blog article along with their instructions for using the dashboard.

I share these because they show the value of the conferences. Even though I no longer host one in Chicago, others can be using my planning process and conference goals to organize similar events, for the same purposes, in Chicago or in any other city with large concentrations of persistent poverty. As I find examples of this I'm putting them into articles on my blogs.

They also show ways students from universities and even high schools can do important work that can help tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in every city in the world.

IVMOOC 1994-2015

Create your own view!

This graphic shows participants in the first Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, held in Chicago in May 1994. See other views and find the link to the Kumu.io map at this link.

Take a look. Use the menu bar at the left to select a conference year. Then zoom in and see who attended. Hold your mouse over a green icon and you'll see if they attended multiple conferences. Create and share a jpg, just like I've done. This is something youth and volunteers could be doing.

Are you including all these steps in your planning?

IVMOOC 1994-2015

Over the past 30 years I have seen many groups form with a goal of innovating new and better ways to help kids learn and move into adult lives, with jobs and an ability to contribute to their community. However, most fall short of the long-term goal. One reason, may be too few people support the strategies they propose. Another, is they have not figured a way to generate sustainable operating funding, that reaches schools and non-school programs in every zip code where kids, families and schools need more help.

I encourage you to open the concept map shown above and read through it, starting at "Step 1" in the upper left, then circling around to "Step 7". Does your planning process focus on all of these steps?
Do you have a concept map that shows your planning process, or the blueprint you're using to help kids from birth-to-work? If yes, please share it.

Reach out and support youth serving programs

IVMOOC 1994-2015

I created this concept map a few years ago to show the many ways a volunteer, parent, donor, reporter and/or researcher can learn about existing youth tutor, mentor and learning programs in Chicago and other places. Since many of the lists focus on the Chicago region I encourage other cities and states to create their own lists, and versions of this concept map. Then share it so I can add it to my own library.

I'm seeing some great videos being created by several programs to show the importance of mentoring and the work they do. I find them in my social media feeds because I've used my lists to connect with them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I wish more were posting on BlueSky, too.

You can do the same.

What if billionaires adopt this idea?

IVMOOC 1994-2015

I saw this post on BlueSky this week. It's a Forbes article talking about how Melinda French Gates plans to fund "Chronically", "Unconscionably" Underfunded Programs for Women and Girls."

That prompted me to write this article, titled "Leverage Billionaire Funding - Tipping Point" in which I show how these women could combine forces to create long-term programs at several universities who create a pipeline of new leaders for youth-serving programs and also create a motivated, proactive core of donors who actively support them. I hope you'll read and share the article.

View latest links added to the Tutor/Mentor library - click here