Steps to Start a Volunteer Based Tutor Mentor Program

STEPS FOR STARTING AND BUILDING
A NEW TUTOR/MENTOR PROGRAM
Starting a tutor/mentor program is simple. Making it work is a
bit more difficult. It takes 12 years to help a first grader finish
high school. It could take another 5-10 years until he/she is
launched in a career.
--Daniel F. Bassill, President of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and the Tutor/Mentor Connection
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present), Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) ,www.tutormentorexchange.net tutormentor2@earthlink.net

This presentation is a Resource From the
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
This is one of hundreds of essays and articles created by Daniel F. Bassill, D.H.L., since 1993 when the
Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) was launched in Chicago. They are based on Dan's personal experience
of leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program from 1975 to 2011. These articles seek to inspire
others to provide leadership that supports the growth and constant improvement of youth serving
organizations reaching youth in high poverty areas of Chicago and other cities. Since 2011 the Chicago
T/MC has been part of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Read other illustrated essays in the Tutor/Mentor
Institute library at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net .
Throughout this publication “T/MC” will be used to mean both Tutor/Mentor Connection and
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since both share the same goals and purpose.
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present), Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) ,www.tutormentorexchange.net tutormentor2@earthlink.net Pg. 2
This visual essay is part of an extensive on-line library of
information, most of which is FREE to users from
throughout the world. Like good wine, it is best “sipped”
and enjoyed over time.

STEPS TO START A PROGRAM: A mentoring-to-career strategy of the Tutor/Mentor Connection
"Mentoring draws our attention to important issues for
social policy: how to provide young people with the
relationships they so badly need, and how to engage
the people who don’t live in poverty in addressing
problems of neighborhoods dominated by poverty.
A great many disadvantaged youth are in need of
support that is developmental, nurturing, protective
and extensive in nature--in other words, something
resembling supplemental parenting. They need this
caring not only to make the basic transition to
adulthood, but to survive under conditions of great
stress.”from The Kindness of Strangers", by Mark Friedman
Pg 3

In The Kindness of Strangers, originally published in 1993,
Mark Freedman writes about the potential and the difficulties
of mentoring and suggests that without infrastructure and
support for mentors and mentoring programs, the movement
will never reach its potential. Freedman listed a number of
ways mentoring was falling short of its potential:
- missing infrastructure
- poor program models
- missing follow-up
- emphasis on marketing and recruitment instead of program
support
- poor or no coordination
- matches made and then abandoned by program
Pg 4

Ways mentoring programs fall short of its potential:
- conducted in isolation
- few programs with resources to serve mentors as well as
mentees
- missing operational expenses
- missing knowledge regarding effective practices
- little appreciation of how hard it is to put mentoring into
action
Pg 5
In a 1994 survey of Chicago area tutor/mentor programs 120 responded, with 54% saying
they have “little or no contact with peers.” The Tutor/Mentor Connection was established
to help bring programs together to learn from each other, and to create events that attracted
public attention, and drew dollars and volunteers to all programs operating in the city.

In addition to the list of challenges Freedman highlighted, the
challenges of finding consistent, on-going operating dollars to
fund constantly improving programs would also be among the
biggest barriers to having more programs operating in places
where they are most needed.
As you use this publication, spend time reading articles in the
Tutor/Mentor Web Library. Dozens of articles are in this
section focusing on “Challenges facing Non Profit
Organizations”,
https://tinyurl.com/TMIL-Challenges4NPOs
Pg 6
Tip: Try to motivate your Board and volunteers to read
these articles and visit the websites we point to. You'll
expand the range of talent helping you build your
program.

