Starting New Month. Same Goals.

Monday is April 1, which for many, means it's a day of practical jokes.  For me, it's a new week, of a new month, and new opportunities.

Here's the goal:

While the planning for the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago was done 1993 it was launched in January 1994 with a survey to identify every non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in Chicago.  Using maps we began to plot their location, in an effort to determine what neighborhoods were well served, and which needed more programs.

We published the list of programs in a printed directory in the 1990s and on the internet since 2004, along with a growing library of links to web sites that provided information about where and why these programs were needed, and how to build great non profits, to support great youth programs.

For the past 25 years every week has started with efforts to draw attention to this information, and motivate leaders in every sector, to take roles in building and sustaining constantly improving programs, which work to help kids succeed in school, stay safe in non-school hours, and move toward high school graduation, post high school education, then jobs and careers.

The graphic at the top of this page was used in this article.  It's one of more than 1,000 posted on this blog since 2005.

I want  you to read them all, and use the ideas to do more to help kids living in poverty.

That's no April Fools joke.

Of course, I don't expect anyone to do this in a day, but it could be done over a year, or two.  Maybe not by many people, but hopefully by a few who will adopt the strategy and intermediary role I've piloted for the past 25 years so that more people try to make this happen.

Tipping Point-role of universities

Actually, I doubt that many will make an effort to read even a few of my past articles, let alone all of them. That's why I've tried to enlist teachers in high schools and colleges, to make this part of a learning curriculum, that youth start looking at when they are in middle school, and are still looking at as they finish college. I posted this article with that goal last week.

Do you think that's a joke?  Kids as young as one or two years old are reading Bible stories. Many do this for their entire lives. Why can't we enlist people in reading material that helps them create a better life for people who are alive now, rather than in an afterlife?

If the type of learning I've described were happening some would be well prepared to be leaders of mentor-rich youth programs while many others would be prepared to take on the critically important role of building the resource flow and supply chains, that enable programs to grow from good, to great, and then to stay great for many years.

I've been trying to make this vision come true for over 20 years, but so far no one has embraced it. Maybe people think I'm just joking.  Like every day is April 1st.

SunTimes, Oct 15, 1998

Except, it's not a joke. Every week we read about some kids being shot in Chicago. At the right is the front page of the Chicago SunTimes, from October 15, 1992.  This was when I was in the process of forming Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

The headline of "7-Year Old's Death in Cabrini Requires Action" has been a constant reminder of the commitment I made then and continue to try to keep in 2019.

It's a commitment that many need to make, and keep.

I hope you'll think about this as you enjoy your week.

Have you looked at these Maps?

I've been writing this blog since 2005 and hundreds of stories include maps, intending to show where youth tutor/mentor programs are most needed and where existing site-based programs are located.

1993 T/MC Plan

This is part of a strategy launched in 1993 to collect information about existing tutor/mentor programs, and share that in on-going efforts to attract talent and dollars to each program, to help every program constantly improve their impact on the lives of kids and volunteers who participate.

On the left side of this blog are tags that I've applied to each article written to help you search for different topics.  If you look in the maps, media and violence sections you'll find stories with a constant use of map.

However, this is not the only resource where the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) have been sharing information about using maps.  I also host the MappingforJustice.blogspot.com site, which is more focused on showing  uses of maps and visualization tools than is this blog.

Below I'm highlighting a few recent stories.

This is a map view showing youth in poverty in the Chicago region, created using the Community Commons platform. See it in this article.

This map is from an article posted on March 13, showing updates to the Chicago Health Atlas web site.  View it here.

This map is part of an ambitions new plan, titled Resilient Chicago, to create a Chicago "where residents, neighborhoods, institutions, corporations, and government agencies are successfully connected to each other in the pursuit of economic opportunity, safety, equity, and sustainability."  Click here to view the article.

This map is from the Field Foundation of Illinois web site. It would be great if every foundation were using similar maps (or the same maps) to guide their giving decisions, and to assure a more equal distribution of resources to all parts of the city and to suburban areas with growing levels of poverty.  See article.

