ideas for engaging faith communities strategically in tutor/mentor program growth
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8/3/2019 Ideas for engaging faith communities strategically in tutor/mentor program growth
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Follow Tutor/Mentor
Institute on
Twitter @tutormentorteam
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/
TutorMentorInstitute
Tutor/Mentor Institute
www.tutormentorexchange.net
I wrote this in March 2008. I think it applies to the
year end religious holiday season as well.
Every faith has high holidays where people cometogether and celebrate. This is Easter weekend for the
millions of people who share the Christian Faith. It's atime for reflection for all of us, not just Christians.What do these religions, and these celebrations meanto us?
I think it's all about HOPE.
We live in a savage world where there is much suffer-
ing. To think that the human animal is superior toother creatures who fight to survive everyday, may beone of the follies that make us different from theseother life forms. Some of us have been more blessed
by where we were born, who our parents are, and whatgenes we have. But we all live in the same world, andare affected by the struggles of those who are far dif-ferent, or far distant, from us.
I was raised in the Christian faith and every day I sayThe Lord's Prayeras a way of giving myself hope andenergy to face my day. I think that the middle stanzas
of this prayer offer universal hope.
Give us this day, our daily bread.
To me this request is not a "home run" pitch. I'm not
expecting my God to make me rich, or cure my son ofa disease, or end hunger or warfare. I'm asking for theability to deal with these struggles. I'm asking for
more energy, more wisdom, a better ablility to com-municate, and just enough money to pay the bills, atCabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, andin my own home and family life.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those whotrespass against us.I think this is one of the most important parts of this
prayer. I can't tell you the number of times I've criti-cized myself for a mistake I've made, or something Idid not do as well as I wanted to. I think in this part ofthe prayer God is giving us the power to forgive our-
selves. In the movie "The Lion King" there is a scenewhen the monkey hits the lion over the head and says"It's in the past. Forget it."
We need to learn from our mistakes, but not dwell onthem, which leads to the second part of this stanza. Ifwe spend time getting revenge, or being angry aboutwhat someone else did to offend us, or hurt us, what
good does that do? There are too few hours in eachday to spend them in this way.
- continued on page 4
Seasons of Hope, Faith, A Better FutureSince 2005 Ive written 34 articles with a faith-based, spiritual message. A few are included in thisissue. Search for faith based at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com to read them all.
The Rest
of the Story
These are a few of
hundreds of articleswritten since 2005 on
the Tutor/Mentor In-
stitute, LLC blog.
In each article a link
to the original article
is provided. Follow
these stories and
share them with your
network
Most of these articles
were written while
Dan Bassill was CEO
of Cabrini Connections,
Tutor/Mentor Connec-
tion (T/MC), formed in
1993. In June 2011
this organization split
and Dan created Tu-
tor/Mentor Institute,
LLC to continue the T/
MC mission.
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
December 2, 2011Volume 1, Issue 3
The Rest of The StoryArticles from Tutor/Mentor Blog Archive
Jesus or Martin Luther King, Jr. As CEO: Think about it.
Read these and follow the links at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
I wrote this in June 2006 and themessage is as important in 2012.
A few years ago a supporter of theTutor/Mentor Connection sent methe book,Jesus as CEO, written by
Laurie Beth Jones.
It took me a while to get around toreading the book, but when I did it
became an inspiration that con-tinues to support me in my workto this day. It shows how much
impact a single person can havein this huge world. As I thinkabout all the challenges facing
kids living in poverty, I'mprompted to ask, "What wouldJesus do if he were CEO of the
business of helping every child bornin poverty be in a job, career, by age25?"
I've also been inspired by MartinLuther King, Jr.'sI Have a Dream
speech where he said, "I have a dreamthat my four children will one day
- continued on page 10
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On November 3, 2011, the John
Fountain column in the ChicagoSunTimes was titled, In time of
crisis, where are the good shep-herds?
He starts out writing "I hear you,
man. . . . But the people perish.And yet, the clergy flourish." Heconcludes with "I pray, dear
pastor, that you will be part of
the promised wind of change andrestoration. For the people per-ish."
