Violence,Drugs and Mentoring - Chicago

This video, titled "The War In Chicago" was shown on CBS TV's 48 Hours Program. It shows that solving the problem of poverty and violence in Chicago must address issues facing youth in affluent areas as well as in poverty areas. Look at the video then let's talk.



If you look at articles on violence and media that I've written since 1993, you'll find graphics like this

This was the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1992 after 7-Year Old Dantrell Davis was killed while walking to school. The "demand it now" and "its everyone's responsibility" editorial did not last very long and as we can see from current events, we've not found solutions yet to this problem.

I have heard the "Enough is Enough" message for many years, and have posted my own set of recommendations that might lead to more involvement of people in the city and suburbs.

This problem has been in Chicago for more than 20 years. Why have there not been more strategies that successfully reduced drug use, while providing youth in poverty more alternatives than drug dealing and other illegal activities.

I support mentoring as a strategy because it engages youth and volunteers in weekly one on one and group learning. The youth learn from the adults, but the adults learn from the youth and the programs they are part of. If volunteers stay involved multiple years some build a deeper empathy, and a greater personal involvement.

I don't just write about mentoring or tutoring. I focus on what needs to be done to support strong organizations operating in neighborhoods with high poverty and/or high drug use. Think of this graphic of a healthy tree. It's root system is healthy. If it were not, the tree would not grow.

I've piloted a use of maps to follow negative news stories with reports that attempt to draw volunteers and donors into neighborhoods where the violence takes place. See map-stories created in past.

If the money spent to solve this gang, drug, violence, poverty, jobs and workforce readiness problem only funds new programs in a few parts of the city, where is the money that builds strong organizations needed to enable these new programs to flourish? In a few years, new programs are old programs, but kids are only a few years older. They still need the support these programs might offer. However, if the funds dry up because some new program is being funded, the organizational effectiveness is reduced.

As we educate volunteers and build more personal empathy and involvement we need to innovate new ways to attract attention and draw operating and innovation resources into all of the places where we need to fight this battle.

Had the Mayor, President, business leaders and others supported the growth of mentor-rich programs in more places since I began advocating for this in 1993, there would be more programs and there would be thousands more adults engaged in this discussion, with a personal interest.

As we see more and more how the impact on drugs ruins the lives of kids in affluent areas, we should be able to address the self-interest of more people who don't live in poverty and in the past only provided token charity to support inner city youth programs.

If you're interested in this, join me at the June 7 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, or at one of the on-line forums I host on Linked In, Facebook, Ning and Twitter.

In the CBS video the mayor of Chicago is heard saying: "We cannot afford not to do it". If these are not just more political rhetoric perhaps the Mayor will take some time to think of his role as a network builder and ways he and other leaders might use some of the maps and ideas I've been sharing. And while I hope the political leaders will use this information, this solution requires involvement and leadership from business, faith groups, universities, young people and civic, social and service organizations from throughout the region.

It only costs $80 to attend the Tutor/Mentor Conference and a few hours of your time. The city and suburbs have been spending millions if not billions of dollars to fight this problem.

My Map Making History

I posted a story today on the Mapping for Justice site showing how my map making passion began in 1993. I hope you'll take time to read it. The article at the left is from a 1994 Chicago SunTimes article.

Tell Us About Mentoring and How to Start

I spent an hour in a Google Hangout today talking with Sam Yoo who is a senior at Georgia Tech and Joon Kim, who is a college graduate living in Korea. Sam is trying to start a mentoring program connecting undergrads with alumni. We met through Facebook via a Mentor Collaboration Virtual Platform hosted by Sam. Today we met in a Google Hangout where I shared ideas about mentoring and ways to start and sustain a mentoring program.



This information can be used by anyone, in any city. If you'd like to connect, I encourage you to join the Tutor/Mentor Forum and consider attending the spring or fall Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences in Chicago. The next will be June 7 at Metcalfe Federal Building.

This map of Chicago is same for ALL of us

I've been creating maps like this one for almost 20 years in an effort to mobilize on-going support from volunteers and leaders in every sector of business, religion, media, entertainment, education and leadership.

The goal is to support the actions of third-party leadership, intermediaries, and network-builders who would mobilize the resources that every volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region (or any other urban area) needs to constantly improve their impact on youth and the volunteers who become part of their organizations.

I've created graphics like this to illustrate the role leaders can take in pointing people in their networks to programs in different places. See more of these in my library on Pinterest. Read other articles in this blog, or in this library of articles on Scribd to see how these graphics are included in information I share on a regular basis.

I've hosted a Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference every six months since 1994 and have been featured in numerous media stories, like this Crain's article.

