Intermediary and Consulting Role to Support Youth Programs in High Poverty Areas

A Role For Intermediaries
to help volunteer based youth tutor, mentor and learning
programs grow in more places
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present), Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

Disparity – the greatest challenge we face
is gap between rich and poor.
“We have the best institutions of higher education in the world, yet many are surrounded
by slums.” President Jimmy Carter, June 3, 2008
• colleges
• business
• professions
• hospitals
• civic, fraternal and social
• religious
Make the
Connection!
Those who can help
Living in non – poverty areas
of a city or suburb, or
connected via the Internet.
• tutor/mentor programs
• health organizations
• children
• families
• schools
• after school programs
Those who need help
Located in high – poverty
areas of a city or suburb, or
connected via the Internet.
Form Volunteer
Teams that take
intermediary role.
Traditional consultants and
intermediaries and volunteers
from business schools, local
companies, churches, etc.
can take this intermediary
role to connect organizations
working with youth in high
poverty areas with talent,
ideas and operating dollars.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present), Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present), http://www.tutormentorexchange.net Pg 2
Read more in this and other Tutor/Mentor Connection essays. Find at
https://tutormentorexchange.net/library

Civic Engagement & Philanthropy – the next decade
In a white paper titled An Evolving Relationship:
Executive Branch Approaches to Civic Engagement,
presented by PACE, Philanthropy for Active Civic
Engagement, the author provides a history of Civic
Engagement from 1989 to 2010, with questions that
must be answered for the future.
Download the report at
http://www.pacefunders.org/publications/
EvolvingRelationship.pdf
It describes “a varied civic engagement ecosystem that
includes multiple actors” working in complementary
ways, but not in lock step. “It is not centrally controlled,
but there is a common purpose, bringing together both
the participation and the collaboration aspects of the
Obama administration.
Pg 3
Daniel F. Bassill created the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in Chicago in 1993 to help
volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs grow in all high poverty areas of the city, including a
new program for teens that he also launched in 1993. The T/MC strategy was based on
Bassill's leadership of a single program from1975 to 1992 and his 17 year retail advertising
career with the Montgomery Ward Corporation.
There was no template to follow when creating the T/MC, nor was there a dedicated source
of funding. The T/MC was built year-to-year, based on what the need was, what was learned
from others, and what talent and dollars could be found. This essay is one of dozens
created since 1993 to share the ideas, resources and strategies of the T/MC, which since
2011 has been operated as part of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.
Daniel F. Bassill
D.H.L.

In the following pages we suggest that for this
ecosystem to be focused on solving problems that will
take many years to solve, leaders will need to think of
new ways to engage employee volunteers and
corporate resources.
They will need to learn to use maps to point
volunteers, donors and NPO resources to all of the
places in the country where the same problem
persists. They will need to use graphics, like
blueprints, to sequence actions from beginning to end,
so good intentions don’t take place randomly and have
little benefit because they take place at the wrong
time, or the wrong place.
They will need to think of virtual volunteer roles,
helping build infrastructure and mobilize resources, not
just serving as on-line tutors and mentors.
Pg 4
Daniel F. Bassill, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

Each of these roles needs to be filled
5) Additional teams will need to be
learning what happens each year, to
recognize and share effective practices,
so they can be used by thousands of
local leaders in a process of constantly
improving the work of their own
organizations and networks.
Pg 5
1) Teams of people will need to
aggregate information that is
constantly being updated,
representing the thinking of
people involved in problem
solving, from all over the world.
3) Additional teams of people will
need to act as facilitators, to help
people understand this vast amount
of information, so they use it to
support decisions and actions in
many places at the same time.
4) Even more teams will need to innovate
ways to keep public and private sector
attention, and resources flowing for
many years, in many places, to many
organizations working toward solving the
same problem. Eg…a building does not get
built if all of the workers are not doing the
right job at the right time, and are not being
paid.
6) Elected leaders, media, celebrities,
CEOs and faith leaders need to learn
to champion this process, to keep it
growing in many places, for many
years.
2) Individuals and teams will need to
take on marketing, advertising and
network-building roles, making sure the
information available is seen, and
used, by more people.

