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tutormentor.bsky.social
tutormentor
@tutormentor.bsky.social
980 followers 2.8K following 1.6K posts
I collect & share ideas others can use to fight poverty & inequality & help volunteer-based tutor/mentor orgs grow in more places. Piloted since 1993 in Chicago. I have posted on social media since mid 2000s. Testing this platform now
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tutormentor.bsky.social
I posted my #VeteransDay article. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/11/vete...

Thank you for your service. Too bad government does so little to honor you. Too bad racist GOP is dishonoring so many men and women who have served, and serve now.
The image says "War on Poverty-video". When you think of helping kids in poverty, do you think of battlefield images? Tomorrow the nation will once again celebrate Veterans Day, to honor all who have served in the United States military -- in wartime or peacetime, living or deceased. I've posted a Veterans Day article almost every year since starting this blog in 2005.
November 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
My third choice for a new Substack is to write about this "Total Quality Mentoring" idea. drive.google.com/file/d/1HyoS...

I might combine all three.
This is the first page of a visual essay titled "Total Quality Mentoring (TQM). It asks, "How do you visualize the type of tutor/mentor program needed to help kids in high poverty neighborhoods move through school and into jobs and careers....with the help of volunteers who come into their lives via organized tutoring, mentoring and learning programs. Four graphics visualize the ideas in the essay.
November 8, 2025 at 4:17 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Or do I feature this "Enough is Enough" graphic which I show at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/05/pove...
This is an animation/video using the word "enough" to show steps anyone can take to get more involved in finding solutions to complex problems.
November 8, 2025 at 4:13 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I've kind of hit a wall this morning. What graphic will I feature on my next Substack article? This "how can we do this better" is on my list. See it at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/09/cons...
The heading of this graphic is "How can we do this better? How can we get more people and talent into this conversation?" The graphic includes a 'mentoring kids to career graphic" and a "leaders invited" graphic. It includes a map of Chicago showing oil well icons in high poverty areas. The Icons represent mentor-rich non-school programs where volunteers and staff work each year to get kids involved and to help them move through school.
November 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
This post shows that while I led a single #tutor #mentor program in #Chicago I also led an effort to draw attention & resources to EVERY program in the region. Every youth program could be doing this, raising more attention for themselves and each other. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/05/many...
This shows a map of the Chicago region, with high poverty areas shaded. Transit routes from the suburbs to the city are shown. Locations of non-school tutor/mentor programs are also shown. While Dan Bassill was launching a single tutor/mentor program in late 1992, he created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to draw attention and resources to every program in the region, including his own. That work has been continued through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011.
November 4, 2025 at 8:17 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I shared this "Role of Leaders" strategy in this 2001 newsletter. Unfortunately, very few people actually received this. Now it's available to millions.

See some of my past newsletters at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2024/05/repe...
This is the back page of a 2001 newsletter from the Cabrini Connections-Tutor/Mentor Connection program that I launched in 1993 to help volunteer based tutor/mentor programs reach more kids in high poverty areas of Chicago. This show steps a CEO could take to mobilize resources from his company/industry/university.
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I've been sharing this "Role of Leaders" strategy since 1990s. I show it in this new article. danielbassill319958.substack.com/p/role-of-le...
This is a Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) post on Substack, titled "Role of Leaders in helping kids to careers". It focuses on what people in business, philanthropy, faith groups, universities, professions, etc. can do to help youth serving programs reach kids in high poverty areas with long-term mentor-rich support.
November 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
This is the "WUZ UP!" teen news from the 1996, created by teens who were part of the #tutor #mentor program I & 6 other volunteers created in late 1992. I share it at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/10/enga... along w other examples of student writing activities. Inspired by #clmooc & #writeout
This is the front cover of the "WUZ UP!" teen news from mid 1996. Created by students who were part of the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program in Chicago. The art work and articles were all created by teens.
November 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
This week's Chicago Hack Night will feature Cook County's IMPACT Program, which is funding solutions that address digital gaps and leverage storytelling. I write about it and showed what I wish were on websites like theirs. mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/2025/11/cook...
This graphic is from a visual essay created in 2015 by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. It shows two Cook County Ill Commissioner Districts (2 and 3). It shows shootings that took place in the districts.
November 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Have a fun, SAFE #Halloween.

This was me in 1970s, handing out Taffy Apples to students in the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program during Halloween week.
This was Dan Bassill in 1970s, handing out Taffy Apples to students in the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program during Halloween week.
October 31, 2025 at 1:52 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
In today's blog article I encourage schools and youth-serving programs to use the October #WriteOut project, along with my own examples from the tutor/mentor programs I led in the past, to engage more students in creative writing activities. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/10/enga...
This is the first page of the November 1983 "Tutoring Tattler" newsletter of the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program. Included on this page are lists of winners of the Halloween Writing Contest.
October 30, 2025 at 3:37 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I've hosted the www.tutormentorexchange.net site since the late 1990s. It's where I share ideas & host a library of links to hundreds of youth programs. Its also host to many blogs that I (and interns) have written since 2005.

Use these as templates for your own articles.
This is the home page of the www.tutormentorexchange.net website. It host ideas and resources shared by the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present). On the home page you'll see our mission: to gather and organize all that is known about successful volunteer-based, non-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region. You'll also find links to blogs that support this mission.
October 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
You can now read the October 2025 #Tutor #Mentor monthly eNews at tutormentorexchange.net/2025-newslet...
This is the monthly newsletter of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2022-present). The heading is: Ideas to Help Tutor/Mentor Programs Reach K-12 Youth in More Places. The text on the left reads: In retail advertising, campaign themes mirror calendar events. Thus there are Halloween themes in October and Thanksgiving themes in November. These repeat every year. The themes in this newsletter also repeat every year, as it seeks to support volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach K-12 youth in high poverty areas. It's October, which means many volunteers are in the first weeks of getting to know their mentee and many others are building on relations that began one or more years ago. My newsletters point to an extensive library that can be used by volunteers, students, staff, parents, educators and more.
October 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Your post reminded me of this concept map that shows an information-based problem solving planning cycle. cmapspublic.ihmc.us/rid=1PTQP461...