As leaders organize a new volunteer-based
tutor/mentor program, this message should
serve as a reminder of what it takes to succeed.
If you do not address each of these issues in
the structure of your program, in the on-going
activities, policies and commitments, your
program will fall short of meeting its potential.
Pg 7

In the initial stages of organizing a program, or network of
programs, these steps are in sequential order. The more you
know about tutor/mentor programs and how other programs
operate, for instance, should help you with every other stage of
developing your own program. The more people you have to
help you, the more you can accomplish.
However, once you have launched your program, these steps
begin to run concurrently. You don’t stop doing research,
learning, or team-building once you have started your program.
Continuous process improvement means that you are always
looking for ways to get better*, etc. Programs which are able
to incorporate these steps into their operating philosophy stand
a greater chance of long-term success.
*Read the Jim Collins book titled, “Good to Great and the Social Sector” for ideas on process
improvement.
Pg 8

At this time, the biggest obstacle
to involving more children and
caring adults in tutor/mentor
programs is the need for more of
the programs themselves, as
well as the need for a more
consistent flow of resources
(dollars, volunteers, training,
technology, etc.) to existing
programs.
Visit the Links Library at
https://tinyurl.com/TMILibrary-poverty-inequality
to learn more about poverty mapping.
Pg 9

A second challenge
is that while there are
many activities within
programs, few have
long term strategies
intended to help
youth through school
and into jobs.

Every successful business follows
some of the same steps to make it a
success
Think of your tutor/mentor program as a
business. The fundamentals are the same.
Pg 11

Research
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Get to know
other tutor/mentor programs and borrow
strategies and materials that you feel would fit
the type of program you want to build. Use the
T/MC web site links to research mentoring
programs in Chicago and around the country.
As you begin to consider building a formal non-
profit structure (which you must have to raise
money), use the links in the fund raising section
of the T/MC resource library to do much of your
research.
Fundamentals
for Success
Research
Pg 12
Links to Chicago tutor, mentor programs:
https://tutormentorexchange.net/chicago-area-program-links

The T/MC seeks to connect everyone in the Chicago
region who wants to help kids in poverty move to
careers.
T/MC incorporates concepts of adult-to-youth mentoring into our core
strategy because providing greater adult support to youth is a proven way
to help kids be more successful in school and life
After many years of leading a tutor/mentor program (since 1975), we
understand mentoring as a form of service learning, in which the
volunteer has to be transformed, not just the youth. Because some of the
volunteers need to become leaders and capacity builders to constantly
expand the resources available to the tutor/mentor program, and the
youth, as the youth grows older.
This strategy can work in other cities, not just Chicago. Email
tutormentor2@earthlink.net to explore ways Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
can help you create your own Tutor/Mentor Connection type strategy.
Pg 13

Since 1994 the Tutor/Mentor
Connection has been
collecting information about
non-school tutor/mentor
programs in the Chicago
region. The information is
intended to help existing
programs grow, while
helping new programs start
where more are needed.
Pg 14
View the Chicago programs map and list in blog article at
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2020/02/help-youth-tutor-mentor-learning.html

Use resources on
Tutor/Mentor
Connection web
site to support your
learning.
This concept map shows the four main sections and subsections of the Tutor/Mentor Library.
View at http://tinyurl.com/TMI-libraryFull
Borrow from existing resources. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/TMI-library and find a map that outlines the four
sections of this library, and points to sub sections within the library

Access all of our resources in theTutor/Mentor Institute,
LLC website at www.tutormentorexchange.net .
Pg 17
Open each
section to find
ideas to support
your program
planning and
development.

Use social media and on-line forums to expand your network,
share ideas and learn from others.
Pg 19
Connect staff,
leaders,
volunteers on
any of these
forums
https://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media

Database
Develop a Team
Don’t forget to include people from
business groups that you will go to
as you begin to recruit volunteers
and donors. Think of volunteers for
their talent (technology, accounting)
and not just as tutors/mentors.
Look for Partners to help you - from
local business, schools, park
districts, churches, and community
groups.
Develop a Team
Pg 20

Create a map showing the talent and job functions needed to build and grow your organization. Use
this to help guide your efforts to recruit volunteers to help lead your organization as well as volunteers
who will become tutors and mentors to the youth you serve.