Pg 6
This concept map visualizes the ideas from the previous slide.
View at http://tinyurl.com/TMI-4-Pt-Strategy

Read more about this at - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-VirtualCorpOffice
Pg 7
What we're describing is....
Pg 7

Let's think about this differently. How are Companies
Maximizing Value from Civic Engagement?
If someone gets involved
with volunteerism and service
during these years…
* K-6 * 7-8 * 9-12 *College
Will they still be doing service
as they move through this
stage of their job/career?
•Entry * low mgt * high mgt *Exec * retiree
20s 30s 40s 50s 60+
Social Sector
Orgs
(Tutor/Mentor
Programs)
If 20 million do service
between age 16 and 25…
Do we have 20 million leaders,
volunteers, donors and voters
in later years?
How do we make this happen? What would be the
impact on the social sector? Or on the lives of youth
living in high poverty areas?
Pg 8

Corporate Teams
Learning & Planning
Groups
within every company and/or
industry in every metro
area
Priority Issues
Education
Environment
Seniors, etc.
of a company or industry
Backward mapping
• Vision/problem definition
• What do we know about
issue
• What are others doing to
solve problem
• How/where can our
employees get involved
• How to encourage and grow
employee involvement
• How to learn from employee
involvement
• How to grow our impact
based on what we learn
Can pro bono teams from consulting companies help other
corporations form functional teams that help tutor/mentor programs grow?
In this presentation, the GOAL is not to
recruit tutors/mentors, but to develop
talent of current and future employees
through involvement in building and
sustaining the infrastructure needed to
make great volunteer-based
tutoring/mentoring organizations available
in more places.
Could volunteers from Accenture, Deloitte, Boston Consulting, etc. take on this
work on a pro bono basis? Could it turn into a revenue stream?
Could this be an on-going project of business schools at local universities?
Pg 9

Do you have a
Strategy?
Are you concerned with
workforce development
issues? Or with Poverty,
Social Justice, Education, or
preserving the quality of life
and democracy we enjoy in
this country?
How are you using your
leadership, and your
resources to address these
issues?
How to we get the most
productivity from
volunteering and civic
engagement? The following
pages are some ideas we
hope you’ll embrace.
Pg 10
If this is the goal....
Fill ALL
* time frames
* map areas

Tangela joined CC in 1993,
after being part of the
MW/Cabrini Green Tutoring
Program when in elementary
school.
School-Time Programs
3-5 PM Non-School Programs
Pre-K K - 5th 5th - 6th 6th - 8th
High
School
Career
Track
After 5 PM and Weekend Programs
If the goal is to help kids living in high
poverty neighborhoods be starting
jobs/careers by their mid-twenties….
How do we help tutor/mentor programs connect
with youth when they are young, and stay
connected to those kids from when we first meet
them, to when they need our help as adults?….
We are still
connected, via the
Internet, 30 years
later. Tangela has
two Masters
degrees and two
boys in college
(2023)!
--- 16 years later.
Pg 11

Understand this process. Open this cMap at http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Planning
Pg 12

Goal:
Define and Map a Supply Chain Model that meets
infrastructure needs of non profits helping inner city kids
move to jobs and careers
Supply
Chain
Model.
Corporate Teams
Consulting firm volunteers
Working in Chicago and other
cities, with tutor/mentor, and
other social benefit sectors
Multiple
Industries
& Talents
Multiple
Locations
And causes
Resources to support
tutor/mentor programs
need to flow into every
high poverty area in
Chicago
And other cities and
states.
Over the past 30 years most corporations have cut
back on the research and planning teams needed to
support effective social sector engagement, as a
human capital development process.
Volunteers from consulting firms could act as
intermediaries to help other companies better
understand potential roles.
Pg 13

Consultants from professional services companies, and students from
university business schools, could take some of these roles in any city.
View cMap below at http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/rid=1238727620203_829663222_30264/strategy.cmap
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present), Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) www.tutormentorexchange.net
Pg 14
View inset version at
http://tinyurl.com/TMI-4-Pt-Strategy

Instead of wasting scarce non profit time, talent and dollars competing for resources, create
actions that support the growth of all tutor/mentor programs, using same strategies that retail
chains use to support thousands of stores in different places.
Pg 15
If we can influence flow of talent and resources we can
improve quality and outcomes.

