Issue 257
Help Great Youth Programs Grow
Programs will also be seeking money to pay staff and other expenses, which is one way to support volunteers and keep them from dropping out.
Visit https://tutormentorexchange.net/
The resources I collect and 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!
If you agree with the Logic Model you should also agree with the need to influence resource providers to be more proactive in how they support youth-serving programs. Read article.
Well organized tutor/mentor programs support the match between youth and adult, with the goal that they last for additional years so the bond between young people and volunteers, and the organization, grows and remains supportive as everyone grows older. And while there are many great programs, if you look at a map, and the number of kids who live in these areas, you'll see that many great programs are needed. I keep looking for people who have a long-term strategy to make that happen.
If we want great youth serving organizations reaching k-12 youth in all high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other places we need to provide traditional training to help staff, volunteers, board members learn how to build effective programs.
However, unless we also educate resource providers, volunteers, media and political leaders to take an active, on-going role that delivers operating resources, talent, ideas and technology to programs in every neighborhood, on an on-going basis, few programs will have the resources needed to put good ideas into practice.
Share these articles with your volunteers and ask them to share them in their own networks.
Understanding why volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are needed and where they are most needed is critical. Also understanding related issues that challenge youth and families living in areas of persistent poverty is also critically important.
In this article from the Anne E. Casey Foundation 2026 child poverty data is shared. The report says, "Nearly 1 in 7 (13%) kids are in poverty, according to the 2026 Supplemental Poverty Measures (SPM) report." "Every state in America has children living in poverty, but higher rates generally exist in the Southern region of the country as well as in rural areas and urban neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Almost one-fourth (24%) of children in rural areas live below the federal poverty level, and the same was true for nearly one-fifth (18% of kids in urban areas."
This is one of dozens of articles I point to from one section of the Tutor/Mentor Library. I show that section, and its sub-sections, in the concept map you see above. One strategy of any organization who recruits volunteers to work with youth and families in areas of persistent poverty should be to encourage those volunteers to read and discuss articles from this part of my library.
Unless we dramatically increase the number of people who understand the issues, and who are motivated to act, we'll never influence enough resource providers to provide the consistent funding needed to make long-term programs available in all of the places where they are needed..
Giving Tuesday is December 1, 2026 this year. Are you ready?
Take a look at the Giving Tuesday tips offered by Valerie Leonard in her NonProfit Utopia newsletter. click here
Are you mapping your ecosystem? How do you know who's involved?
On the Tutor/Mentor blog I've been sharing examples of how networks can be mapped. This is one essential step in building the wide-based support needed to help youth-serving programs grow in more places, and to address the other issues of persistent poverty.
The graphic above is from the Support and Services Map for Milwaukee Black and Latino/a Students - created by the BLEST Hub as part of the My Brothers Keeper Initiative. Its vision "is to contribute to improving life outcomes for Black and Latino/a students in the Milwaukee area by strengthening spaces, initiatives, and connections that support our youth during periods of transition from middle school through post-secondary completion and/or fulfilling and stable employment."
View map at this link.
Read my articles showing examples of network mapping. click here
Tutoring Chicago celebrated its 60th year in 2025-26 and included an interview with me (Dan Bassill). View the video.
I was thrilled to be asked by Tutoring Chicago to be interviewed for their 60th Anniversary series. Much of what I share in my newsletter and blog came from my 1975-1992 leadership of the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, which became Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Inc. in 1990, then Tutoring Chicago in 2012.
While I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 its roots extend back to 1974 when I began reaching out to other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago to find ideas to support my own efforts. Over 17 years that led me to understand that the only people who could consistently invite people to gather and share ideas were the ones who maintained a database of programs, researchers, funders, media, businesses, etc. I have done that for over 50 years!
Here's one article that shares that history and shows how I keep drawing on these experiences to try to help high-quality tutor/mentor programs reach youth in more areas of persistent poverty.
Happy Halloween
When I led a tutor/mentor program we always had special events in the week leading up to Halloween. These included reading, writing and other creative activities, not just treats.
But yes, there were treats, too. What does your program do for Halloween?
Taffy Apples for Everyone
This is a photo of me handing out Taffy Applies during one of the 1970s Halloween tutoring sessions. Don't I look great!
From 1970 to 1980 tutoring sessions were held in the basement cafeteria at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago. A year later the program moved into 25,000 sq ft of space that formerly had been a Montgomery Ward outlet store. This space became available when the company closed its catelog business.
VIEW THE LATEST LINKS ADDED TO THE TUTOR/MENTOR LIBRARY - CLICK HERE
Below are resources to use.
(new additions are at the top)
* Far South (Chicago) CAC Community Bulletin Board - click here
* Importance of Third-Places for Refugee Children - click here
(while this focuses on Refugee Children, it applies to youth in every organized tutor/mentor program)
* Chicago Vibrant Neighborhoods Collective (CVNC) - click here
* GiveBackNation - Serves Nonprofit Fund Raising Ecosystem - click here
* MyChiMyFuture - Chicago youth programs map and directory. click here; visit the website - click here
* Chicago Mentoring Collaborative - click here
* National Mentoring Summit will be held on January 28 and 29, 2027 - click here
* Incarceration Reform Resource Center - click here
* Prison Policy Initiative - click here
* Progressive Issues Resource page in Tutor/Mentor library - 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.
Most Recent Tutor/Mentor blog articles
(Do you have a blog? Share it on social media.)
Enough is Enough - Make this Commitment - click here
Mentoring Kids to Careers T/MC's 4-Part Strategy - click here
Shared Goal. Do You Have Network That Supports This? - click here
Helping Tutor/Mentor Programs Grow - for over 30 years - click here
Role of Leaders in Helping Kids to Careers - click here
Can't Drain the Swamp - click here
Bookmark these Tutor/Mentor Resources
* Lists of Chicago area, volunteer-based tutor, mentor programs - click here
* Tutor/Mentor Resource Library - click here
* Strategy essays by Tutor/Mentor - click here
* Tutor/Mentor Institute Videos - click here
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.
For those who don't want to receive this newsletter in their email, you can view current and past newsletters at this link.
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Maybe political campaigns are drying up contributions for other causes, but my 2026 income is lower than normal. Please help me keep these resources FREE to you and the world.
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Help Celebrate my 80th Birthday
I'll reach this milestone on December 19th and as I've done since 2011 I offer my birthday as a way for people to make contributions.
View my 80th Birthday page - click here
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
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 @
Dan Bassill on Instagram and on Twitter (X)
Dan Bassill articles on Substack.com - https://danielbassill319958.substack.com/
Dan Bassill on Medium - https://medium.com/@danielfbassill