What is the role of the carrot, the rabbit, and the dogs in this graphic? The carrot represents good ideas, or best practices. If we can give public recognition to the good work done by different businesses, non profits, political leaders and others to help youth development, tutor, mentor and learning programs focused on economically disadvantaged youth, we can stimulate competition and constant improvement in what is done to help make high quality youth-serving programs available in more places, for more years. Do you agree with this concept? This has been the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy since 1993 (and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011). View the presentation and see how the T/MC web library can be used. Note: While Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC focuses on helping youth in high poverty areas, the role of information libraries described in this presentation applies to solving any local, global problem.

1. Every other dog
tries to catch up.
Rabbit Chases
Carrot
Dog Chases
Rabbit
Put Carrot in
front of Rabbit
This year’s carrots
are stored where
others can find
them.
Providing
seed for next
year’s race.
Recognizing “Best Practice” to Stimulate Progress
Toward Goal – The Race to be the Best!
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
What does the carrot have to do with youth development? Read more.

2. “A Master Plan” for Saving Kids
This presentation is one of many that Daniel Bassill has
created over the past 30 years to share his ideas about
helping youth in poverty move to jobs and careers with the
help of organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.
As you look at this presentation take time to look at others
posted at http://www.scribd.com/daniel-f-bassill-7291
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 2
View at https://www.slideshare.net/tutormentor/master-plan-for-saving-chicago-youth-1997-version

3. Role of Intermediary
The Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC* ideas are based on strategies big companies use to
draw customers to stores in hundreds of locations. Bassill believes that if volunteers,
donors, philanthropists are more proactive in what they do to assure that tutor/mentor
programs have talent, ideas and dollars to constantly improve and stay connected to
youth and communities for many years, more will have an impact on mentoring youth
through school and into careers.
*The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), created in 1993, has been led by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011..
In the following
slides think of a
“carrot” as a
“good idea”.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 3

4. How can “ideas” influence actions?
If we have access to more ideas showing what other people do to solve a problem
we have more ways to solve the same problem where we are. If we give attention to
actions taken by some people to solve a problem in one places, we can encourage
others to duplicate that action to solve the same problem in many places.
Daniel F. Bassill, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
In the following
slides think of a
“carrot” as a
“good idea”.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 4

5. Every other dog
tries to catch up.
Rabbit Chases
Carrot
Dog Chases
Rabbit
Put Carrot in
front of Rabbit
This year’s carrots
are stored where
others can find
them.
Providing
seed for next
year’s race.
Stimulating year-to-year growth and improvement – the race to be best
Think of year-to-year improvement like a dog race where every dog wants to be #1
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 5

6. The Carrot
represents a
“best practice”
of one
organization.
Stimulating year-to-year innovation and growth of resources raised to
support operations of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs – the
race to be best
Think of year-to-year improvement like a dog race where every dog want to be #1
Leaders looking to improve
products, services and
outcomes look at best
practices and innovate
new ways to be good at
what they do.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 6

7. If a good idea, or ‘best
practice’ is given public
attention it motivates others
to copy the idea.
Competitions, Awards, Media Stories, Blog Articles, etc. can give public
attention to best practices.
Think of year-to-year improvement like a dog race where every dog want to be #1
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 7

8. If a good idea is given
enough public attention
many will try to copy it.
Recognition by highly visible people, celebrities, etc. can encourage
more people to try to duplicate a good idea in more places.
Think of year-to-year improvement like a dog race where every dog want to be #1
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 8
Future President Barack
Obama presented “Best
Practice” awards at 1999
Tutor/Mentor Conference in
Chicago.

9. If we can give attention to
best practices, we can
influence the growth of
business support for ALL of
the tutor/mentor programs in
a city.
The “best practice” recognized one year becomes the standard others try
to beat the following year through a process of constant innovation.
We want to encourage a volunteers from every industry to be part of tutor/mentor
programs in every part of the city.
Think of the “carrot” as best practice of
how business encourages employees to
volunteer or donate. Or how non profits
improve practices from year to year.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 9

10. This year’s
carrots stored
where others
can find them.
Providing
seed for next
year’s race.
Libraries that collect great ideas can be a resource for constant innovation and
improvement in an entire sector of organizations.
Think of year-to-year improvement like a dog race where every dog want to be #1
If we build libraries of best practices these can be used by teams
from non-profits, businesses, foundations, universities, etc. to
innovate ways to be the “best” at what they do each year. Funding
and partners needed to collect and organize information related to
mentoring youth to jobs and careers.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 10

11. Tutor/Mentor Institute and
Tutor/Mentor Connection
The mission of the Tutor/Mentor Connection,
formed in 1993) and the Tutor/Mentor Institute
(T/MI), formed in 2011, is to gather and organize
all that is known about successful 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.
View library at www.tutormentorexchange.net
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 11

12. View at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/02/help-youth-tutor-mentor-learning.html
Since 1994 the
Tutor/Mentor
Connection
(T/MC) has been
maintaining a list
of Chicago non-
school, volunteer-
based tutor,
mentor and
learning
programs.
TO HELP EACH
PROGRAM
LEARN FROM
ALL OTHERS!
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 12
The heart of the Tutor/Mentor library is our lists of Chicago area
volunteer-based youth tutor, mentor and learning programs.

13. Every tutor/mentor program in the region needs the
same resources to operate and constantly improve.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 13
What makes Tutor/Mentor Connection unique is its on-going effort to draw needed
resources to every tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region, not just to itself.

14. Since 1994 T/MC has used quarterly events, traditional and social
media, blogs, print and eMail newsletters, etc. to draw needed
resources from every industry DIRECTLY to every tutor/mentor program
in the Chicago region.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 14
Leaders from every industry, civic and social group, faith groups and
education, need to be adopting this strategy.

15. Http://tinyurl.comTMI-libraryFull
Since 1998 the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been hosting a web library with “other
people's ideas”. Anyone can use this to spur their own innovations.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 15

16. It's all intended to help build and sustain mentor-rich efforts that help youth
born and living in high poverty areas move through school into adult lives.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 16

17. Every other dog
tries to catch up.
Rabbit Chases
Carrot
Dog Chases
Rabbit
Put Carrot in
front of Rabbit
This year’s carrots
are stored where
others can find
them.
Providing
seed for next
year’s race.
This process could be influencing youth development, workforce development,
formal and informal learning improvements in many places.
Do you understand the role of the “carrot” now? It represents ideas you can
learn from to build programs that help kids in high poverty areas.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 17

18. Discussion
• What type of organization and funding does it take to collect, organize and
analyze this much information?
• What type of advertising/Public Awareness strategies are needed to bring
millions of people to these ideas every year?
• How can this work and responsibility be shared/owned by many institutions
and organizations?
• Where are benefactors/philanthropists who would put their names, and their
money, behind this strategy?
• How can we use social media effectively to support this information
collection and sharing process?
• What values does this offer to business that would motivate them to invest
corporate dollars to support the strategy and engage their own employees,
technology and facilities?
• Who else is building similar libraries, for the same purposes? Where is this
being discussed? How can we connect?
Join discussion at
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com www.facebook.com/TutorMentorInstitute
http://www.twitter.com/tutormentorteam or on LinkedIn, Instagram & Mastodon
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg. 18

19. Read more
Dan Bassill, president of
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
(2011) and founder of
Tutor/Mentor Connection
(1993), is available to speak
to your group via ZOOM, to
help you understand and
adopt these ideas. Let's
connect on social media.
Visit these sites to learn more about
what it takes to implement this
concept in your company or
community.
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com
Find links to social media platforms at
http://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present); Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg. 19