Helping non profits grow from good to great
The goal of the previous slides was to show the infrastructure needed to support non
profits doing similar work in multiple locations. These diagrams illustrate the process of
growing from good to great.
Flow of water turns wheel as it catches
each tong. The faster the water flows,
the faster the wheel turns.
Consistent flow of volunteers and
operating dollars keeps a non profit
growing from good to great.
Nonprofit
Growth
The “FLYWHEEL” effect
As the spark ignites gas and forces the
pistons up and down, these turn the
cylinder that keeps the wheel turning.
Volunteers and donors can provide
the spark non profits need if there is an
on-going supply provided by businesses,
churches, colleges, and national service.
Consultants can serve as coaches and
intermediaries to help this happen in
many locations.
The spark that propels the
“ENGINE” effect
$$
Vol
Pg 16

Leaders needed at every level, in every sector
Sector
Leaders …
• Public leaders
• Celebrities
• Specific non profit
organizations
• Local and national groups
1. seniors
2. faith groups
3. business,
hospitals
4. youth
5. civic, fraternal
and social
6. college
Facilitators
a) RSVP, Senior Corps
b) Faith Leaders
c) Company, Trade Group,
CEOs
d) Service Learning, clubs,
MySpace
e) Members
f) Campus Compact, etc.
1
2
5
6
4
3
b
d
c
e
f
a
The goal is to recruit people and organizations, in business, religion, media, entertainment, etc., who
deliver messages targeted specifically within their area of influence, with all messages pointing to maps
showing where services are needed, and to databases which volunteers and donors can shop to
choose where they want to get involved.
Pg 17

YOU
When people connect people they know to a tutor/mentor program, they
become part of a network of purpose. They become part of the solution.
Pg 18
When people are connected to information libraries they can learn where
they are needed, what they need to do and ways to get other people
involved. This increases positive impact on more programs in more places.

Pg 19
This is a year-round cycle of actions. It repeats every year. See article
at tutormentor.blogspot.com/2009/09/violence-is-just-on-other-side-of.html

May Aug/Sep Nov/Dec
Feb/Mar
Jan
End-of-Year
Networking,
•Draw more
attention to tutoring
And mentoring
• Expand network of
Programs, donors,
Partners
•Update database
• Focus on process
improvement
Back to School
•Program
Locator
database
updated
•Draw programs
And stakeholders
together
•Focus on vol.
recruitment,
Orientation
& Training
Leadership
Development
•Recruitment to
replace dropouts
•Convert volunteer
to leaders
•Focus Forward
to start of fall ‘10
•Update Database of
programs
•New Program
Planning
Pre Holiday Learning
And Networking
•Expand network
•Recognition
•Training
•PR for programs
•Xmas $$ Raising
•Networking
•Recruit talent and
manpower from
from business
& universities
National
Mentoring
Month
• National
media focus on
mentoring;
• Opportunity to
draw resources
to local
programs and
T/MC
Twitter Facebook LinkedIN Instagram Mastodon
During each event cycle, on-line forums using social media channels should be drawing more
people together to focus on same issues that are being discussed in face to face events.
Forums can be hosted from many different places around the world. Read our eConference
goals: http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/conferences-and-online-forums/88-e-learning-goals
Planning cycle. Repeat this every year.
https://tutormentorexchange.net/planning-strategies/52-calendar-of-activities
Volunteer Week
(april)
Intergenerational
Week (Sept)
Make a Difference
Day; Lights on After
School
National Mentoring
Month (Jan); Take kids
to work day, etc.
Engineers Week;
Black History Month
While T/MC, T/MI and partners organize their own events and attempt to create public
involvement, others are also hosting events that focus on poverty, workforce development, etc.
We need to learn to leverage these as part of strategy of building greater awareness of our own
message, but without increasing our costs to deliver the message to more people.
Pg 20

