Connect knowledge, volunteers, youth and make a difference.

Daniel Bassill's Blog (85)

July Tutor/Mentor Connection eNewsletter

I hope you'll all take a few moments to read the July eNewsletter on line. You can also subscribe to the newsletter from that site.

I focus on Volunteer Recruitment in this issue, because with school starting soon, most tutor/mentor programs are beginning the work of recruiting volunteers and students. At… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on July 28, 2009 at 10:55am — No Comments

National Conference on Volunteering and Service this week.

For the next three days, volunteer and business leaders from around the nation will gather in San Francisco for this year's National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

This year's conference is using blogs and other social media to connect with people who cannot be at the conference. I'll be connecting from my tutor/mentor blog and on… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on June 23, 2009 at 4:51pm — No Comments

Photos from May 28 and 29 Conference

Three of the guests at the Chicago conference last week were interns from Korea and China, by way of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Here are photos taken by Kg.

Find more photos like this at… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on June 1, 2009 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Making Every Day Count: Boys & Girls Clubs' Role in Promoting Positive Outcomes for Teens

I encourage you all to download and read this study from Public/Private Venture's. It's a report from a three-year study of the role Boys & Girls Clubs play in the lives of the youth they serve. Making Every Day Count examines how Club participation is related to youth's positive and… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on May 14, 2009 at 12:23pm — No Comments

Role of Network in Expanding Capacity

This graphic illustrates how non profits are all competing with each other for a limited pool of resources. Most are not as successful at getting resources as they need to be, or at keeping these for many years needed to have a social impact, such as helping a first grader move through high school graduation and into a job.

The graphic illustrates the role Tutor/Mentor Connection is taking, to try to draw donors and volunteers… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on May 7, 2009 at 4:16pm — No Comments

Collaboration tools

Here's a link to a Community Collaboration web site that might be a useful networking tool for many of the people who are members of the Tutor/Mentor Connection on ning.

Added by Daniel Bassill on April 15, 2009 at 11:55am — 2 Comments

Interns from Asia, South America and US Universities

Most non profits are chronically short of dollars to hire all of the staff they need, and during this economic turmoil, this is particularly true. Thus, it's great when the non profit can recruit interns to help do important work.

If you browse the groups section you can see how interns from Korea, Michigan and IIT have been helping the Tutor/Mentor Connection visualize some of its ideas. You can connect with interns who were… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on April 13, 2009 at 3:38pm — No Comments

March 2009 Tutor/Mentor Connection eNews now on line

This map is one of the images I shared in the March 2009 Tutor/Mentor Connection eMail newsletter, which you can find on the T/MC web site.

This map can also be seen at the Mapping for Justice web site, along with an article explaining… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on March 26, 2009 at 12:12pm — No Comments

508 Chicago Kids Shot in Just 16 Months

Children cannot focus on learning when they are worried about living.

Editorial from Chicago SunTimes

March 9, 2009

In this school year alone, 25 Chicago Public Schools children have been murdered. As shocking as that is, that number doesn't begin to tell the real story of how deeply violence is a part of the everyday life of Chicago's children.

Try this… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on March 10, 2009 at 9:44am — No Comments

Role of teams from universities, businesses, faith groups

Chris Warren, who is serving a one year fellowship with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, has written a blog post showing how the T/MC seeks to work with teams from universities, professions, businesses, hospitals, etc.. You can read this at http://chrispip.blogspot.com/2009/03/campuscatalyst-cabriniconnections_07.html

We have many groups growing within the Tutor/Mentor Connection Ning.com page, and our aim is to help each group adopt the ideas Chris is writing about, so… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on March 8, 2009 at 12:32pm — No Comments

Role of Interns and volunteers

I encourage you to visit the groups section to see work done since January by interns from Korea and India (by way of Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan.

