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Daniel Bassill's Blog
I encourage you to visit the following Tutor/Mentor Connection sites to see how we're using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps to draw resources from Universities, businesses, churches, etc. to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago.
We've been trying to do this for many years, but mostly with volunteers. A Nov. 2007 donation has helped us rebuild our map capacity and now we're producing new maps weekly, like the one posted today showing universities in Chicago.
Visit http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com to see how we integrate these into our blogs and marketing. |
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July 15th, 2008 @ 6:33PM |
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For those who are working with inner city kids, as leaders or volunteers of volunteer based organizations that provide arts, mentoring, tutoring and/or technology, the May and November Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is a way to connect with others who do similar work.
The next conference is May 17 and 18, in Chicago. The web site is http://www.tutormentorconference.org
For those who cannot make it to Chicago I encourage you to link your blog with http://tutormentor.blogspot.com or use the on-line resources at http://www.tutormentorconnection.org
We can do more to help kids by working together and sharing ideas, than by struggling in our own limited circles of knowledge and influence. |
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May 14th, 2007 @ 10:06AM |
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The on-line Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking discussions started this week, with me hosting a topic titled "Building a Network of Purpose" in the http://www.socialedge.org forum. On Monday, May 8 MENTOR/The National Mentoring Partnership will host a week-long discussion of volunteer recruitment in their portal, http://www.mentoring.org/community
On May 17 IUPUI will host a one day event, with a variety of topics related to on-line learning and tutoring/mentoring. That will be held at http://econference.uc.iupui.edu/
These lead into a face to face event we'll host on May 25 and 26 in Chicago (http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com)
Following the face to face, The National Mentoring Center will host a week-long discussion from June 5 to 9 in its MENTOR EXCHANGE forum.
Thus, we've recruited major partners and provide a wide range of entry points for anyone who is concerned about volunteer based tutoring/mentoring to join the discussions and find people to learn and collaborate with.
At http://www.tutormentorconnection.org, the Discussion forum will also host some workshops, and provides an on-going meeting place for people who not only want to get information, but who want to work together to build capacity and solve problems that single programs cannot solve. At this site a Links Library provides a wealth of information that people can draw from in their discussions of why tutor/mentor programs are needed, where they are needed, what they can look like, and ways donors, business, volunteers and technologists can help.
I hope some of you will log in and contribute to these discussions. Our aim is to repeat these every 3 months, with a face to face conference every six months. In August the goal will be to have a direct influence in volunteers signing up for tutor/mentor programs around the country. The work we do now, will determine how successful some programs and cities will be in this mobilization.
Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection |
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May 7th, 2006 @ 8:35AM |
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This week hundreds of high profile people attended the funeral of Corretta Scott King and many gave inspirational speeches calling for service to this nation and this world.
I heard parts of President Clinton's speech on the radio while I was driving home from work. He said, "the difficulty of success does not relieve one of the obligation to try."
This really resonated with me and I made it t he topic of my blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
I've tried to apply this attitude every day in the work I do. I've posted messages in the Digital Divide network often encouraging members to share their talent to help me or others create social networks for purpose. At http://www.alado.net/webheads you can view a presentation I gave on this subject during a Nov. 05 webheads conversation.
I'm constantly contacted by people throughout the US and in other parts of the world who want help for the work they are doing. In a recent exchange on the http://www.socialedge.net forum, I posted this advise to a person from Africa:
I encourage you to visit Greenstar.org and introduce yourself to them. They have been setting up satalite powered community centers in remote locations and helping them to generate income through producing and selling local art, similar to what you are doing. Perhaps you can partner with them, or find a web based organization who understands this model and will help you. Another group to look at is http://www.aurashouse.com/. This is an example of how someone with web skills is helping people in communities like yours. Perhaps you could become one of their sponsored groups.
I'm able to do this because since 1993 the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building knowlge base of organizations who do good work to help kids. This includes a constantly expanding Internet based library of Links to people like Greenstar and Aura's House who are doing innovative work to connect people who can help with people who need help.
We need to inspire more of this and use our ability to innovate and create connections between people and ideas to make good things happen throughout the world.
I host a face to face conference in Chicago every May and November to encouage people to network, learn from each other and find ways to collaborate for mutual self interest. With the help of others, I've begun an on-line eConference during the same period, using a portal created for the T/MC by tech volunteers at IUPUI.
In our May eConference we're inviting people who have launched web based strategies like Aura's House to talk about what they do, so others might duplicate their work. Look in the Discussion forums of http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php to see how Aura's House led this discussion in Nov. 05.
I hope some of you with tech skills, leadership skills, marketing and communications skills, etc. will take a role in the conferences and networking of the T/MC. With your help we can make a greater difference in the lives of many, and we can develop new ideas to share that others might duplicate in other causes and in other places.
We can put reality into the words of these leaders if we can find ways to share our knowledge and talent in networks of purpose. |
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February 11th, 2006 @ 11:29AM |
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Last Wednesday (Oct. 19,2005) the Chicago Tribune had a front page/back page story devoted to Breast Cancer Month. The goal of the article was to help donors choose which charity to support. It was a great article, and great exposure for Breast Cancer charities.
Among the suggestions to donors was one that said this:
Pick a goal. It might be research toward a cure, or advocacy, or patient support services. Then pick a charity that serves that goal and stick with it.
The article quoted Sandra Miniutti of Charity Navigator who said "We tell donors, if they want to change something in the world, they need to develop a relationship with the charity. Continue to support them over time, so they can keep their costs down and track whether they do what they claime to be doing."
In a blog I wrote in May, I posted an article showing how difficult it is for non profits to sustain their work because of the inconsistent flow of dollars cause by a system that does not support flexible, long-term problem solving very well.
The Tutor/Mentor Connection focuses on connecting workplace volunteers with inner city kids in long term programs that result in the kids starting jobs/careers by age 25, with the volunteers still connected and helping to set up job interviews.
If a youth joins such a program at age 10 it takes 15 years to achieve this goal. Unless donors chose charities that offer this service and stick with them for most of these 15 years, it's not likely that the program will survive long enough to still be a meeting place for a youth and adult at a time when the youth might be looking for help finding a job.
This is one of the on-going topics of the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences, held in Chicago every six months. The next conference is Nov. 17 and 18 and we're looking for people to participate and share their ideas. We're also looking for people who will blog the conference, or who will help organize on-line workshops that continue the conference topic on the Internet. The conference web site is http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com
If you'd like to help build a better system of supporting on-going operations of any non profit, please join us.
Dan Bassill
tutormentor2@earthlink.net |
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October 23rd, 2005 @ 9:50AM |
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