Between January 2008 and
March 2011, I was able to createa set of maps showing the loca-
tion of faith groups in the cityand suburbs. I have maps foreach different denomination.
This one shows them all.
Staggering how many there areand we only mapped some of themajor denominations.
Our purpose was to provide atool that faith leaders might useto support the growth of mentor-rich non-school tutor/mentor
programs in high povertyneighborhoods.
Ive tried to show how thesemaps could be used. I created a
PDF guide for Faith Leaderswith the goal that one or morewould adopt it and set an exam-
ple that others would follow. See
this atwww.tutormentorexchange.net/images/PDF/faith_communities_leadership_st
rategy.pdf
In 1999 I was invited to write anarticle for the Ecumenical Child
Care Network. I titled it "Getwisdom! Get understanding, ... "-
Proverbs 4: Verse 5.
See this at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/images/PDF/ecumenical_child
_care_network2001.pdf
If you're interested in becoming
an apostle who helps carry thismessage to the faith leaders,
please forward these articles andattend the conference we hostevery May and November inChicago. Find details at
www.tutormentorconfernce.org
The faith community has one ofthe most powerful communica-
tions networks in existence. Ifwe can encourage and nurturethe growth of learning circlesand study groups at different
churches, synagogues and
mosques those groups can takeownership of the Tutor/Mentor
Connection strategy and carry itto new levels of impact in futureyears.
I would love to enlist Mr. Foun-
tain to help me evangelize thismessage so leaders in differentfaith groups adopt it. Perhaps infuture Tutor/Mentor Conferences
he could give awards and recog-nition to faith leaders who beginto adopt this strategy. I'd alsolove to enlist the Cardinal and
other faith leaders.
There is a 'promised land' andwith the help of a few prophetswe can show others a path to get
there.
Read this article at
http://tutormentor.
blogspot.com/2011/11/where-are-good-shepherds.html
Where are the Good Shepherds?
Page 2
Volume 1, Issue 3
Read these articles at http://
tutormentor. blogspot.com
Every dot represents a faith based organization in the Chicago region.See more maps like this at http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
Did St. Paul Have a
Map of the Road to
Damascus?
Read article at
tutormentor.blogspot.com/
2009/12/did-stpaul-have-
map-of-road-to-
damascus.html
"blogevangelism"
I searched Google on August 19,
2008 to see if any results werefound using the word
"blogevangelism".
I found 78 listings. Thus, am I partof a new trend?
I'm not sure that these folks areusing the term the way I am, tocreate attention for a social cause. I
first used this term today, in a poston the T/MC forum, where I en-couraged others to borrow fromideas that I and others post on T/
MC blogs, to create their own out-reach and "blog-evangelism" that
reaches people in their own net-
works. Thus, if you look at thegraphic Ive created (see page 5),
imagine yourself as the red ball onthe world's largest Ping Pong ta-ble. Every time you write abouttutoring/mentoring, and point to a
T/MC blog, you are encouragingthe people you know to spread themessage you are writing about. Ifthey pass this message on via their
own blogs and networking, it canquickly reach around the world.
- continued on page 5
From blog article written Nov. 3, 2011
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This article was written onJanuary 29, 2011
With the Internet we are nowconnected to people living in all
parts of the world. With lan-guage translators available on
Google and other places we cannow interpret and understandeach others words.
Will this lead to future jointefforts to solve world problems?Is this possible?
I've been doing a lot of thinkingabout the Biblical story of the
Tower of Babel. I'm not a Bibli-cal scholar, so today I did some
searching and came up with aweb site that provides a numberof articles worth reading. Seehttp://ldolphin.org/babel.html
This is the text from
Genesis 11:1-9
"Now the whole earth had onelanguage and few words. And asmen migrated from the east, theyfound a plain in the land of Shi-
nar and settled there. And they
said to one another, 'Come, let usmake bricks, and burn them
thoroughly.' And they had brickfor stone, and bitumen for mor-
tar. Then they said, 'Come, let usbuild ourselves a city, and atower with its top in the heavens,and let us make a name for our-
selves, lest we be scatteredabroad upon the face of thewhole earth.' And the LORDcame down to see the city and
the tower, which the sons of menhad built. And the LORD said,'Behold, they are one people, andthey have all one language; and
this is only the beginning ofwhat they will do; and nothing
that they propose to do willnow be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down, and thereconfuse their language, that theymay not understand one an-
other's speech.' So the LORD
scattered them abroad from thereover the face of all the earth, and
they left off building the city.'Therefore its name was calledBabel, because there the LORDconfused the language of all theearth; and from there the LORD
scattered them abroad over theface of all the earth."
