Honor their sacrifices. Keep fighting.

Monday is Memorial Day.  I've posted articles like these, almost every year since starting this blog in 2005. They all have a similar message.  "Honor the sacrifices of those who served by giving your time, talent, dollars and votes to create systems of hope and opportunity for youth living in areas of highly concentrated poverty."

In 2013 Kyungryul Kim, an intern from South Korea, created this video, showing steps needed to fight this war.  It was based on a blog article I wrote earlier.

 

I point to more than 150 Chicago area youth-serving programs in lists I have built since the early 1990s. My goal has been to help each program attract more consistent attention and a better flow of needed operating resources.   

The "War on Poverty" video highlights each of the steps shown on this graphic.

Every city and state needs a planning process like this. I don't think I've ever seen one from any Mayor of Chicago.  That's one reason we're still fighting this war.  If leaders in your community have created a visual like this to show their process, please share it.

I follow most of Chicago's volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning organizations on their social media channels, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.  Very few post on BlueSky, Threads or Mastodon.  I don't use Tic Toc, so don't know how frequently Chicago youth-serving programs are posting there.

That means I'm able to see posts by leaders of many different tutor/mentor programs.  Many are eloquent in making the case for why volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed.   

A couple of weeks ago Jeffrey Beckham, Jr,. CEO of Chicago Scholars, wrote this article, titled "The Power of Mirrors and Windows".   In it he wrote, 

"Someone else asked me recently, how do you not burn out doing this work? 

 The answer is the young people. They keep you honest. 

 Every single scholar I meet reminds me why it matters. You don’t burn out when you stay close to the people you are doing it for. You burn out when you get too far away from them, and it starts feeling like strategy instead of people."

I feel the same way.

My passion for the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I've led since 2011 through Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, comes from my interactions with students and volunteers of the Montgomery Ward-Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, which I led from 1975 to 1992 and Cabrini Connections, which I formed in late 1992 and led until mid 2011.  

Read Jeffrey's article, and follow the posts by other tutor, mentor and learning programs.  As we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our country's freedom, these show that the war is not over.  There's much you can do to help youth and families living in areas of concentrated poverty.

There's much you can do to stop the damage being done to the United States of America by the current President and his supporters.  

One thing you can do is keep reading my blog articles, then share your interpretations of them with your own network, the way Kyungryul Kim did in 2013.

Many voices will be needed, for many years.

Have a safe holiday.  

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