Posted By Sidney on February 24, 2009

Dan Bassill served as a Montgomery Ward volunteer in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois for 17 years before leaving the company to devote full time efforts to the Cabrini-Green Tutor/Mentor program.  Two years later Bassill formed Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) with the help of six other volunteers.  Cabrini Connections expanded the reach of the orginal program to serve youth in grades seven through twelve.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is an open source information-sharing database that increases awareness of Chicago residents regarding tutoring and mentoring sites in the area.  The goal is to increase the flow of monetary and volunteer resources to tutoring and mentoring sites.  After reading this interview, please show Dan Bassill, Cabrini Connections, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection love by offering comments, viewing their video, and/or donating to their cause.

Q: Why did you start the Tutor/Mentor Connection?

Bassill: I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection because there was no leadership in Chicago with a master knowledgebase of existing volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs, nor was there any consistent effort to help each of these programs generate volunteers, funds, ideas and other resources needed to become great.  Starting the organization was a way to help our own Cabrini Connections program get these needed resources, while helping other programs as well.

Q: What is most unique about your work?

Bassill: I think the way we use maps to draw attention to tutor/mentor programs in all high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago is what differentiates us from many other intermediary organizations, as well as the way we are using advertising concepts and the Internet to help tutor/mentor program leaders connect with each other and to help volunteers and donors find programs in various neighborhoods.

Q: What work other than your own would you like to attempt?

Bassill: If I had 72 hours in each day instead of just 24 I might spend some of those hours learning about undersea exploration and colonization since the Oceans represent such a large part of the earth’s surface, but so little is known about what goes on.   I also might read a lot more history books, focusing on ancient civilizations, the Civil War, and such. Finally, I might find some time to attend a few more baseball, football, and basketball games.

Q: What work would you not like to do?

Bassill: I would like to find a way never to need to do fund raising again.  I love to tell stories. I don’t like to write grant proposals.   I’m not a bureaucrat, so I don’t like filling out reports that don’t really tell the story of what we do. I’d rather educate the consumer to value the benefits of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs and to understand which are doing good work based on what can be seen on a web site.  That’s similar to how consumers choose what stores to visit for clothes, cars, food, etc.

Q: What motivates you?

Bassill: Fear of failure would be a strong motivator.  However, I understand that what I do leaves a better world for my own kids. That’s a strong motivator. Finally, the “thank you” I often receive from students, parents, alumni and others that I meet while doing this work is the greatest motivator of all.

Q: What drains you?

Bassill: From the moment I wake up until the time I go to sleep, my mind is focused on ways to achieve the goals of Cabrini Connection and Tutor/Mentor Connection.  My network has thousands of people and I’m constantly reaching out in one way or another to encourage them to help us achieve our mission.   There’s not enough time in the day to do everything I need to do, thus, I’m mentally and emotionally drained at the end of each day.  In addition, I have my own two kids, age 11 and 18, and a wife, who don’t get nearly enough time and emotional support from me because of the time I spend doing this work. At the end of each work day, when I get home at 7 or 8 in the evening, I become a parent, who struggles like all other parents with homework battles, and the problems kids have in growing up, and that parents have with too little money to cover too many expenses.

Q: What is your favorite buzzword?

Bassill: I don’t focus on buzzwords.

Q: What is your least favorite buzzword?

Bassill: I don’t focus on buzzwords.

Q: What is the best success story you have witnessed within your organization?

Bassill: The growth of the Lawyers Lend A Hand Program at the Chicago Bar Association is one that I’m most pleased about.  When I first connected with them in May 1994 they were seeking nominations to award their first Lend A Hand Award to a single tutor/mentor program in Chicago.  Using the Tutor/Mentor information, I asked them, “Why not become the first foundation to support general operating expenses for continuously improving tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago?”  We begin working toward that goal and between 1995 and 2006 up to $500,000 in small grants were received for the programs (an average of $25,000 to $50,000 were awarded each year in small grants of $1,000 to $3,000 to various programs).  In the fall of 2006, a $2 million award was received and in 2007 and 2008 the grant pool was $240,000 and $217,000, respectively.  If this continues we will be well on the way to building a sustainable, flexible, funding stream for volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

Q: If you only had a sound bite to encapsulate your life, what would it be?

Bassill: God put me on this path, and I do the best I can with the limited resources I have been given.  I am excited to work with others to solve problems, create new solutions, and help people. I try to share this excitement with others, so that they would have the same experiences and rewards that I have had.

This is what Dan Bassill does to positively impact our world community.  What will you do?

Categories: Raising the Buzz
Tags: Cabrini-Green, Chicago, mentoring, raisin' the buzz, tutoring, youth