Define Mission and Goals
Borrow ideas from programs you visit and
read about to build your own vision of the
type of program that would work best in
your area, and with the resources you have.
At this stage you should begin drafting a
written program design and action plan.
Look at the graphics on the T/MC site to
see how we visualize our aim of helping
kids to careers. These show a variety of
people and activities that could be part of
any tutor/mentor program.
Research
Build Team
Define Mission and Goals
Fundamentals
For Success
Pg 22
Some of these graphics were created by interns. Engage youth
in your community in designing and communicating your
program goals.

This graphic illustrates that there are three time frames during the day when youth can connect with
mentors, tutors and learning opportunities and that the goal of our efforts should be to help more
youth move successfully from first grade to a job and career.

In every neighborhood there should be a range of organizations operating in the non-school hours, not
just a few programs serving youth at one age level, or another.

Neighborhood collaborations could result in programs working together to help youth have the
supports they need, and to help programs attract the ideas, talent and dollars needed to build world
class support systems.

Programs that are “mentor rich” have volunteers from a wide range of business backgrounds, who model
different types of careers youth might aspire to achieve. Such programs are supported by corporate giving
strategies that recognize the value of tutor/mentor programs to future, and current, employees.

Think of ways your program builds social capital, expanding
network of “who your kids know”.
https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2021/04/digging-deeper-into-social-capital.html
This is one of many articles
on the Tutor/Mentor blog
which explore the idea of
social capital.
Visit the social capital
research section of the
Tutor/Mentor Library:
https://tinyurl.com/TMIL-
SocialCapital

Look for a Host/Sponsor(s)
You will need a place to meet and
some financial support to get
started. If you can find donated
space, you’ll be much better off than
if you need to rent. Business sites,
churches, banks, insurance sales
agencies, health care sites, etc. are
ideal because they also provide a
source for volunteer recruitment and
in-kind donations.
Schools that offer space to operate
in non-school hours and evening
hours can also be potential hosts.
Research
Build Team
Define Mission & Goals
Find Host/Sponsor
Pg 27

Use asset maps to identify potential partners and supporters
This map can be used to
understand the need for
tutor/mentor programs in the
North Lawndale area on the
West side of Chicago.
You'll find many examples of
how maps can be used, in our
two main blogs.
Encourage business and
philanthropic leaders to use
maps in planning and resource
distribution, to assure that
programs in every high
poverty neighborhood of your
city are receiving consistent
operating funds.
Pg 28
View articles at https://tutormentor.blogspot.com/search/label/maps-a and
http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com

Determine Program Structure
What days, times will the program meet; where
will they meet? Begin to establish a vision for
the length of months/years that your program
intends to operate, along with the length of
service you intend to provide to individual
children.
Develop a format for tutor/mentor sessions
(group activity, one-on-one, or both) that
encourages workplace volunteers to participate.
If volunteers cannot leave work to get to a
school, or a 3-5pm program site on a regular
basis, design 5-8pm meeting times that
encourage volunteers to stop at a program on
their way home from work.
Program Structure: Actions
that motivate youth and
adults to participate.
Research
Build Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Pg 29

Determine Structure
You could build a tutor/mentor
program focused on youth and
volunteers doing community
asset mapping, resource
mobilization, and creating
strategy visualizations.
See work done by interns
working with T/MC in Chicago.
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/definition
-of-issues/ideasanimation
Pg 30

Determine Structure
Look for ways volunteers can build student motivation, study skills,
reading, writing, vocabulary and speaking skills, etc. These are habits
students can take with them into the classroom, or workplace.
Use the T/MC Links Library to see how other programs provide tutoring,
mentoring and learning supports to students. Try to build your programs
from “best practices” of other programs.
Pg 31
Follow the links on this
concept map to websites of
youth programs in Chicago and
around the USA and the world.
http://tinyurl.com/TMI-
Volunteer-Opportunities