The work one team did was to convert the graphic on this page to an animated presentation which you can view from the UMichigan… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on March 5, 2009 at 9:47am — No Comments

Review of Links on T/MC web site

In May 2008 I invited interns from Korea who were spending a month in Chicago as interns with the Tutor/Mentor Connection to look at the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Programs listed on the T/MC web site, as a first-time visitor.

Here are questions we've asked them to consider:

* Home page features "mentoring or tutoring" with headline words and/or pictures

*… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on February 4, 2009 at 1:08pm — No Comments

New format for Tutor/Mentor Institute

In 1998 we began putting information on the Tutor/Mentor Exchange web site, expressing our vision and ideas. While we've had people contact us and ask for permission to use the articles, we know that the layout has been pretty ghastly, and discourages people from browsing.

That has changed. On January 12 we launched a new Tutor/Mentor Institute on the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net site. I hope you'll take a look, browse the… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on January 13, 2009 at 6:38pm — No Comments

January is National Mentoring Month - Encourage New Years Resoulutions that Draw Volunteers and Donors to Tutor/Mentor Programs.

As you make your New Year's Resolutions, please consider the following suggestions:

1) Become a Mentor (there are thousands of children in big cities where volunteers are needed)

2) Volunteer your TALENT to help a tutor/mentor program grow; you can help with technology, marketing, communications, auditing, and many other ways

3) Invite friends to this Ning group

4) Make a donation to Cabrini… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on December 31, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

To: Friends of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection The Annual Holiday Fund is the major fund raising campaign of the year. It provides the dollars needed to keep youth and volunteers con…

To: Friends of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection

The Annual Holiday Fund is the major fund raising campaign of the year.

It provides the dollars needed to keep youth and volunteers connected in

one on one and group mentoring and Learning.

Please make a holiday donation using this form:…

Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on December 15, 2008 at 11:14am — No Comments

Conference Welcome Address by Dr. Clinton Nichols

We held the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago on Nov. 21. It was hosted by the Chicago Field Museum. Welcoming remarks were made by Dr. Clinton Nichols who has worked at the Field Museum since 2006 as an Urban Anthropologist in the Division of Environment, Culture and Conservation. Dr. Nichols hosted a panel at the conference as one of many new friends that we made during the day. Below are his welcoming… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on December 9, 2008 at 3:33pm — No Comments

Tutor/Mentor Connection information presentation

With the help of Andrew Pincon of the Digital Workforce Education Society I did a web presentation this week to show some folks in Indiana the resources on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site. Here's the presentation if you'd like to listen to it:

http://www.digibridge.net//tmc/cent_ind_tmc111208/

Added by Daniel Bassill on November 14, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments

What are you doing to stay afloat in this economic storm?

The financial world seems to be crashing all around us, yet the kids we serve in our tutor/mentor program are still only 11 to 17 (7th grade to 12th grade) and all need our continued support for one to six years just to finish high school. How to find the money to pay the rent, salaries, insurance and other expenses in an environment where donor dollars are disappearing.

Are you faced with this challenge? What are you… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on October 1, 2008 at 8:30am — No Comments

Introductions: History of Tutor/Mentor Connection

This weekend I was invited to join a mentoring list serve hosted by Dr. David DuBois, at University of Illinois, Chicago. I started typing an introduction, and found that it is longer than most people might read. Thus, I'm posting the introduction here and anyone who wants to take the time, can read it .

I'm Dan Bassill, President of a Chicago non profit called Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection

The Cabrini… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on September 1, 2008 at 9:28am — No Comments

Read the Blogs of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection staff and volunteers

In every email I point to my own http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and I hope you all read that occasionally. Each month more than 1200 visitors go to that blog, coming from all over the world.

However, I'm not the only one at Cabrini Connections writing a blog. I've encouraged our staff, interns, and volunteers to also write blogs because they offer a fresh perspective, and they attract readers from their own personal networks.

Here are the blogs they are… Continue

Added by Daniel Bassill on August 17, 2008 at 3:30pm — No Comments