The above maps are from recent articles. This map, showing the 34th State Legislative District, was created in 2008, as part of the first collection of maps created by Mike Traken, who was hired after the Tutor/Mentor Connection received a $50,000 anonymous donation to rebuild our mapping capacity.  You can see this article at this link.

Mike used donated ESRI GIS mapping software to create a variety of sophisticated maps, which he then put into blog stories. He did this until early 2011, when we finally ran out of money and had to take him off the payroll.  He created this Map Gallery to show maps he had created.

We used half of that grant to create an interactive mapping platform, where anyone could create map stories, based on the same data and logic that Mike was using. Below is just one map created since then.

You can see this map in this story and you can find many other maps created since 2009 using the Program Locator, on this blog and the MappingforJustice blog.

As I said above, we ran out of money to keep investing in the mapping in 2010 and 11, due to the depression that hit the financial markets. This also led to the separation of the Tutor/Mentor Connection from the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program, where it had been born in 1992 at the same time that the CC program was launched.

I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 to continue the T/MC in Chicago and try to share it in other cities where there were large concentrations of people living in poverty.  Since then I've not found partners, volunteers or resources to update the platform, collect the program data, or do the outreach needed to teach people to use it to create their own maps.

However, I've kept the platform on line as a model and template that could be used to build a new version, using newer coding and GIS technology than we had in 2008.  If you're reading this and want to know more, browse through the articles on these blogs, visit this page on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site or reach out to me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

It costs me $100 a month to keep the Program Locator on-line. This is one of many expenses I've been paying, drawing from my own savings, and a small pool of contributions. If you'd like to help, click here, and send your own support. 

Tipping Point - Growing and Supporting Future Leaders

If you've read any articles on this blog, or followed my @tutormentorteam posts on Twitter, you've seen graphics like the one below.

The message in both graphics is the same. We need to reach kids as they enter school and support them with a wide range of mentors and learning experiences as they move through school and into adult lives. While all kids need this support, for most kids, it's naturally available through family, neighbors, faith groups and community.

For kids born or living in high poverty, such support is less available, and organized, intentional efforts, are are needed to make mentor-rich support programs available. Having led such a program for more than 35 years, I know how difficult it is to build and sustain such programs.

I've been part of a #clmooc network of educators for several years, who I've written about in past #clmooc articles. A couple of weeks ago our discussion of online Affinity Groups caused me to post this Tweet, with a graphic that I had created based on a recent conversation:

Your response triggered an idea I've tried to communicate for a long time. I put it on a slide, which is really busy. So I put it on NowComment at https://t.co/7i79PN0WkU and invite others to help unpack it. Maybe @telliowkuwp @dogtrax or someone else would want to help. #clmooc pic.twitter.com/9jVGoqN7pb

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 9, 2019

I posted this Tweet and my graphic in this article last weekend.  I'm adding more detail to my explanation in today's post.

So here's the graphic:

In the middle of the graphic is the birth-to-work arrow that I've  used since the mid 90's to visualize age-level supports that volunteers and businesses could provide to youth, via well-organized tutor/mentor programs as well as schools. 

At the top of this graphic is the question. What can universities do differently, that might be a tipping point in terms of making well organized programs available in more places, for more years, reaching more youth, and helping them through school?

I answer by saying "build a pipeline of leaders, who work in these programs, and who work to provide the talent and resources needed by each program on an on-going basis".

So I added an overlay to the Birth to Work arrow to suggest this idea.

If you strip away the arrow, this is what's left.

Imagine a four to six year masters or PhD level college program, starting the freshman year of college.  Then visualize on-going practical learning, in which college students serve in existing programs, reaching youth as young as elementary school, with their service tied to course work being studied on campus at different points over their college career.

Imagine part of what college students are teaching youth in middle school and high school, is drawn from the same "how to" lessons that college kids are studying. If students begin thinking of what it takes to make the programs available to them, which they are part of, they will have momentum if they choose to pursue this course of study in college, and as a career.

If colleges just did the first part of this suggestion, they would  be reaching youth in neighborhoods surrounding the college and enlisting their students and alumni  in various roles that help PULL kids through k-12 school, and into college, then on into jobs and careers.  If this were a continuous program, lasting for decades, it might dramatically close the opportunity gap.