Determine Recruiting Strategies
and Sources of Volunteers
TMC web sites, newsletters and
blog articles are a source of
information, as are interviews with
other tutor/mentor programs.
Use volunteer recruitment resources
shared at
https://tutormentorexchange.net/chicagoland-
volunteer-recruitment
Post information about your
program and share your website on
multiple social media platforms.
Determine Recruiting
Strategies
Research
Build Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Pg 32

Determine Recruiting Strategies
and Sources of Students
Will students be recruited by schools, referred by
juvenile justice organizations, or recruited from the
community. Are you at a school, or a non-school
location?
At the tutor/mentor programs which Dan Bassill led
from 1975-2011, our youth were volunteers. They
come because they, or their parents, want them to
attend. They were not the “problem kids” referred by
schools or juvenile authorities. Thus, our activities
have to motivate them to attend regularly.
How will you keep kids attending from one grade level
to the next? How will you keep them connected with
you and the volunteers over the summer.
These are some of the questions you need to address
before you launch your program. Discussing these
issues with leaders of existing programs can help you
determine your own strategies.
Strategies
Research
Build Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Pg 33

Set a Start-Up Schedule and
Develop an Action Plan
Keep in mind, you are simply bringing
adults and youth together. You must answer
the “what do I do” question volunteers will
have when they come to your session each
week. Plan your activities around the
calendar. Halloween, Thanksgiving,
Christmas, etc. offer themes for research,
writing, performing and building bonds
between students, volunteers and your
program.
Research
Build a Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Determine Structure
Strategies
Schedule and Action Plan
Pg 34
View Service Learning LOOP
animation (video) at
https://youtu.be/5msRqzyunh_c

Recruit and Train Volunteers and
Youth.
You need to be recruiting both at the same time,
aiming for a start date when you bring them together
and launch your program.
Volunteer training is an on-going process. A start-up
orientation introduces your organization, its goals,
rules, vision and calendar of events. You must be
prepared to provide on-going information through one-
on-one contact, handouts, email, and training
workshops.
Try to share the responsibility for recruiting and
volunteer training workshops with other programs in
your area.
Research
Build a Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Determine Structure
Strategies
Recruit and Train
Volunteers and Youth.
Pg 35

Begin Operations
Remember to track student and volunteer
participation at every session. Create
reports so you can see patterns of
attendance and adjust your activities based
on positive or negative trends.
This information provides evaluation and
planning information. It is also essential in
preparing grant requests to donors who
want to see quantifiable information.
Use the Internet (web sites, blogs, etc.) to
tell your story, and show others what you
are doing. Consider this an essential part
of recruitment, training and fund raising.
Research
Build a Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Determine Structure
Strategies
Recruit & Train Volunteers and Youth.
Begin Operations
Pg 36

It takes months, even years, to build an
effective tutor/mentor program. It takes 12
years for a first grade student to be a high
school graduate.
Programs need to build trust and
participation of children, parents and
volunteers, which is not given easily. As
you build participation, you must build
motivation, which often comes as you build
tradition, and a core staff of leaders and
veteran volunteers.
You must be patient, yet aggressive in
doing everything you can to make your
program as good as it can be.
Research
Build a Team
Find Host/Sponsor
Determine Structure
Strategies
Recruit & Train Volunteers and Youth.
Begin Operations
Continuous Process Improvement
and Annual Planning
Pg 37

Process Improvement
Once your program is started, your job is to sustain and nurture it from
year to year, so that it is able to serve children on a continuous basis, for
the number of years it takes for students to grow to be productive adults.
This involves continuous critical review of your process, your results and
your programs, with on-going incremental additions, revisions and
deletions, based on your own results, and what you are learning from
other tutor/mentor programs throughout the country (and the world).
Each year your review should lead to your plan for the next year’s
growth. If you do this you will surprise yourself in a few years as you
look back from where you and a small group of people began your
program and see the great progress you have accomplished – and the
many lives you have affected.
Use the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net web site as a regular
resource in this process.
Pg 38