I highlighted nothing that they
propose to do will now be im-possible for them because thisis where I struggle in my think-ing.
Everything I've been trying to do
through the Tutor/Mentor Con-nection and Cabrini Connections
is get people to learn from acommon body of aggregatedinformation and apply that un-derstanding in efforts to make
programs and services availablethat help poor kids grow up bet-ter prepared for lives out of pov-erty.
Yet while the Internet gives usaccess to each other and anunlimited range of ideas, it also
creates a proliferation of places
with their own gravitational pull,making it more and more diffi-
cult to build the critical mass ofpeople involved in any single
place.
Is this just a continuation, or
21st Century version, of The
Tower of BabelStory?
I've much more learning andthinking to do on this topic.
What are your thoughts? Haveyou tried to bring people to-gether to solve a problem butyou seem to meet with resistance
in many different ways?
Read this article at
http://tutormentor.
blogspot.com/2011/01/collaboration-tower-of-babel-deep.html
Collaboration & Tower of Babel. Deep thinking.
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 3
The role of network builder is one
with many challenges and little
consistent support. Is it possible?
We can build systems of support that con-
nect with youth when they are in elemen-
tary school and stay connected to them
until they are in adult careers.
Lets create an adult
learning system and
test them on what they
know about these
issues
Mrs. George Ryan, First Lady of Illinois and Paul Vallas, CEO of
Chicago Public Schools helped with Chicagoland Volunteer
Recruitment Campaigns between 1999 and 2002.
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If I don't spend time agonizingover my own faults, or the faults
of others, I have much more timeto work on solving the problemsthat I can solve with the "daily
bread" that I'm given each day.
Lead us not into temptation, butdeliver us from evil.To me this reflects the daily urgeto yield to all sorts of things that
might get me into trouble. Thismay be eating the wrong food,spending time on something thatis not going to benefit my work,
or my family, or doing some-thing that hurts someone else or
breaks one of the laws of ourland. We all need a little help to
avoid the things we do to our-selves.
We also need some good fortune
to avoid the accidents of life wecannot control. I could walk outof this building today and slip onthe ice and be injured or killed. I
could live in a part of the worldwhere crazy people are shootingguns and killing each other. Justyesterday a 12-year old Chicago
girl was shot in the back by a 15-year old who was aiming atsomeone else....and missed. Eachday I pray to my God that such
an accident does not claim me,or someone I love.
So how are these prayers an-
swered?
As the leader of a small nonprofit, and parent of a 10-yearold and 17-year old, I'm con-stantly asking God for three
things. Give me more time, giveme more talent, knowledge and
wisdom and help me live longer.With these I can be a better par-
ent, and a better leader. I can domore to help make this a worldwhere God answers the prayersof all who ask for help.
I realized recently that my Godhas been answering me for the
past 30 years.
I get more time by involvingvolunteers who use their own
time to help me with the work ofCabrini Connections and theTutor/Mentor Connection. Eachyear more than 100 volunteersare directly involved, and count-
less others are indirectly in-volved. I get more time when myneighbors help me raise my ownkids. More than 2000 people
have sent contributions to sup-port CC, T/MC since 1993.
I get more talent, knowledge and
wisdom from the same re-sources. By unleashing the talentof other people, and the Internet,I expand the wisdom and abili-
ties needed to build the type ofprograms and non profit supportinfrastructure that I'm trying tocreate. We have volunteers help-
ing us in all sorts of ways, frombuilding web sites, creatingmaps and databases, to hostingworkshops at our conferences, or
leading sessions at our tutor/mentor program. We have the
potential of being joined by mil-lions of others as we focus atten-
tion through our web sites andour maps on all of the places inChicago and other cities where
people were born into poverty or
have fallen into distressed situa-tions.