However, that's not enough. Volunteers need a safe, well-organized place where they can connect with kids, and stay connected for many years.  Such places are constantly seeking dollars, volunteers and other resources, but are not equal in their abilities to attract those resources. Thus, too few programs are available.

Here's the TIPPING POINT:  The curriculum I am suggesting is not limited to just those going into direct service. It's a college wide humanities type course that engages students studying in different fields, most of whom will go into the business world.

Imagine that each year's class of graduates from a university include a few with degrees showing them to have a full knowledge of how to build and lead a mentor rich youth serving organization.  And then imagine another group of graduates, leaving college with an understanding of what it takes for such programs to succeed, and the role they can take in PROACTIVELY providing dollars, talent, technology, volunteers and other resources needed, including jobs, internships and learning opportunities for youth in organized tutor/mentor programs and public schools.

Then, imagine that people from both groups spend time daily, or weekly,  in on-line affinity groups, supported in part by universities, and students who are working toward their degrees, where they keep learning, from the college, and from each other, so they are constantly seeking to do more and do better, at helping kids move out of poverty, or helping solve other complex problems facing the world.

I've attempted to communicate this idea in the past using this graphic, which you can find in this series of articles.

The problem, as I see it, is that most adults don't have time to dig through my articles and learn what has taken me 40 years to learn.  Most are not motivated to do this, nor guided through this mountain of information, they way faith leaders and college professors guide students through other information resources.

So what types of curriculum would students study?  I started building a list on my original graphic, and I've already expanded it with the graphic below. I suspect that others could add more, if they just spent time thinking about it.

As you look at the list of skills needed, compare them to courses required by colleges preparing teachers, social workers and/or business leaders.  I doubt that many are required to learn spatial thinking tools like GIS mapping, or concept mapping. Or that they are asked to learn basic coding, so they can oversee a web site or blog, to communicate ideas. I doubt that many are learning ways to support digital learning in on-line communities, or the creation of digital content that can be used to share ideas and promising practices.

I mentioned that the #clmooc group is reading a book titled Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning. They have created many pathways into joint reading of the book, and point to many who are reflecting on what they are reading via their blogs. 

I've been impressed by the amount of time many of these young people are spending in these groups, building new skills, taking on leadership and organizational roles, mentoring and guiding new members, etc.  Imagine that level of learning embedded into the DNA of graduates of the type of program I'm imagining. 

Wendy Taleo, from Australia, is a member of the #clmooc group. She posted a graphic today, which I annotated with my own #hashtags, suggesting my goal that people from many different sectors join together in on-line learning. 

To me, this graphic also represents how students, alumni and community members, including youth, would be connecting in on-going learning to better understand complex problems, and learn about actions being taken in some parts of the world, that might be applied in other places, if resources were readily available.  If alumni who are working or have been blessed with wealth are in these conversations they would be ready and able to offer support where needed.

I've been reaching out to universities in Chicago and beyond since the 1990s to find one that would adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC as a strategic partner.  Here's one of many articles showing this invitation.

It just takes one college to pilot this, and one wealthy benefactor to provide the financial incentive for a college or university to take this role.

Look at the graphic below. Imagine each of those red school icons being a place where an alumni with a Tutor/Mentor Institute degree from your university were on the staff and that others were volunteers, board members and/or donors.  Can you visualize having such an impact?  This is not intended to help one, or even a few, great youth programs grow. It's intended to fill a growing number of high poverty areas across the US and the world with great, constantly improving, well-supported youth tutor/mentor programs that are recognized as world class, by the degrees of their leaders and by the work they are doing.

5/10/2020 update.  With Covid19 shutting down schools, educators and learners have been forced to rapidly pivot to on-line learning, with little preparation.  Below is a version of a graphic I created for this blog, where I've indicated that we need to be building habits of on-line learning, life-long learning, curiosity and network building, starting when kids are in elementary school.

There's no quick fix to moving to on-line learning.
Habits need to be developed as kids grow up.