I created this more than 10 years ago and share it often in my blog articles.
This concept map shows an "information-based problem solving" strategy. In the upper left is a map, indicating a need to focus on a specific geographic area as a start of the planning process. Following that are links to libraries where people can learn more about the problem and see how people in different places might be already trying to solve it. In the lower left is a planning cycle graphic created by Gene Bellinger.
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Can't drain the swamp because you're up to your neck in alligators? That's how I felt leading a small #tutor #mentor program. It's why I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. substack.com/@danielbassi...?
This graphic shows a person in a boat in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by alligators. It's part of an article titled "Can't Drain the Swamp. Why nonprofit organizations don't work together to generate revenue."
October 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
While one part of me focuses on saving our democracy another focuses on the on-going work of helping kids living in high poverty areas. Be a volunteer or donor at a youth-serving program. See my #Chicago lists. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/06/help...
This photo shows a youth with a volunteer tutor/mentor in an organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor program. It's part of a blog article calling on people to be volunteers and/or donors in youth serving programs throughout the Chicago region and in other places.
October 20, 2025 at 4:07 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I included this graphic in an article at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2019/01/what...

It shows how one question leads to another, then another. I think it visualizes the challenge you've described. One solution, which you are doing, is aggregating information about parts of the problem.
October 17, 2025 at 9:49 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
#EnoughisEnouth After the march, do the planning. It starts with self-education. What led us to this situation. Are there examples we can use to innovate solutions? This applies to anti-poverty efforts. And #NoKings efforts. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/10/afte...
This is an animation using the term "Enough is Enough". It shows steps anyone can take to be involved in solutions. The first step is: E – educate yourself
October 17, 2025 at 6:44 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Can volunteer-based #tutor #mentor programs help build bridging social capital for youth living in areas of concentrated poverty. I wrote this in 2019. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2019/07/unde... #SocialCapital #YouthDevelopment
I've been describing mentor-rich youth programs as a form of social capital for a long time and use this Total Quality Mentoring graphic to visualize how an organized program might help connect a young person to a wide range of influences over multiple years in a program. The heading of the graphic is "A Career Focused Mentor-Rich Strategy" This is a hub and spoke graphic. The hub has a birth to work timeline through the center. Above that it shows support kids get at school. Below it shows support they get at home and in the community, during the 3-5pm afterschool hours and the after 5pm and weekend hours. The spokes lead to every industry, profession, education and cultural sector, representing the backgrounds of volunteers who connect with kids in organized programs.
October 14, 2025 at 10:08 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
Help volunteer-based #tutor #mentor programs attract needed resources. Duplicate what I've been doing. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/10/seek...
In many articles on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC blog I've pointed to social media posts by Chicago area tutor, mentor and learning programs, like Chicago Youth Programs, Inc. In many articles I point to lists on the www.tutormentorexchange.net website that enable people to shop and choose what program to support, based on what the program shows on their website, where they are located, and who they serve. I also host lists showing Chicago program accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If you follow these programs you'll see what they post and that will help you choose who to support and how you'll support them. These lists include Tutoring Chicago, which is celebrating its 60th year this fall. I led that program from 1975-1992, first while it was volunteer-led (up till 1990), then as it became a nonprofit (1990-1992).
October 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
With a military invasion of #Chicago taking place it's hard to focus on research showing needs of our youth. Read my #Tutor #Mentor blog articles. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/04/usin...
This is an article on the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) blog featuring a report from A Better Chicago, titled "State of Chicago Youth 2025". I've been collecting and sharing similar information for over 30 years, showing where people need extra help, why, and what type of help could be offered to youth via organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.
October 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
The volunteer-based tutor/mentor program that I led from 1975 to 1992 is now Tutoring Chicago, and celebrating its 60th year. I was invited to share my reflections, which you can view in the video in this article. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/10/cele...
This is the front cover of the 1988-89 Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program yearbook. Shown are just a few of the 300 pairs of students and volunteers who were part of the program.
October 6, 2025 at 10:13 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
This graphic was included in one of many #SocialCapital articles I've posted on the Tutor/Mentor blog. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2022/04/maps...
This graphic visualizes the potential for non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs to connect volunteers from many backgrounds with youth living in high poverty areas of big cities like Chicago.
October 4, 2025 at 2:40 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
The list at the left are resources I point to in each #Tutor #Mentor newsletter.
@prisonpolicy.org is at the bottom of the list, but not in importance. tutormentorexchange.net/2025-newslet...
This is a Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) concept map. I says "People from every sector need to be engaged in local-global problem solving." Then there is a node saying "reasons to get involved in helping youth in poverty areas - many entry points". Below that are nodes that focus on specific topics. Each has a link to a web library with dozens of links related to that topic.
October 4, 2025 at 2:01 PM
tutormentor.bsky.social
I've started a series of articles on Substack that show elements of the concept maps & visualizations that I've created for more than 20 years. I pointed to them from the Tutor/Mentor blog that I launched in 2005. tutormentor.blogspot.com/2025/08/foll...
This post on the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) main blog points to a new series of articles showing elements of strategy maps and visualizations that Dan Bassill has created over the past 20+ years. In this example I show one of the yearbooks that I created for the tutor/mentor program I led from 1975 to 2011.
September 30, 2025 at 10:21 PM