Letter from the Conference Chairperson
Daniel F. Bassill
CEO of Cabrini Conections
and the Tutor/Mentor Connection
Mr. Bassill has been involved as a volunteer and leader of tutor/mentor programs for 30 years.
Meet me on Facebook or Linked In
Are you concerned with high school drop out rates, workforce development, educational inequality? Are you involved with volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring, as a leader, donor, volunteer or student?
I've led a site based tutor/mentor program since 1975. These links show a timeline of my involvement and the current Cabrini Connections program, which serves 7th to 12th grade teens in the Cabrini-Green area of Chicago. I've seen lives transformed, both kids and adults, from participation in these programs. I've seen that there is no consistent business or public leadership providing day to day support so programs like the one I lead could be operating in every high poverty part of the Chicago region. That's why I helped create the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.I believe that comprehensive, volunteer-based non-school tutor/mentor programs are just as important for helping youth succeed in school as are well trained principals, smaller class sizes and new curriculums. Such programs should be available in every neighborhood with high poverty and poorly performing schools.
Furthermore, I think the public is confused between Supplemental Education Services and volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring. Both are important. However SES is just an extension of what a teacher does, while mentoring expands the role models, experiences and aspirations that a youth needs to succeed in school and life.
I express my beliefs on my blog, and by the LINKS that I include on the T/MC web sites. However, I’m just one person trying to cut through the clutter of media, politics, corruption, a war, and big and small natural disasters to get the attention of media, donors, volunteers, business, political leaders, and my peers who lead other programs in Chicago and other cities.
I know other people care about tutoring/mentoring as much as I do and that many are struggling every day to keep their programs alive. I also know that many industries have critical workforce shortages and that these will get worse over the next 20 years. Thus, Why can’t we get more people to come together to innovate new ways to support programs that mentor kids to careers?
I don’t know the answer, but the purpose of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and the Conferences are to bring people together so we can share what we know and find ways to help each other get the ideas and volunteers and resources we all need every day to help kids succeed in school and move to jobs and careers.
I hope you’ll join me at the next Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference, or in an one-line forum where we can get to know each other and exchange ideas that lead to a more consistent flow of resources to every tutor/mentor program, and more tutor/mentor programs in places where they are needed. If you’d like to talk, call me at 312-492-9614, or email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net.
Dr. Daniel Bassill
President & CEO
Cabrini Connections
Tutor/Mentor Connection