What can universities, and businesses and their volunteers, contribute to helping youth build habits of on-line learning. Reaching kids in high poverty areas with technology access, equipment and mentors is critically important, or we face a greater wealth and equality gap than we had before.

That's it for today. I look forward to reading some one else's interpretation of this idea.

In the meantime, if you value what I'm writing about, please consider a contribution to help me pay the bills. Click here and use PayPal to send your support today.

We Need a Lot More Good Luck in World Today

It's St. Patrick's Day today, so time to bring out a few graphics that I've posted in past years to show how I've been trying to bring good fortune to others. Here's an article where I used the graphic at the left.

In the four leaf clover, I'm pointing to four strategies that I've followed since creating the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. The first of those is collecting and sharing information in a constantly expanding web library.

I find links to put in the library as I move through my web journey every day. One growing resource is the Connected Learning Community (#clmooc), which this month is reading an Affinity Online book and sharing our thoughts in a variety of platforms (see here).

Nerdfighters newsletter - see here

The book is the result of a study of on-line affinity groups, which is a sub-culture that up until now, I was aware existed, but had little knowledge of.  Thus, reading the profiles of different groups has been enlightening. I was especially excited to learn of a group called Nerdfighters, who have been working since 2007 to "try to do awesome things and have a good time and fight against world suck".  Kevin Hodgson of #clmooc wrote this review today.

Kevin pointed to this Wikipedia article which provides a lot of information about the Nerdfighters.

What's awesome is that this group of mostly young people, has raised nearly $7 million for charities

When I think of on-line communities of gamers, this was not what came to my mind. I need to expand my perspective.  While the charity work of Nerdfighters is impressive, what's even more inspiring is how so many young people and adults are spending countless hours of personal time in these sites, learning and building technical, organizational and leadership skills. 

If educators, parents, tutors and mentors could instill these habits in all kids, and help them sustain them through adult lives, what might the future look like?

Now here's where I add my own thinking.  

First, I keep looking for ways that people will spend this amount of quality time in my own web site and blogs learning, and sharing, in the same way they spend time in some of these on-line groups. Visit this site and see how interns modeled this practice between 2005 and 2015.

Increase slide of funding pie

Second, I think it's great that thousands of young people are creating videos showcasing their favorite charity, during the annual Project for Awesome event, hosted on YouTube.  Each year 10 charities are selected, based on how frequently videos were viewed, to split more than $800k raised.

That's fantastic, except that is not money that repeats year after year. It's also not money that grows an entire sector of needed organizations.

Kids need long-term support

I've used the graphic shown above since the 1990s to show a goal of increasing the funding pie for youth serving organizations. I've  used the one at the left in many articles, such as this, to visualize this problem:

Raising kids takes 20 years or longer, with consistent support from family, schools, neighbors and community. In high poverty areas these support systems are weaker, less able to provide the same degree of support as more affluent areas do. Thus, well-organized youth tutor/mentor programs need to be created, that can make a wide range of supports and opportunities available.

They could even provide computer labs, and coach and encourage kids to dig into digital learning spaces and find niches where their curiosity and motivation blooms.

read more

 But those programs need to be in every high poverty neighborhood, led by people who are constantly learning from what they do, and what others are doing, to keep finding ways to attract and retain youth and volunteer participants.

That means donors need to repeat their funding year after year, and make it flexible, so programs can use it as they see fit and so leaders have time to join and participate in learning groups, even some that focus on building mentor-rich youth programs. Such funding should help people stay in this field for more years, thus building human capital and experience that makes every program better.

With the fragmented and inconsistent funding system now available, that's just not possible.

read more

Thus, my hope for Nerdfighters and similar groups is that they develop sub categories, that focus on different issues, similar to what the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals are doing.  Each category on this graphic represents many organizations, in many locations, doing work that needs to be done, and funded, so the "world sucks less" for more people.

I'll add Nerdfighters to my web library, and my eMail newsletter, with hope that their example inspires many others to do similar work, and that a few create sub categories of support as I've described here.

That brings me back to St. Patrick's Day.