I live longer by sharing my ideaswith others who adopt them in
their own work. I use a variety ofweb sites to share my thinkingwith thousands of people whovisit every month. I can live
forever through these ideas andthe way people keep them alive
in their own actions and inplaces throughout the world.
Maybe this is one reason somany people are sharing theirown ideas on the Internet. Withso much information, I think
what gets used, and what getsremembered will be that whichhelps those who are disadvan-taged, and that which helps solve
some of the complex problemsthat face our planet.
I have not become rich throughthe work I do, and Cabrini Con-nections, Tutor/Mentor Connec-
tion has been short of moneymany times over the past 15
years. Yet, when everything hasseemed hopeless, there has al-ways been some company, foun-
dation and/or donor who havestepped forward with justenough money to help usweather that storm and continue
our work.
To me this is the HOPE thatkeeps me going everyday. It's
what I'll be thinking about as wemove through this holiday week-end. I hope you can unleash thisHOPE in your own lives and
community services.
Read this at tutormen-tor.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter-
is-about-hope-heres-what-this.html
Seasons of Hope, Faith, A Better Future
Page 4
Volume 1, Issue 3
While we pray for solutions to the prob-
lems we face we need to act in strate-
gic and innovative ways to make more
of our prayers come true.
Sharing what is learned - transforming others
See this graphic and 5ead article at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2010/08/sharing-what-is-learned-
Read these articles at http://
tutormentor. blogspot.com
Continued from page 1
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If you network strategically,talking about things that other
people are thinking about, such
as volunteer recruitment duringthe "back-to-school time frame",then your blog can become fuelthat propels this movement for-
ward, resulting in more peoplebecome involved in volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring andother activities that help kids
move from poverty to jobs andcareers.
Are you doing
"blogevangelism"?
Read original article at
tutormentor.blogspot.com/2008/08/
blogavangelism.html
"blogevangelism"
Sept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shooting ---- "kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for"
SunTimes is another story, this
time about how students fromElmhurst College, in Elmhurst,
Il., " took to the streets" in theAustin neighborhood to pass outflyers for an "anti violence"ralley hosted By the Rev. Mi-
chael Pfleger and the BethelGreen Family Worship Center.This event was "organized as away to foster a sense of personal
responsibility toward the issue ofneighborhood violence," saidThe Rev. Ronald Beauchamp,
pastor of Bethel Green and di-
rector of Elmhurst College's
Nieburhr Center.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote
an article and posted some mapsshowing the Austin neighbor-hood. I wonder if the group atElmhurst or the faith leaders in
Austin have seen these.
We've written articles on ourblogs about engaging universi-
ties. You can read some at http://chrispip.blogspot.com/search/label/engaging%20universities.
If you read other articles on this
blog, you'll see that we view pov-
erty as the root cause of poorlyperforming schools and disaf-
fected youth who are willing totake lives without any form ofregret. We agree with the studentfrom Elmhurst College who was
quoted as saying "Am I mybrother's keeper.
Yes."
Continued page 7
I wrote this on Sept. 21, 2009
Page 13 of today's Chicago
SunTimes includes a photo ofCorey McClaurin, a SimeonHigh School student, who wasshot last Saturday as he sat in
his car. He was described as a"diligent, well-liked student."
This map shows where this
shooting took place. It alsoshows that there are a largenumber of poorly performingelementary schools in the area,
and no non-school tutor/mentor
programs serving junior high orhigh school students operatingnear Simeon High School or
anywhere in this part of Chi-cago.
We created this map using the
Chicago Tutor/Mentor ProgramLocator. You can use that siteto create your own map, show-ing poverty and poorly per-
forming schools in thisneighborhood, or any otherneighborhood of Chicago.
On page 14 of today's Chicago
Page 5
Volume 1, Issue 3
These graphics illustrate how one
person can share ideas on a regu-
lar basis that circulate around the
world. As more people pass on
these blog articles a growing num-
ber will adopt the ideas.