It seems logical to me that if we want to provide extra help to youth in high poverty neighborhoods, we need places in the non-school hours where youth can connect with volunteers, technology and extra learning. If we agree that this is true, then we should find hundreds of leaders in the Chicago region writing articles like mine, pointing to maps like mine, with the same goals of helping every neighborhood have great, and constantly improving, tutor/mentor programs.

If that were happening the conference I host on June 7 at the Metcalfe Federal Building would have more than 200 attendees rather than the 70 to 80 who have attended the past few conferences.

If leaders from every sector had been sharing the role of network-building with me for the past 20 years, we might have network analysis tools showing thousands of people from every sector involved in on-going learning and working like a "virtual corporate office" to support hundreds of different tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and other cities. I was at a Great Cities event at UIC almost 10 years ago where issues of poverty were being discussed. Someone asked "If this has been going on for so long, how come so little has changed." The speaker gave an answer that I've heard often.

He said "Too few people really care."

Is the logic model I share unrealistic? Share your comments. Why are so few leaders mirroring what I do, pointing to maps of Chicago the way I do? Or pointing to the maps I host on my web sites?

If you agree with the logic, why not come to the June 7 Conference and begin to work with me and others on a 2013-14 school year calendar of events. When we get to the conference in May/June 2014 we should be celebrating the work others are doing to help build a city of constantly improving youth tutoring, mentoring and learning programs.

View Interactive Program Locator, Map Gallery and PDF showing how to make your own maps.

Building an Empathic Civilization

Here's a RSA Animate presentation I hope you'll take time to view.



After you watch this I hope you'll also view this interview between myself and Edwin Rutsch who created the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy



I believe that well-organized volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring, arts, technology and career focused programs can connect volunteers who don't live in high poverty neighborhoods with youth and families who do in an on-going process that transforms the youth and the adult, and possibly the community.

I've created an information library on the web where anyone can draw ideas to support what they do to make tutor/mentor programs available in their community, and to help these programs constantly improve the ways they engage youth and volunteers in transformative actions. I host a Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference every spring and fall (next is June 7) in Chicago to encourage people to come together, share ideas, build relationships, and find ways to support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in big city neighborhoods.

I share this information every day in one-on-one conversations, via email, via web forums, etc. with the goal that others will pass this information on to people in their own networks and that more people will gather in on-going learning and action planning efforts. I also look for people who will help me in my efforts, and will take ownership of these efforts and ideas in future years.

Please review this graphic. If we believe in the value of connecting extra adults with youth, and we understand the need for organization programs to build and sustain these connections, why wouldn't teams from business, professional associations, media, and other sectors work collectively to support the growth of these programs in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other cities.

How do you pass these ideas on? Look at the articles interns have written over the past few years. You can do the same.

Cross Sector Knowledge Networks - Where are they?

Last Saturday I wrote a this article talking about the knowledge base supporting community wealth building, and that which I've created, supporting the growth of youth from first grade to first job.

This is one of many graphics I've created to illustrate the range of knowledge organizations, networks and communities need to draw from in building a system of non-school programs that is more likely to result in more kids finishing school with a network of people helping them find jobs and enter careers.

In many of my articles I've talked about the "village" that needs to be involved helping youth move from birth to work. When you look at a graphic like this village map, you see many different interest groups. They each look at the problem from a different experience perspective, and while they may focus on the same neighborhood, they may not be connecting with people in the youth development and education sector, or the community wealth-building sector.

The idea I've been trying to communicate is multidimensional and I only have one-dimensional forms of communications. What I mean is



a) if you look at a map of Chicago you'll see many neighborhoods where youth and families need more help because of economic and social issues. Thus, we face a challenge of creating a distribution of resources that reaches every neighborhood on a consistent basis.


b) most problems take a long time to solve. Kids entering first grade today will need 12 years of consistent support if they are expected to graduate from high school and they may need four to six more years of support to go through college and/or vocational school and find their first jobs.

c) there are many types of supports needed by youth and families, which need to be available and age appropriate, when they are needed. For instance, if you believe in volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs then you would want to be able to look at a map showing that such programs are available in every high poverty neighborhood, with programs offering services to elementary, middle school and high school.

Building an infrastructure that would make this range of programs available across the city, and that would assure that each program is constantly learning from each other, is constantly improving, and has the flow of operating and innovation dollars needed to support constant improvement, is a huge task. Providing a library of knowledge that people can draw from to support their actions would be a benefit. Finding a way to connect the different people involved in mentoring kids through school and into jobs, so they learn from each other, support each other, and work collectively to solve problems that single programs can't solve, would be an even greater benefit. This PDF illustrates the range of talent needed and show how business teams could provide some of that talent.