Ever since I turned the first tutoring program at Montgomery Ward into a non-profit in 1990 I've had a daily vision that by sharing what I was trying to do in as many channels as possible I'd reach one person somewhere in the world who would become my benefactor, just as Medici family supported Leonardo di Vinci and others, many centuries ago.

I've not found that patron in 29 years, so in the meantime, my luck today will change if just a few people go to this page and make a small contribution.

Chicago Public Schools Annual Regional Analysis

The graphic below is just one page in a comprehensive analysis of school quality in one of Chicago Public Schools' 16 regions. Visit this page and see a list of the 16 regions. Choose whichever interests you, and dig in. This is an annual report, for 2017-18.

Report for Greater Calumet area - pdf

In articles on this blog, and the MappingforJustice blog I've frequently shown how maps can be used to understand the need for extra support of kids and families in different parts of Chicago.  There's no single interactive source for the type of analysis that needs to be done, so users will need to learn to draw from multiple map platforms.

For instance, the image below is a screen shot from a section of the Chicago Health Atlas, showing the North Lawndale area of Chicago.  I posted an article earlier today pointing to some of its features.

If you layer health disparities over poverty and locations of poorly performing schools you'd find the are the same areas. Building the public attention, and will, to draw needed resources into these areas, and keep it there for 10-20 years, is a mountain few have tried to climb. Yet is is a journey that needs to be taken, which I've tried over the past 25 years.

These are just two data resources you might use. Visit this concept map, and find many others.

I would like to find others who are trying to make sense of this data, and who are putting stories in blogs the way I do, with the same goals of mobilizing resources to support needed tutor, mentor and learning programs in areas where maps show a need.

In the Tweet I've embedded, I found some other statistics about poverty.

The number of kids in or near poverty in USA is huge. I pulled this from article at https://t.co/L15F94z15m Anyone have experience with FirstBook? https://t.co/h7rrobTk6L #tutor #mentor #clmooc pic.twitter.com/2bf8x0JODT

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 13, 2019

"More than 31 million children in America are growing up poor, or near poor. More than HALF of the students attending U.S. public schools are from low-income households."  An analysis of the maps and the data will show where those kids live, which is where we need to be pointing resources, jobs programs and other help.

If you're writing such stories, share them in the comment section, or with a Tweet to me @tutormentorteam.

If you appreciate the information I'm sharing, and archiving, please consider supporting my efforts with a contribution. Visit this page to learn more.

Developing New Leadership Pipeline

Yesterday in a Twitter discussion with my #clmooc network I posted this Tweet, in response to something Sherri Edwards had posted:

I wonder if anyone has created an archive, using #cmap or other tools, showing a) every university that trains future teachers, or, b) that provides on-going coaching to current teachers, who point to affinity groups like #clmooc or #ds106 , to encourage learning about this.

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 9, 2019

That and following responses got me thinking about an idea I've proposed in various ways for many years, and talk about in this TippingPoints pdf.

"What if colleges were preparing people to lead and support constantly improving tutor/mentor programs, schools and other organizations, by reaching youth as young as middle school and keeping them continually engaged, all the way through college, into work, and for the rest of their lives?"

So, I created a ppt slide to try to visualize this idea. It's shown below:

I immediately recognized that this slide is packed with information and while I understand it, most viewers might take one look, then move on.  So, how do I get a few people to spend some time on the graphic, and perhaps help unpack and share it's meaning.

So, I went to NOWCOMMENT, and posted my graphic, then highlighted different sections with questions.

View this on NOWCOMMENT

While I posted a couple of graphics on NOWCOMMENT a few years ago, I'm a novice at using this platform.  Thus, if anyone is interested in helping unpack the slide, I'd welcome a Skype conversation during which we do some unpacking together, and where I am mentored in using the platform more effectively.

Normally, I'd now go on and create a bunch more graphics and unpack the slide myself in the rest of this article. However, I'm going to wait a week or so, to see if anyone else takes a look first.

In the #clmooc group we're doing a collective reading and discussion of "Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning". We're talking about Affinity Spaces, and what it is that keeps us #clmooc folks connected and learning together.