THE RESULT
According to Mark Cohen, a
professor at Vanderbilt University’s
Owen Graduate School of
Management, “High risk youths
who are kept out of trouble through
intervention programs could save
society as much as $2 million a
youth per lifetime”.
Review similar research and articles in the No
Child Left Behind section of the LINKS
LIBRARY at https://tinyurl.com/TMIL-
EducationResearch
Research
Building a Team
Define Mission
Find host
Determine Recruitment
strategies
Set Schedule and action plan
More youth stay in school, are
safe in non-school hours,
graduate, and move to careers
Recruit & Train, Begin
operations
Continuous Process
Improvement
Pg 39

Summary
Every child who is helped by a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program to become a
tax-paying adult represents a savings and an investment. We are offered with the
choice of a 12 to 16-year investment as a child becomes and adult and becomes a
taxpayer, vs the potential lifetime costs of public services associated with children
who live adult lives that are a drain on social resources, and who raise future
children who re-enter the cycle of poverty.
Volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can not-only help individual inner-
city children have a wider range of possibilities for long-term personal fulfillment,
but they can also engage adults who don’t live in poverty, and educate them to
become more personally involved as they build their bonds with the kids they
connect with in tutor/mentor programs.
These programs enrich the lives of the volunteers, as much as they support the
growth of youth skills and aspirations.
Pg 40

Summary
Children can’t realize personal goals without the necessary skills. They cannot
secure rewarding jobs and personal happiness without self-esteem, a good
education and good learning habits. They can’t reach there full potential without
a network of positive role models who demonstrate these skills, and who expand
the experiences and learning opportunities for kids living in areas of highly
concentrated poverty.
Tutoring/mentoring programs are infused with these types of role models and
learning opportunities. It is up to each of us to provide the leadership and
resources needed to build and sustain such programs.
Daniel F. Bassill, President, CEO, Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, Tutor/Mentor Connection
Pg 41

To SUCCEED
We must recruit business
leaders who will use their
resources in PULLING
Youth to Careers
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
Pg 42
Kids who were part of
tutor/mentor programs I
led between 1975 and
2011 are now college
graduates and sharing
pictures of their own
kids finishing high
school and college.
Summary – It works.
2010 year-end speaker
was student in 1990s.
Two boys in college
in 2023.

This type of organization is not
achieved in one or two years.
It will never be achieved without the
work done at the base of this
pyramid each year.
Research
Building a Team
Define Mission
Find host/sponsor
Determine Recruitment
strategies
Set Schedule and action plan
More youth stay in school, are
safe in non-school hours,
graduate, and move to careers
Recruit & Train, Begin
operations
Continuous Process
Improvement
Pg 43

Other Resources
Create a “learning organization” and draw
from this and the library of on-line
resources in the links below.
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
http://debategraph.org/mentoring_kids_to_careers
http://michaelcnt.blogspot.com/
Email tutormentor2@earthlink.net to discuss ideas for collaboration and capacity
building among programs, or between cities. Connect on Twitter
@tutormentorteam
Connect on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TutorMentorInstitute
Find more social media links at https://tutormentorexchange.net/social-media

You are encouraged to use this for planning and training. If you find
the material valuable to you, please consider sending letter of
appreciation and encourage others to visit Tutor/Mentor Institute,
LLC web sites to gather their own program development resources.
If you would like to have Dan Bassill come speak at your
organization, be part of a conference, or explain the purpose of this
and other ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC email
tutormentor2@earthlink.net to discuss fees.
This presentation is property of
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Pg 44

Tutor/Mentor Connection
Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303, Chicago, Il. 60654
www.tutormentorconnection.org
www.tutormentorexchange.net
Email tutormentor2@earthlink.net

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