Every industry
should encourage
involvement of
volunteer talent
because it
expands the skills
and network of the
volunteer, and
benefits the
business.
Involvement in a
tutor/mentor
strategy is a
workforce
development
strategy.
Read more about this idea at
https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2021/11/helping-kids-through-school-how-can-we.html
Pg 21

Volunteer Mobilization - Creating Intermediary Networks of Support
This chart illustrates a role volunteers can take to help other volunteers become more meaningfully engaged.
Volunteers
Mobilizers
Obama
Women
On Call
Facilitators
What Cause?
What role?
What place?
cause role
Specific org.
Involvement, Success,
Ownership, Career
Networker
More Volunteers
Involved as leaders
and Capacity Builders
As volunteers in
consulting, training,
management use talent
they can help other
volunteers find more ways
to get involved and stay
involved.
Help vol.
find role
and
succeed in
NPO.
As volunteers find success
and take leadership roles
they take more ownership
and do more to help
expand NPO capacity and
effectiveness.
Similar
volunteers in
other NPOS
Similar
volunteers in
other Causes
Leaders build
awareness of service
opportunities.
Weak Link:
Staff at NPOs not
equally good at
recruiting and
supporting
volunteer
involvement.
Pg 22

YOU
Someone
You Know
Skills to help
T/MC
Organization
Or Group That
Can help T/MC
Tutor/
Mentor
Connection/
Institute, LLC
Skills &
Networks help
t/m programs
grow in entire
region
YOU can help inner city youth
have brighter futures. Help
build the leadership network
supporting the Tutor/Mentor
Connection
Every one can be a teacher, and intermediary, who helps
other people find, understand and use this information.
Will you take that role?
Pg 23

Neighbor
(name)
Executive
(name)
Donor
(name)
Benefactor
(name)
Faith Leader
(name)
Volunteer
(name)
Other Vol.
(name)
Super Hero
(Exec, Benefactor, writer, etc.)
Result of strategic network building. If you tell the story to people you know,
some will forward the story with their own endorsement, to people they know.
What would this network look like
after one, three, 10 years if we have
many people reaching out to people
they know on a consistent basis?
The first person in your network may
have limited resources. However,
the people in their network may
be potential supporters
Pg 24

$
DONOR
BASE
$$
INCREASE
DONOR BASE
More people
committed to
cause
ALL NPOs
compete for same
pool of dollars
Reverse the funding stream.. Change the outcomes.
INTERMEDIARY
GROUPS, LIKE
T/MC – T/MI
We try to connect donors
with tutor/mentor programs.
Affinity groups, within
industry, faith groups,
sports, etc. could
have greater impact.
If we teach our
volunteers to build
affinity groups in
their company,
church, college, these
groups take lead in
recruiting volunteers
and donors for ALL
tutor/mentor
programs.
Read more about this idea at
https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2009/10/reverse-funding-stream.html
Pg 25
Consultants can
take this role, too.

Civic Engagement & Philanthropy – the next decade
Pg 26
For this to happen, there needs to be an information base, with maps showing
where help is needed, and what organizations already work in those areas. The
T/MI information base is at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

Learn more, ask questions
If you have ideas to share, these are web
sites where you can learn more and get
connected:
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
http://michaelcnt.blogspot.com/
Connect on social media:
https://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media
Email tutormentor2@earthlink.net to discuss ideas for
collaboration and capacity building among programs, or
between cities.
Daniel F. Bassill
D.H.L.
“Have you had
Enough?”
Let's connect. Let me
help you use these
ideas to build your
own Tutor/Mentor
Connection-type
strategy.

Intermediary and Consulting Role to Support Youth Programs in High Poverty Areas

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