Daniel Bassill's Page

I've just found this group and so I'll use this space for an introduction. I lead a non profit called Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, based in Chicago. The Cabrini Connections part is a site based non school tutor/mentor program which I've led since forming it in 1993. The promise we make to teens who join us in 7th grade is that "we're going to do all we can to assure that they are starting jobs and careers by age 25". The only limits we have are what our volunteers, donors and the kids themselves are willing to do to make that commitment come true.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is more ambitions. It's aim is to help volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs be operating in all high poverty areas of Chicago. Through the internet we've been sharing our information, and networking with others, such as you in Detroit, so that we could help similar groups grow in other cities, while they could help us expand our impact in Chicago.

We use maps in many ways to help focus attention on all of the places where kids need consistent help for many years. This is one you'll find in our map gallery. It shows CVS stores in the cit y, who could be supporting the growth of tutor/mentor programs in the areas where they do business.

The map shows the locations of more than 170 organizations in Chicago who offer various forms of tutoring and/or mentoring. You can query the interactive map to learn who these programs are and to find web links. Our aim is to help all of these organizations get needed volunteers, dollars, technology and training, and to help similar programs form in other neighborhoods where none now exists.

I hope that you'll use these materials in your own efforts to support youth in Chicago, and that by connecting in forums like this we can do more to attract consistent funding for all of the different groups who are now struggling to stay in operation due to the negative economy.