“Information Hubs” that Support

Civic Engagement and

Community Problem Solving
What will it take to collect, maintain and share
information that anyone in community can use to
help kids in high poverty areas move through
school and into jobs and adult lives?

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net

 2011 policy paper calls for the creation of a
“new Civic Information Corps”
“On June 10, 2011 the Aspen Institute Communications and Society
Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation released a
new policy paper that calls on community and elected leaders to adopt
sensible strategies to strengthen civic communication and citizen
engagement, including the creation of a new Civic Information Corps
that takes advantage of the considerable capacity and creativity of
America’s young people and digital media.

Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to

Revive Civic Communication, by Peter Levine, urges federal, state and
local leaders to adopt five specific strategies that are critical to efforts to
reverse the troubling trends away from civic engagement in recent
decades. Levine is the director of CIRCLE: the Center for Information
and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and research
director of the Jonathan Tisch School of Citizenship and Public Service
at Tufts University.”
Quoted from: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/news/2011/06/10/new-policy-paper-calls-investments-new-corps-young-americans-create-share-civic-info

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 2011 policy paper recommendations include
“Colleges and universities to make modest shifts in
incentives and investments serve as local information hubs.
Because of their physical presence in the community and
the information and knowledge work they already do,
colleges and universities could make a significant
difference in the quantity and quality of civic
communication.

Journalism, library and engineering schools and

departments are well situated to partner with local
communities on information-related projects. Other
knowledge that is scattered across the institution could be
aggregated and shared with the local community.
Quoted from: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/news/2011/06/10/new-policy-paper-calls-investments-new-corps-young-americans-create-share-civic-info

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 The Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC*
already is an information hub.
Colleges, universities, business and others are
invited to help support this on-going information
collection, organization and sharing process.

Innovative
Database of strategies
Chicago area need to
tutor/mentor increase
programs number of
requires people using
constant the data to
update. help kids in
poverty.

*The names Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC are used throughout this and other
presentations. It's the same organization, with different tax structures since 2011.

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 Tutor/Mentor Programs are places where adult
volunteers are connecting with k-12 youth.

These are teens

and volunteers
from the single
tutor/mentor
program we led in
Chicago, while we
were also leading
the Tutor/Mentor
Connection.

Programs vary in size, structure, age group served and

type of activities. Until Tutor/Mentor Connection began
building a master database of what programs operated
in Chicago in 1994, no such database existed.

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T/MC focuses on non-school hours

www.tutormentorexchange.net

While many leaders and billions of dollars focus on schools, T/MC focuses on
the non-school hours, including after 5pm when workplace volunteers are
moving from work to home, and safe places where youth, volunteers and
extra learning are available.
Pg 6
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net
 Instead of a few great programs in a few places, great programs
are needed in every high poverty area of Chicago region

To keep kids and volunteers

Chicago connected, these resources are
area needed at every tutor/mentor
program in the region … every
day of the year.
* volunteers
* public visibility
* operating dollars
The shaded * technology
areas of this
map of * training/learning
Chicago are
the areas of * leadership
most
concentrated
poverty.

Pg 7

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net

 Most programs can’t get enough needed resources
on their own. We need the help of many leaders.
This city needs leaders in every sector who help attract resources to programs.

faith business media

volunteers
dollars

college
you Ideas,

Talent &
Elected
leader technology

others

Without the database, and maps, no city can form a strategy that helps ALL of
the existing programs grow from year to year. Nor can it identify and fill voids
in neighborhoods which currently have no programs.
Pg 8
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net
 What makes this strategy unique is a daily effort to draw attention
and resources DIRECTLY to EACH youth tutor, mentor and learning
program in its database.

Pg 9
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net
Information collection is Part 1 in a 4-Part Strategy launched in 1993

Build your understanding - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-4-Pt-Strategy

Pg 10

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net

 A Database of tutor/mentor programs is the heart of this strategy
Since 1993 the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection has
made a systematic
Information effort to identify
sorted by type every non-school,
of program, volunteer-based
age group tutor/mentor
served, time of
day
program in the
Chicago region.

Visitors can
search by zip
code,
This page was community
launched in area, name of
2004. program to
It still works, find
but has not information
been updated about specific
since 2013, due groups.
to lack of funds.
Archive: https://tinyurl.com/ProgramLocatorSearch

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 The Program Locator search provides
information volunteers, parents, donors can use
to connect with individual programs.

Names of
programs,
contact
information,
web sites are Program
shown. Locations
show on a
map, which
This page was shows the
launched in relationship of
2004 and is now different
only available programs in
as an archive, same area.
and a
TEMPLATE that
others could
learn from. Archive: https://tinyurl.com/ProgramLocatorSearch

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 Using Interactive Program Locator, created in 2008, leaders can
determine availability of programs in small area, potential business,
faith and college partners, and build collaboration strategies
intended to strengthen mix of programs in different parts of city.