Use the Chicago Tutor/Mentor
Program Locator at to make your
own map views. Copy and past
them into blog articles you write to
mobilize volunteers and donors.
http://www.
tutormentorprogramlocator.net
Continued from page 1
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I wrote this in October 2008following a commentary I read
in the Chicago Sun Times.
Dawn Turner Trice wrote a col-umn in the Oct. 23, 2008 Chi-
cago Tribune with the headline
shown above. You can read herearticle at arti-cles.chicagotribune.com/ 2008-10-13/
news/0810120194_1_wall-street-crime-bill-crime-issuesalong with about 160 comments.Since the comment I posted on
the SunTimes web site is num-ber 157, I doubt that many peo-ple will read it.
Thus, I'm posting it here, too:--------------------
Dawn, thanks for letting your
anger show, but I wish mediapeople would try to find a way towrite about this every day, not
just when they decide to.
I've been writing about this since1992 when Dantrell Davis waskilled in Cabrini Green. When I
write about it I point to wayspeople can become tutors/mentors in non-school programsoperating in some of these
neighborhoods. You can readone of my articles at tutormen-tor.blogspot.com/2008/09/7-
year-olds-death-at-cabrini-requires.html
I don't claim to know all of theanswers to this problem, but I've
been building a library of infor-
mation that anyone can learnfrom, to support their own think-
ing and actions. See this at http://www.tutormentorconnection.org
I believe in volunteer-basedtutor/mentor programs not be-cause they are a magic solution,
but because the connect peoplewho don't live in poverty withkids who do. As a volunteermeets with a youth each week,
often for several years, it's hardnot to become angry, or to be-
come personally involved.
Until we get more people be-
yond poverty personally in-
volved, not much will change.
Finally, I use maps to help peo-ple understand where povertyand poor schools are located, and
where tutor/mentor programsoperate, or are needed. In thesemaps I create overlays showingchurches, hospitals, universities,
and business operating in theseneighborhoods, who would
benefit if the poverty and vio-lence were reduced. These are
the groups who need to be strate-gically involved.
I also have mapped a few politi-
cal districts, such as those ofState Senator James Meeks. I dothis to provide a tool these lead-ers might use to convene people
who will make more and betternon-school tutoring, mentoring,learning and workforce develop-ment opportunities available in
their districts. Hopefully they'lluse these and show the peoplewho vote for them how they arehelping such programs grow in
all parts of the district wherethere is a need. You can seethese maps at http://
mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/
I can create all of this, but if no
one looks at it, I'm a crowd of
one. It's up to you in the mediato connect your stories to infor-
mation that people can use tolearn more about the problem
and to get involved in the solu-tions. If you do this once a week
for the next ten years, maybeothers will follow your exampleand they will help us put more
programs in these areas to help
parents, and compete with gangs,for the attention of kids.
It's also up to faith leaders, busi-
nesses and others to use their
own communications to connectpeople who want to solve these
problems with places where theycan learn, and where they getinvolved.
It does take a village. But the
village needs a plan, a map, andneeds to stay involved for manyyears if we're to change what
took many years to create.
Read this blog article at
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/
2008/10/market-woes-should-pale-next-to-local.html
Market woes should pale next to local carnage
Page 6
Volume 1, Issue 3
I wrote this in October 2008
Mapping a Faith Based
Tutor/Mentor Strategy
Illinois State Senator, the Rev. James
Meeks has been leading a publicity
campaign intended to draw more state
money to fund public schools. Most
recently was a boycott on the first day
of the 2008-09 school year, and a
picket line outside the Cubs game at
the first round major league baseball
playoffs.
This is great publicity. But it needs to
accomplish more.
Read rest of t his story on page 9
Read these articles
at http://
tutormentor.
blogspot.com
See more maps like this at http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com
NOTE TO READERS
The links from this PDFdo not automaticallyopen new web pages.You need to visit theoriginal blog articles tobe able to follow all ofthe links I point to inthese articles.