I saw this Tweet this morning:

Something to think about, from the Affinity Network book being read in #clmooc — no online space can “rest on its laurels” if it hopes to remain viable and active, particularly in a time of “do I have attention?” But that doesn’t mean the interaction has to be shallow, either pic.twitter.com/2KTr2nzdWJ

— CLMOOC (@CLMOOC) March 10, 2019

Since I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 I've continually been looking for people to spend time, talent and dollars discussing, interpreting and sharing the ideas I launched via print newsletters in the 1990s, and web sites, then blog articles since 1998.

Over time, many have joined in this effort, but few have stayed involved for more than a few years, at most. Thus, I've constantly looked for partners to help share this vision, and the work involved. Universities are an obvious place to look, and my interest in universities is expressed in this series of blog articles.

As I read blog posts from the #clmooc network, I have come to believe that this work could be done at high school, or even middle school level.

Since colleges and universities serve different geographic regions, each could have a Tutor/Mentor Institute team of students, faculty, alumni and community members working to collect and share information in an on-going effort to fill the area around the university with programs that reach youth when young, then support them through school and into careers and adult lives.

One of those careers could be in non-school youth tutor, mentor and learning organizations serving youth in high poverty areas.

What I add to this vision is that such a college based program should attract and engage students who WILL NOT choose careers in non profits, or education, but will become lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs and successful business people.  These students will learn the value of youth tutor/mentor programs and sophisticated education programs and will also learn how long it takes to raise a child, and how difficult it is for each non profit to attract the resources that enable them to become great, then stay great for many years.

These students will learn to become proactive in how they work to support existing organizations where other alumni may be on staff or involved as volunteers. They will learn to use maps to understand where programs are reaching youth, and where more programs are needed. They will learn to start new programs, and improve existing programs, by borrowing ideas from working programs throughout the world, not just from one city.

Darn!  I have already given some of the ideas that are included on that slide.  Please go and look for yourself.

Join me, in my Tutor/Mentor AffinityGroup, on line at Twitter, or Facebook, or on LinkedIN, or in new spaces that you might help create.

Note: one role that any can take is to be a contributor to help me pay the bills and keep doing this work. Click here to learn more.

The Power of Virtual Community - Looking Back 14 Years

I launched this blog in April 2005, and below is the second article I wrote:

On Thursday I posted an email to a network of volunteers who have been working with the Tutor/Mentor Connection. This network has been growing for several years. I recognized that blogs could be a way to expand the community of people talking and sharing information about volunteer based tutoring/mentoring, as well as educating people to understand this as a form of workforce development. However, I did not have the time or tech knowledge to set up a blog.

Within 2 days one of my volunteers responded and set up this blog. You can see the message I sent, that generated this response, in this April 9th blog article, which was my first post in 2005.

This demonstrates the power of the Internet to create a virtual community of people dedicated to the same cause. As I learn more about how to add features to this page I'll add links to other blogs where people who also care about helping kids from poverty to careers are using their blog to generate ideas and actions that lead to the increase of volunteer based tutor/mentor programs where they are needed and the increase in the ability of these programs to connect kids with workplace volunteers, vocational education, jobs and careers.

I hope you'll visit the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net and http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web sites and learn more about our work, learn about the resources available to help you get involved with tutoring/mentoring, and ways you too can become a virtual volunteer.

Together, we can build a better operating system for helping kids move through school and into jobs and careers.

From #clmooc March reading

When I wrote this 2005 article, I already had a commitment to e-Learning goals, expressed in this page on my web site, and in this Tutor/Mentor Learning Network presentation.

So now it's 2019 and if you look back on the more than 1200 articles that I've written, you'll see a growing commitment to the idea expressed in the graphic at the left.

This graphic is from a book titled "Affinity Online: How Connections and Shared Interest Fuel Learning" which I'm reading along with a network of Connected Learning educators.  I'm reading it here.  Kevin Hodgson, a teacher from Massachusetts, outlined several other places you can read and talk about it, in this blog article. 