Layers of
information
can be added
to create map
showing where
need is based Layers of
on poverty, information
schools, etc. can show
banks,
This page was hospitals,
launched in colleges, faith
2008 and is now groups who
only available occupy same
as an archive, geography.
and a
TEMPLATE that
others could
learn from.
Archive: https://tinyurl.com/ProgramLocatorMap-archive

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 While the Program Locator is now an archive, the
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC continues to maintain a map
showing locations of volunteer-based tutoring and/or
mentoring organizations in the Chicago region.

3) search for
that program
on out list to
find the
website
1) you can
zoom into
different parts
4) visit the
of the map
website to
learn more
2) click on a
about services
green icon to
offered and
get the name
volunteer
of an
opportunities.
organization

Visit http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/02/help-youth-tutor-mentor-learning.html to see the

current map and find a list of programs, and websites, Facebook pages and Instagram pages,
organized by section of the city. Use this to help you learn about existing programs.

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This information is no good if it cannot
be updated continuously.
Tutor/Mentor Connection operated as part of non profit from
1993-2011 and never had more than $125,000 each year to
do this information collection, mapping, and public education.
At the same time the leaders also led a single tutor/mentor
program serving 7th to 12th grade Chicago teens.

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC was created in July 2011 in an

effort to create new partnerships and new ways to fund this
Daniel F. Bassill knowledge management effort. Funds have not been
Founder, CEO available to update the data maps or continue the semi-annual
1993-present
conferences.
Connect on ZOOM, or
Social media.
Dan turned 76 in 2022 and now seeks to help communities
around the world create their own Tutor/Mentor Connection
strategies, building from work done in Chicago since 1993.
This would be a great research project for any university!

Read blog articles showing vision of a NEW T/MC

https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20NEW%20T%2FMC
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Help collect and maintain this
information.
Teams from high schools, colleges, faith
groups, businesses could take role in
collecting tutor/mentor program data for
specific zip codes or community areas.

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 Adopt a Neighborhood
This map shows police districts of
Chicago. In each area a local
Police
partner could build an in-depth
Districts
understanding of tutor/mentor
programs and other youth
resources operating in the area.

Chicago
Program locations can be plotted
on maps such as this and can be
added to Tutor/Mentor Program
Locator Maps
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 Help share this information.
Collecting this information is only the first
challenge. Creating daily advertising that
increases the number of people who view the
information, understand it, then use it is an
equal challenge.

This information could be discussed in many

groups led by students, volunteers, retirees…
leading to a more consistent distribution of
resources to support “good to great”
tutor/mentor programs throughout an urban
region.
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 Help form networks and share this information on the
Internet. Information hubs need to be places with long-
term roots in a neighborhood, such as schools, police
stations, libraries, colleges, banks, faith groups.

2) Local
leaders lead
1) Local hubs
neighborhood
collect and
collaborations
update
aimed at
tutor/mentor
strengthening
and youth
youth
program
supports.
information…

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 Local leaders connect
and share their
information through city,
state, national and
international networks.
This portal demonstrates how anyone
can set up a discussion to look at a
problem and possible paths to solutions.
This is a section created by Tutor/Mentor
Institute in 2011. The goal is to draw
people together to look at ideas working
in some parts of the world and to
innovate ways to apply those ideas to
their own part of the world…which
means they also need to find the
resources to do so.

http://debategraph.org/mentoring_kids_to_careers

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 This vision seeks to create an ecosystem that consists of many
independent operators all working under a common set of goals and
supported by intermediaries like the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Teams of talented people are needed at the program level, the neighborhood level, and the city,
state and national levels, to build programs that reach K-12 youth in every high poverty area with
long-term, mentor-rich strategies. See this graphic in article at
https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/12/building-and-sustaining-youth-support.html
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 Universities could create
Tutor/Mentor Institute type
programs to focus strategies
we have piloted on the area
around their institutions, or the
places where their students
and/or alumni live.

Such programs could be on-

going, involving students
coming to the university,
current students, and alumni.

Visit the Tutor/Mentor Blog and

read articles tagged
“universities” to see the vision
we are describing.

http://tutormentor.blogspot.com

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 Learn more about how
you can be involved.
Consider ways you
could apply these ideas
in your own city with
Tutor/Mentor Institute,
LLC as your partner.

As a result of what we do more youth in disadvantaged

neighborhoods will have adult networks helping them through
school and into careers.
“If this (initiative) is accepted and acted upon, it can change the
way philanthropy and charities work together in America and
throughout the world. It can change the future for millions of kids
born into poverty each year.”
--Daniel F. Bassill, President of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and the Tutor/Mentor Connection

Http://www.tutormentorexchange.net tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Social Media Links: https://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media

Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net