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Sept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shootingSept. 9 shooting ---- "kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for""kid you would wish for"
Elmhurst is one of the Associ-ated Colleges of Illinois, where
there is a strong liberal arts cur-riculum. Many of the schools,were started by faith based or-ganizations, such as Illinois
Wesleyan, North Park, andWheaton College, and continued
various forms of faith basedlearning. Some strong. Othersless so.
Our "scripture" and "learningcurriculum" is the informationwe host in web libraries at http://
tinyurl.com/T-MC-Library anddiscuss in blogs like this.
We need people to be reading
and reflecting on this every day,just as much as leaders of faithcommunities, and universities,want people to read and reflect
on their material. We need peo-ple to be using maps, diagrams,and other visual tools to createunderstanding, and to distribute
attention and resources to all ofthe poverty neighborhoods, not
just one or two.
I know I am a voice in the wil-derness on this. However, everytime a youth is shot and the me-dia print a picture and tell howthis was a "kid you would wish
for" we are reminded that weneed to do more than wish tosolve this problem.
Read article at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2009/09/sept-9-shooting-kid-you-would-wish-for.html
However, until people who don't
live in poverty are engaging inan on-going way with informa-tion that helps them understandwhere and why kids in poor
neighborhoods need more help,and teaches them that solving
social problems requires a life-time of involvement, not just aweekend visit or a semester of
study, not much will change.
Furthermore, until people whodon't live in poverty look in the
mirror at the beginning of eachday and ask "where can I givesome of my time, talent anddollars" to help someone work-
ing in a poverty neighborhoodhelp a youth connect with anexpanded support system, in theschool, and in the non-school
hours, we will never have theconsistent flow of resources inAustin, or the Simeon HighSchool neighborhood, or any
other high poverty neighbor-hood, to build and sustain pro-grams that change the future forthe kids living in these areas.
What a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program offers is a placeto connect, and stay connectedfor many years, with the kids
who live in poverty, and theknowledge that they need tounderstand in order to have agreater personal impact, and a
greater impact on others whoneed to be involved.
Page 7
Volume 1, Issue 3
Maps like this show relationship of acts of violence and poverty and
emphasize the need for more non-school learning, mentoring, en-
richment and jobs programs in these areas.
See how maps can be integrated into your own
communications so you can tell the rest of the story
from you own blog and web site.
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/search/label/maps
Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web sitesTutor/Mentor Institute
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Tutor/Mentor Connection
http://www.tutormentorconnection.org
Chicago Program Locator/Maps
http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net
Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference
http://www.tutormentorconference.org
Tutor/Mentor Forum
http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com
Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/TutorMentorInstitute
Twitter @tutormentorteam
Continued from page 6
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I wrote this article in November2005 yet it is still relevant.
This morning as I drove to workI listened to a segment ofRele-vant Radio, a broadcast thatsupports the beliefs of the Catho-
lic Church. The President ofRelevant Radio was discussing
business social responsibilityand the role Catholics in busi-
ness have in encouraging greaterbusiness responsibility.
This is the Monday following
Thanksgiving. I just spent thepast three days thinking ofThanks and Giving. Over thenext four weeks we'll be bom-
barded by messages of holidaycheer, as well as holiday shop-
ping. Thus, today'sRelevantRadio stimulated this blog post.
What will it take to mobilize
an army of believers into a
force that helps end poverty by
providing youth living in pov-
erty with the consistent adult
support needed so they stay in
school, stay safe in non-school
hours and are starting jobsand careers by age 25?
Religion can be more relevant to
me, and maybe many others, iffaith leaders connect people witheach other, and with information
that helps them solve every dayproblems. While Im sure there
are thousands of people in faithcommunities who meet on theInternet, in their churches, syna-gogues, temples and mosques,
and in their homes and officeswith a purpose of helping people
in poverty, Im not sure thatthese people are united in a long-
term vision that makes their helpconsistently available in every
poverty neighborhood in Amer-ica for the next 20 years.
A way to test this premise is tolook for charts that illustrate thegoal of an organization. A pic-
ture is worth a thousand words,so a chart that illustrates jobs/
careers as the goal of a socialenterprise, would more clearlycommunicate this goal than doz-ens of sermons or politicalspeeches.