Reach all kids, in all areas

The yellow middle of this graphic (which I added as a form of annotation) represents a space of common interest, where people from many different places can connect and share ideas related to that interest.  My efforts since the 1970s have been reflected in the graphic at the right, and dozens more like it from past articles on this blog.  I'm trying to connect people from many places who will talk about ways to make high quality non-school learning programs available in all high poverty areas of Chicago and other cities, and keep them available and well-staffed, so each has a growing impact on helping kids from poverty, through school and into adult lives.

For that to happen more people need to join together in that yellow space, to share their own ideas for what works, what does not work, what challenges need to be overcome, and what ideas might work to overcome those challenges.

How do we do better every year?

I created this graphic to express that goal a different way, asking "How can we do this better?" and showing that people from many different sectors need to be in the conversation.

To me, the only place that's possible is on the Internet.

It's the only place where an unlimited number of people from within an area like the Chicago region, or a country as large and diverse as the USA, or a world with many problems in many places, can connect, share ideas, learn, and keep coming back, over, and over, for many years.

That does not mean that people don't still get together for one-on-one conversations, group meetings, conferences, and things like that. It just suggests that the real, on-going engagement, connecting enough people to make a difference solving some of the complex problems we face, has to involve internet connections and on-line affinity groups.

Learning requires personal effort.

What we're talking about is "learning".  Personal learning. That means you spend time, by yourself, reading some of the things people are pointing to when you're at a conference, or in an on-line group.

I write this article in 2012, talking about heroes and introverts. People get good at something because they spend thousands of hours practicing. It stands to reason that the solutions you bring to complex problems get better as your explore more ideas and learn from more people.  That's the habit I think we need to help kids develop from an early age, then sustain through a lifetime.

Connected Learning recap

I point to the Connected Learning network because it's a model of what's possible, having started in 2013 and still going strong in 2019.  I documented some of my past connections with the #clmooc group in this article, while also showing my goal of pulling people from that network and other networks into conversations that focus on issues I've been writing about since 2005.

Using the tags on the left side of this article, you can scroll through many similar articles that I've posted, about #clmooc, and about many other topics that are part of what we need to know in order to fill every high poverty area in any region with a full range of birth-to-work supports for kids and families.

I hope you'll take a look.

These on-line groups are free to join. So, what are you waiting for.  I'm on Twitter @tutormentorteam. Let's connect.

Borrowing from Tutor/Mentor Concept Map Library

I've been using concept maps since 2005 to visualize strategies and complex ideas. Below is an article from a few years ago that shows some of these maps. I hope you'll visit the #conceptMap section of this blog, and scroll through all past articles. Create your own versions and apply them to your city, or to  your own leadership.

In 1995 John McCarron of the Chicago Tribune, wrote this article, about the work I had started in 1993. In the years since then everything I've done has attempted to expand this strategy and communicate it in ways others would understand and adopt it.

In 2005 I started using concept maps to visualize commitments, strategy and the library of resources that I was making available to others.  In late 2015 I started a series of articles on the Mapping for Justice blog, to share some of these maps. Below I'm going to show some of the maps, and provide links to the articles.  Click on the headline to go to the on-line article.

Using Concept Maps to Communicate Strategy

This strategy map visualizes a commitment that any leader can make to help kids born in poverty move through school and into jobs and careers.  Read about it here.

What does "mentoring to career" pipeline look like?

How does a city get from "here" to "there"?

Tutor/Mentor Web Library Aims to Support Innovation in Youth Support World

Using Information as part of Problem Solving Process

R&D for Business Support of Tutor/Mentor Programs

 Talent and Leadership Needed to Achieve Goals

Intermediaries focused on youth in Chicago

Mapping Network Growth in Youth Development Field

These articles represent only a few of more than 1000 that I've posted since 2005.  However, they are a starting point for people who want to see broad-based strategies that reach kids in more places and help them move through school and into adult jobs and careers free of poverty.

While this blog article shows a few of my cMaps, I created this page, as an archive of almost all that I've created since 2005.

I encourage you to form a learning group in your school, club, business, family, fraternity and/or faith group, and read an article a week, or a month, then discuss them and create your interpretation, just has interns working with me have done since 2005.

Can you help?
On each cMap you'll find this graphic, with a link to this page, where you can make a contribution to help me keep doing the work I've been doing.  I hope you'll help.