I've written a lot of articles related to this over the past 8 years and you could use these to support your own on-going learning.

However, what I've described, just applies to the network of people who focus on tutoring/mentoring as a strategy to help improve the economic and social well-being of a community.

There are other organizations focused on other issues, like public health, social justice, workforce development, violence prevention, etc. In Chicago we have a well funded community development network, led by organizations such as LISC. These organizations focus on issues related to what tutor/mentor programs focus on, but I don't see an overlap in how the different organizations connect. This dropout conference map illustrates the range of other organizations focusing on the same issues, but in different meeting space and working networks.

I created the graphic below to illustrate the different networks that might be in any neighborhood, and how they each draw from their own knowledge base to support the work of people in their networks.

In my links library I have sub-categories with links pointing to many of these issue areas. I don't need to build a complete library. I need to just point to intermediaries who are hosting their own library and events that bring people in their sector together.

I think there is a need for people who are building these knowledge libraries and who are trying to draw people to the library and help them use the information to connect with each other. We can do this with links, blog articles, social media space, and by participating in conferences and meetings hosted by each other.

If we do this, we can generate greater public awareness, and provide a wider range of information to the people who come to our web sites and events. By posting our information on maps, we create a planning tool that groups sharing the same geography can use to find strategic reasons to connect with each other in the delivery of services, the hosting of service, the recruiting of volunteers and donors, etc.

We can support the growth of stronger community support networks in each neighborhood and in every city.

Do you agree? Are you sharing ideas like this someplace? Can you communicate this better? Let's connect.

Connecting Networks, Reducing Silos

I read a blog article by David Wilcox today, written following his participation in the 2013 the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford. The title was "Changing Business As Usual: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders". The overall theme of the article was "how can we come together, connecting for profit, non profit, policy makers, innovators,etc. to share ideas and bring needed social change to more places where help is needed.

I've written about this often, in articles like this April 2012 Connecting Networks-Opening Silos article.

I've used versions of this graphic in many articles, showing the role of intermediaries who collect and share information, such as the Tutor/Mentor Connection Library and Tutor/Mentor Program Locator database. This article illustrates a four-part strategy based on collecting and sharing information with growing groups of stakeholders.

Collecting this information is one challenge. Getting people to look at it is another. As you can see from this December 1994 Chicago Tribune article, I've focused on building public awareness as one of the core strategies of the Tutor/Mentor Connection since the beginning.

However, I've never had money for advertising. Much of the media attention I was able to generate in the 1990s was due to pro bono support from 1993 to 2001 from Public Communications, INC, a PR firm in Chicago. Without money for advertising and/or professional support, I've used the Internet and social media, including this blog, to try to share ideas with more people. Yet, there are many who do not support this strategy because their promote their own message and self interests more than the collective good.

When we write about "reducing silos", advertising, public awareness and network-building needs to be part of the conversation. With the Internet, and with a few friends who have a little, or a lot, of money, anyone can set up a web site and say the want to promote "a better Chicago" or a better way to help Black Youth, or stop violence in the city. Depending on the resources they can bring to bear, daily and weekly e-mail newsletters can be generated, providing powerful stories about why people should be involved. Media attention can result in feature articles in business publications showing the good work being done.

Yet, if these times in the spotlight only point to one organization, not to the library of information collected by others, there are too few working to overcome the challenges Wilcox writes about in his blog article. Too few are working to reach people in different sectors, with different starting points for their own efforts at social change, and with their own needs for funding, volunteers and public attention.

Just pointing to web sites of others is only a starting point. I've written articles about how we need to stimulate learning and how MOOCs can be organized to connect people from different networks in facilitated, on-going learning and relationship building. The Jan-March 2013 Education, Technology and Media MOOC #ETMOOC was one example.

I created this library of Chicago tutor/mentor programs to help volunteers and donors and media find programs in every part of the city who need to be consistently supported for many years if they are to become "great programs" doing "great work" to help kids through school and into careers. I created this concept map to show many of the organizations who also focus on youth well-being.

I point to these organizations daily because of the links on my web site and the articles I write. A few of them have links pointing back to me. Fewer use their media to point to events like the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, where people from different "silos" can connect with each other.

While I have tried to organize quarterly events to draw people together and draw attention to volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs, these events only cover a few time frames each year. If during these time frames your focus is the same as mine, let's try to connect, even if is only through web links and on-line networking. If you organize events at different times, but focused on the same issues, point to the library of information I make available to YOUR audience, and I can talk about your event in my media.

It takes each person going 100% of the way to make a marriage work. I think that's equally true in trying to break down the silos that separate us in our collective efforts.