Here's what I mean.
Visit Tutor/Mentor Institute
www.tutormentorexchange.net .In it you can read illustrated PDFwith titles like Theory ofChange, Tipping Points, Creat-
ing a Network of Purpose, etc..Another is titled T/MC use ofGIS Maps. The charts and mapsin these essays illustrate a long-
term commitment to helping kidsreach careers.
Note: In October 2011 I began
to post these on Scribd.com
I encourage you to read theseand share them with leaders of
your own faith and business/civic networks.
If members of faith communities
begin to take ownership of theideas in these presentations theywill make religion more relevant
by connecting people who can
help with young people whoneed consistent help for manyyears if they are to move from a
birth in poverty to the first stagesof a job and a career by age 25.
To me, the faith leaders whoconnect members of their con-gregation with information that
helps them build stronger com-munities, and help the most dis-
advantaged in our society, maketheir religion more relevant to
their members. In the same way,a politician who connects hissupporters with places in thecommunity where they can help
is a much more relevant leader tome than one who only uses thevolunteer and donate but-tons on his/her web site to recruit
support for his own electioncampaign.
Over the next four weeks, amidthe holiday reflections, I encour-age faith leaders, political lead-ers and business leaders to use
the T/MC Map Gallery and T/MC Program Locator Databaseto build connections betweentheir followers and volunteer-
based tutor/mentor programs inbig cities like Chicago. Further-more, I encourage them to meetin the T/MC on-line discussion
portal ( at http://tutormentorconnec-tion.ning.com ) to lead discus-sions of strategies they can use
to support constantly improvingtutor/mentor programs in Chi-cago and other cities.
This is a time of sharing. Its atime when those who have been
blessed by birth, opportunity,mentors or just good luck to
reflect on those blessings andfind ways to help others havesimilar opportunities and goodfortune. While many will spend
time feeding the hungry onChristmas day, Im hoping somewill lead strategies where thehungry and the poor get the help
they need every day of the year,not just on the holidays.
Read Article at:
http://
tutormentor.blogspot.com/
2005/11/making-religion-
relevant.html
To support the Tutor/MentorConnection and Tutor/MentorInstitute, LLC send gifts to:
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303Chicago, Il. 60654
NOTE: Due to changes in 2011 to
the organization structure, this is
NOT a 501-c-3 charity and dona-
tions are not tax deductible.
Making Religion Relevant
Page 8
Volume 1, Issue 3
Read these articles
at http://
tutormentor.
blogspot.com
Graphics like the one above communi-cate a long-term goal of helping kidsentering first grade today be entering
jobs 15 or 20 years later more clearlythat sermons or political speeches.
Maps like these could be used by faithgroups to show where they are in-volved with youth tutoring/mentoringas a provider or as a resource mobi-lize. See more like this at http://
mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/search/label/faith%20group
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9/10
But as I've written many timesbefore, just doing a march does
not draw volunteers and donorsto places in a neighborhoodwhere kids can get help neededto stay safe in non-school hoursand be better prepared for
school.
We've been creating maps toshow how leaders in govern-
ment, faith groups, hospitals anduniversities could mobilize re-sources to support the growth ofvolunteer-based tutor/mentor
programs. Today, the MappingFor Justice blog has a series ofmaps, like this one, showing theIllinois Senate district of Rev.
James Meeks, along with theneighborhood around SalemBaptist Church.
These maps are intended to serveas tools for leaders like the Rev.Meeks. While it may take yearsto build the public and political
will-power to put more money inschools, it only takes the com-mitment of a few people tolaunch a tutor/mentor program in
neighborhood. In this area thereare two groups trying to start
programs. We helped the SONFoundation start a blog last
week. Kids Off the Blockhasbeen struggling to find resourcesto expand for a long time. You
can search the Chicago ProgramLinks to find information for
other groups working with youthin this area.
Our goal is that leaders point to
these programs when they aregiving sermons, or press inter-
views, or doing advertising, sothat people who listen to their
messages are encouraged tovolunteer time, talent or dollarshelping existing programs growin the mapped area, or learning
ways to create new programs inplaces where none now exist.
