September 2025 eNews

Issue 245

institute newsletter

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!

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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
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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?

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"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

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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

Pro Athletes Supporting Causes

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. 

Concept Map Library - pg 2

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.  

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Birth to Work Challenges Facing Youth & Families

 https://tinyurl.com/ChallengesFacingYouth-TMI 

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Complex Problems - Leaders Needed

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

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

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

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

http://tinyurl.com/TMIGoal-FundingStream 

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What We Need to Think About

 http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Logic-CMap 

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Influencing Change - Make a Difference

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-InfluencingChange   

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

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

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Social Justice, poverty, inequality resources

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

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Research articles in the library

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

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

http://tinyurl.com/TMILibrary-ResourceLinks  

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Innovation, collaboration, mapping, knowledge management links

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

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Websites that map poverty, demographics, school issues, etc

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-MappingData  

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Volunteer Growth strategy

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

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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

Visual Essays - pg 5

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

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Why did one, new, small Chicago tutor/mentor program create the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993? - click here
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Case Statement of Tutor/Mentor Connection, from 1990s - click here
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Four part strategy of Tutor/Mentor Connection, launched 1993. This is from 1990s report.  - click here
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2010 University of Chicago Net Impact comparison of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago to similar intermediaries in other cities - click here
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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.

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

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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. 

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

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Introduction to Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) - click here
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Master Plan for Saving Kids. 1998 review of Tutor/Mentor Connection - click here
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Using HS drop-out data to create a strategy that makes mentor-rich programs available to more youth - click here
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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. 

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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

Visual Essays - pg 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

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Steps to start a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program (and keep it going) - click here
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Mentoring youth through school into careers: Success Steps - click here
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I led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program for 35 years. What were my operating principles?  - click here
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Planning year-to-year growth of a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program - click here
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Strategies for recruiting volunteers for a tutor/mentor program - click here
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Building a Team. Recruiting Talent. Strategies to  use - click here 

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Ideas for volunteering and service. Created by intern in 2011 - click here
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Resources on this website to help people build on-going programs  - click here
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Learn about the resources available on this website. This shows site prior to 2025 upgrade. Content is same. Look is slighly different - click here
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Role athletes, celebrities, CEOs, etc. can take to mobilize volunteers and donors - click here
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View some of the visualizations used in Tutor/Mentor essays and blog articles - click here
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Build your own map-based directory of youth serving programs. Follow media with map stories - click here
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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.

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

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

2 columns blog

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Article Title One

This is the introductory text for the first article. It provides a brief overview of the content, designed to capture the reader's attention. The layout is responsive, ensuring a good experience across all devices.

Read More
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Article Title Two

Here is the summary for the second article. Each article block is self-contained, allowing for easy management and display within the two-column structure. Images are set to be responsive using Bootstrap's `card-img-top`.

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Article Title Three

This section delves into more details about the third topic. The use of Bootstrap's card component helps maintain a clean and consistent appearance for each article entry.

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Article Title Four

Content for the fourth article, demonstrating how text flows underneath the image. The `h-100` class on the card ensures that cards in the same row have equal height, even if content length varies.

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Article Title Five

This is the fifth article's summary. The responsive nature means these columns will stack on smaller screens, making it mobile-friendly.

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Article Title Six

Details for the sixth article. You can easily replace the placeholder images (`placehold.co`) with your actual article images.

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Article Title Seven

This article covers the seventh topic. Remember to adjust the `href` attributes for the "Read More" buttons to link to your actual full articles.

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Article Title Eight

Summary for the eighth article. The `mb-4` class adds spacing between rows, while `mb-md-0` removes it for the right column on medium screens and up.

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Article Title Nine

The ninth article's content. This structure is flexible and can be easily extended or modified to fit more articles or different layouts.

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Article Title Ten

Finally, the tenth article. This comprehensive example provides a robust foundation for displaying multiple articles in a responsive two-column grid.

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Article Title eleven

This section delves into more details about the third topic. The use of Bootstrap's card component helps maintain a clean and consistent appearance for each article entry.

Read More
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Article Title 12

Content for the fourth article, demonstrating how text flows underneath the image. The `h-100` class on the card ensures that cards in the same row have equal height, even if content length varies.

Read More
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Article Title 13

This is the fifth article's summary. The responsive nature means these columns will stack on smaller screens, making it mobile-friendly.

Read More
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Article Title 14

Details for the sixth article. You can easily replace the placeholder images (`placehold.co`) with your actual article images.

Read More
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Article Title 15

This article covers the seventh topic. Remember to adjust the `href` attributes for the "Read More" buttons to link to your actual full articles.