In addition, our goal is that faithleaders like the Rev. Meeks,
encourage learning circles toform within the congregation, sothat people are discussing theresearch and maps found on the
Tutor/Mentor Connection website, and in the links on this blog,
so that they grow more and moresophisticated in understanding
poverty and poor schools as a
complex problem that does notget solved by just making moremoney involved, but by gettingmore people from business and
community and colleges in-volved.
Faith leaders have been pointingcongregations to scripture for
thousands of years, and coaching
the understanding and actions ofpeople on a daily, weekly andmonthly basis. If they form
groups focused on helping kidsmove safely from poverty tocitizenship and adult careers, theactions of congregations can
actually increase the number ofpeople who are involved, andwho vote to support policychanges to support their involve-
ment.
The Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLCwould be happy to meet with
your group to help you under-stand how to use these maps, andto coach you on building supportfor tutor/mentor programs. We'll
host a conference every May andNovember and hope you'll at-tend, and begin this learning
process. The web site is
www.tutormentorconference.org
As you meet in your own con-
gregations this weekend, orgather with friends and familyfor sports or other activities, Ihope you'll think about ways youcan support the growth of such
learning circles, in the Chicagoregion, or in any other part of thecountry.
This October 2008 article is oneof many that show strategiesleaders in can take to supporttutor/mentor programs in Chi-
cago and other cities.
See this article at
http://tutormentor.
blogspot.com/2008/10/take-care-of-your-own-field-before-you.html
Mapping a Faith Based Strategy
Page 9
Volume 1, Issue 3
While we share these ideas freely on
web articles and forums our goal is to
become a part of your on-going learn-
ing and strategic planning. Invite Dan
Bassill to speak on these ideas with
you and members of your leadership
team.
The Church: The Greatest Force on Earth
Read article at
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/ 2008/08/church-greatest-force-on-
earth.html
See graphics like this at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
Continued from page 6
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Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303
Chicago, Il. 60654
Phone: 847-220-2151
Fax: 312-787-7713
E-mail: tutormentor1@gmail.com
During 35 years of leading a volunteer based tutor/mentor program
serving inner-city youth in Chicago Dan Bassill has learned much
about how to connect youth and volunteers in on-going non-school
tutoring/mentoring activities. He also has learned much about what
does not work well, and what might be improved to support individ-ual tutor/mentor program growth in all poverty neighborhoods of a
big city like Chicago.
The ideas shared at tutormentor.blogspot.com and through essays
shared atwww.tutormentorexchange.netare Dans opinion based
on a lifetime of experience. If youd like to have Dan meet with
your planning team, speak to a local leadership group or be part of
a conference you are organizing email tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
live in a nation where they will not be judged bythe color of their skin but by the content of theircharacter. "
What if Dr. King were the CEO of the busi-
ness of making this dream a reality?
Walk with me on a little mental model. Imagineyou are in the first planning meeting with Jesusor Dr. King and they are introducing their visionand strategy. What would they say that inspired
you to work to accomplish the goals they out-lined? How would they have presented this infor-mation? Two thousand years ago tools like
power point, animation, electronic white board
and visual brainstorming were not available. Idon't think they were even available 50 yearsago.
Jesus or Martin Luther King, Jr. As CEO: Think about it.
Connecting people and ideas
to help inner city kids
The work we do to support volunteers and
youth once they join a tutor/mentor program
is what determines the long-term impact on
the lives of youth and the adults who become
involved.
Learn more at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net
Yet today we have many technologies thatsupport business planning, brainstorming
and visioning. I've listed a few below.
So, imagine that Jesus and Dr. King haveweb sites, and have access to power point,
animation, auto cad, etc. Can you imaginehow they would have presented their visionusing these tools? What types of graphicswould have been used to convey Dr. King's
vision? How would Jesus have communi-cated a 2000 year timeline and expansionstrategy?
Read the rest of this article at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2005/06/jesus-or-martin-luther-king-jr-as-ceo.html
Continued from page 1
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