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Article Title 16

Summary for the eighth article. The `mb-4` class adds spacing between rows, while `mb-md-0` removes it for the right column on medium screens and up.

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Article Title 17

The ninth article's content. This structure is flexible and can be easily extended or modified to fit more articles or different layouts.

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Article Title 18

Finally, the tenth article. This comprehensive example provides a robust foundation for displaying multiple articles in a responsive two-column grid.

Read More

Help Fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC - 2025

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

I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011. Please contribute to help me continue.

(scroll down to bottom of this page to find PayPal button and/or mailing address)

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!

This is a graphic showing a map of Chicago with a message from Dan Bassill saying "I've been trying to help tutor/mentor programs grow in these areas for 25 years."

The image shown above is from a visual essay titled "Tipping Points".  
It visualizes the strategies that I'm sharing and that I ask you to support with your contributions and by sharing my posts.

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.

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 2025 and beyond.

Thank you for your help!

Mail contributions to:

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
c/o Daniel Bassill
932 N. Salem Avenue
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

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.

June-July 2025 T/MI News

June-July 2025 - Issue 242

Tutor Mentor Institute LLC newsletter heading with blue background

Seek out youth programs in your areas. Give them your support!

There are terrible things happening across the United States and around the world. My daily media is filled with these stories. To me, this drowns out needed calls for support for youth-serving programs in Chicago and other places.

As we head through summer toward the new school year, use the resources in my newsletter and website to find and support organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs. They all need your help.

At the same time, use other resources that I share to find ways to support people in your community who need help and to close the gaps that are dividing us from each other.

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!

Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Website

These are social media posts from Chicago youth serving programs

This was posted on LinkedIn by Chicago Scholars, celebrating alumni who have been part of their program. It is one of many posts I see on my feed every day from Chicago area youth-serving programs.

Use this list to find many other Chicago area youth-serving programs who have accounts on LinkedIn.

This was posted on Facebook by Diamond in the Rough Youth Development Program, Inc.

Use this list to find other Chicago area youth-serving programs who have accounts on Facebook.

Find lists of Chicago area programs using Twitter and Instagram, plus my list of tutor/mentor program websites at www.tutormentorexchange.net

One thing anyone can do to help kids living in high poverty areas is get to know existing youth serving programs and help them attract attention from media, donors, volunteers, parents and students. You can do it by sharing links to their websites or by liking and boosting their posts on social media. If you're able, you can even volunteer and/or donate.

Scroll through this set of Tutor/Mentor blog articles to see how I've highlighted work of other Chicago area volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs. Do you have someone in your community hosting a website and encouraging others to draw users to it the way I do?

Independent Sector's annual report on the "value of volunteer time"

The Independent Sector is one of the leading resources in the philanthropic sector. One of its annual reports provides an estimated national value of each volunteer hour. Read the report at this link.

Visit the blog article section on the Independent Sector website and find leadership articles that focus on the disruption and chaos caused by actions of the current administration. click here

Are you aware of the City of Chicago's violence reduction dashboard, created by the University of Chicago's Urban Crime Lab? The graphic below shows one page from the website.

A few weeks ago I watched an introduction to this dashboard and its many interactive features. It's a publicly available tool launched to support efforts to reduce gun violence through transparent, real-time data. This link points to the Urban Crime Lab page that includes a video of the webinar and many other resources. View the dashboard at this link.

I wrote about the webinar and shared other screenshots on this Mapping for Justice blog article. Use your own blog to share resources like this.

Reimagining leadership in the Nonprofit Sector

I saw this message on BlueSky recently: "Nonprofits are being called on to do more with less in an impossible environment. With deepening polarization, an affordability crisis, and labour force shortages, it's time to reimagine leadership in our sector". It points to a PDF at this link.

In the mid 2000s I added another report form the Ontario nonprofit network, titled: The Constellation Model of Collaborative Social Change. view it here

These are two of many resources that can be found in the collaboration and community building sections of the Tutor/Mentor Library. Make sure your staff and volunteers are making time to learn from these.

Most of the information shared in this newsletter and on the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC website and blogs is focused on sharing information across networks that can be used to solve complex problems. This article, from The Weaving Lab, was found on LinkedIn. It describes the network building process, its challenges and its opportunities.

If you read the post on LinkedIn you'll see a comment that I added, sharing the 4-part strategy concept map, which you can see at this link. Once I've finished upgrading the www.tutormentorexchange.net website I will add a link to this article in a sub-section focused on innovation and knowledge management. It already has many articles that I've collected over the past 20+ years.

Below are resources to use. 
View latest links added to tutor/mentor library, click here

Resources & Announcements
(New additions are at top of this list)

* Knowledge Alliance - research and evidence to support education policy - click here

* TutorCruncher - resources for tutoring companies - click here

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

* Trust Talks - podcast by The Chicago Community Trust highlights the Trust's strategic priority to close Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap - click here

* Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) - 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; New report - click here

* Chicago Public Schools locator map - click here

* National Mentoring Resource Center - click here

* Proven Tutoring clearinghouse - click here

* Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative - click here

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

* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here

* Prison Policy Initiative - click here

Recent Tutor/Mentor Blog articles that point to Tutor/Mentor Connection archived files:

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

Changes to this website - click here

Still judged by the color of their skin click here

It takes a villageclick here

Mapping Strategy, Ideas and librariesclick here

Poverty and racism in America - understand the issuesclick here

What are your volunteers learning?click here

Reaching youth in high poverty areasclick 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

* 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.

Thank you for reading.

Please share this newsletter 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 Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.
Visit this page and add your support.

Tutor/Mentor Connection, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC 

 Serving Chicago area since 1993 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

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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

July2019-eNews

July 2019 - Issue 180

Ideas and Resources for Youth Serving

Organizations and their Supporters

The ideas shared in this monthly newsletter can be used by youth organization leaders, resource providers, political leaders, universities, volunteers and youth to help mentor-rich programs thrive in all of the neighborhoods where they are most needed.
Volunteer Recruitment for Fall 2019
Many youth programs are already deeply involved in recruiting volunteers for the coming school year. Are you prepared? Do you need more ideas. Visit this page on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site and use the tips for recruiting volunteers.
 
Are your volunteers doing all they canto help kids in y our program move through school and into jobs and careers? Read about expanded role volunteers can take.click here
The Fund Raising Challenge
It takes 12 years for a youth to move from first grade to high school graduation and many more years beyond that before he/she is securely in a job and able to raise a family. Not all youth programs are designed to provide continued support for this many years. Not many donors provide flexible on-going funding to support such programs. Where are you talking about this?
 
Read articles about philanthropy on Tutor/Mentor Blog - click here.
How Are Youth Programs Telling Their Story?
Are you using Twitter? A Blog?
I created this graphic to draw attention to some of the Chicago youth tutor and/or mentor programs who were posting information on Twitter. Then I put it in a blog article to encourage others to do the same. See it in this article.click here
 
Scroll through many similar articles -click here
 
What if hundreds of people were doing what I am doing? Would that help draw volunteers and donors directly to more programs?
Resources and Events
Browse Resources on Tutor/Mentor Connection.org web site
This graphic shows home page of T/MC web site. Use the top menu to access the links library and my list of Chicago Tutor and Mentor programs.
 
You can search for a topic, or sort the list of links by most recent, oldest, title, etc. Learn to use it and you have an extensive resource. I show a few recent additions below.
* Resources to find Chicago Tutor and/or Mentor Programs -click here

* Homework help & learning resources in Tutor/Mentor Library -click here

* Resources for fund raising -click here
 
* Chicago Organizations in Intermediary Roles-click here
 
* Civil Liberties - resource map (recommend other links). -click here
 
* Hashtags I follow on Twitter. Use to expand your own network -click here
 
There's a lot in each monthly newsletter. Bookmark it, or use this ARCHIVE page to find this and previous issues.
* Illinois Conference on Volunteer Administration, Aug 9, in Chicago.details
 
* Strengthening Chicago Youth web site,click here;blog -click here
 
* MENTOR Illinois, New Ex Director. Annual Breakfast moved to November. -click here

* To & Through Project web site -click here
 
* Incarceration Reform Digital Resource Center -click here

* City of Chicago, CPS, links -click here
 
 
Help Fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Keep this resource available to you and others.Click here
Recent articles on Tutor/Mentor blog:
 
Tipping Point: Growing and Supporting Future Leaders -click here
 
Make long-term, mentor-rich programs available in more places -click here
 
I host an in-depth web library. See how I shared sections using Twitter -click here
 
Look deeper to understand complex problems -click here
 
Recent additions to Tutor/Mentor Library
 
"Four Pathways to Greater Giving" - Bridgespan report - annotated -click here
 
"You Cant Be What You Can't See", by Milbrey W. McLaughlin. Story of CYCLE, a Chicago program -click here
 
Chicago Public Schools Data - Annual Regional Analysis Reports - click here
I've not written this newsletter since April due to my being laid up with an injury. I'm almost fully recovered and thank you for those who offered well-wishes.
 
While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. In each newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier.I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.
 
Encourage friends, family, co-workers to sign up to receive this newsletter. Click here.
(If you subscribe, don't forget to respond to the confirmation email)