Dig deeper into the ideas shared on this blog

Below is a graphic that compares the process of helping youth from birth-to-work to building a huge building. Both take a long time and a lot of money.

Below is another graphic that visualizes the thinking involved in building and sustaining youth-serving programs that are needed in every high poverty area for many years.

After the 2024 US election, I posted an article showing the many challenges that face the United States. Unfortunately, it seems that the current President and his followers are making some of these issues worse, not better.    View the map here.

I think many of the topics on my map are issues that need to be addressed, if not by the Federal government, then by state and local governments.  

These are complex problems. If you look at the two graphics I started this article with, you might understand why I call on leaders to create visual blueprints that show the depth of each problem, and to connect people who are trying to solve each problem in different places with each other and with resource providers.  

Engineers and construction workers use blueprints because they show ALL of the work that needs to be done, in the sequence it should happen.

They also draw from a huge body of knowledge and experience, that many learn over 4 to 8 years of formal post high school college or vocational training and many years of continuing learning. 

Each symbol on a blueprint represents a specific skill and/or action and a library of knowledge that is hosted in a variety of places.  Such libraries need to be available for each of the topics shown on my concept map.  Without applying this thinking to solving complex problems, progress is slow, if at all.  A lot of money gets spent, but without lasting impact, and without reaching many (most) of the places where help is needed.

I've been writing about this for a long time. Before I started this blog in 2005 I was sharing these ideas in print and e-mail newsletters and in visual essays posted at www.tutormentorexchange.net

I've posted some paragraphs from past blog articles that I hope someone in every city and state will will take time to read.  These are ideas I've been sharing since the 1990s.  Too few have ever seen them. Too few have adopted them. 

You can click the image to enlarge and read the graphic. Then I hope you'll use the link provided at go to the article. Read it. Think about it. Share it.

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I've only highlighted five articles.  I've written more than 2300 since 2005. Many have the same ideas and the same focus.  

In many of my articles I emphasize a use of maps to show where people need help, and to assure an even distribution of resources to EVERY area where help is needed, not just to the most visible or the most well connected.   Here's one example. 

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While I've addressed this article to the people who are in power in Washington, DC, these ideas are for leaders in every city and state, both in the private and the public sector.  

Building interconnected web libraries that make "all that is known" available and easier to understand and apply, then an on-going public education campaign that teaches people to visit this information and use it to innovate solutions to complex problems, is a path forward. 

The big challenge is that too few have the resources, or motivation, to build such libraries and keep them updated for 20-30 years like I have.  This is an ideal project for universities to be doing, using a constant flow of student talent to collect and share the resources, then to use them during their alumni years.  

In 2009 a Northwestern University Public Service Fellow, who spent a year working at my organization, created this concept map, showing all of the different parts of NU that could help a tutor/mentor program grow.  You can see it and read his article at this link.

Unfortunately, after one year the writer moved on to other things, and no one at NU took ownership of his ideas.  If an updated map exists, I'm not aware of it.  

Most universities may be doing some of this work already. But most don't connect to libraries in other places, and other universities, in an interconnected web of knowledge.  That's what I feel should be happening. 

Maybe it is.  If you know of examples where this is being done, please share the link in the comment section. 

Thanks for reading, and sharing my article.  Please reach out and connect with me on social media platforms, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon, BlueSky, Instagram, etc.  Find links on this page.

Finally, please consider a contribution to help me continue this work. Visit this page.

Enough is Enough. Adopt this Strategy to Help Youth

Below is a concept map that I've shared since 2005 showing a commitment I feel needs to be made by many leaders, if we're ever going to build the comprehensive system of supports kids living in high poverty areas need to move more safely and successfully through school  and into adult lives.

open concept map - http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map

I've listened to leaders for the past 30 years who talk about helping kids, but have not found any using maps or visualizations the way architects and engineers use blueprints to create a shared vision of work that needs to be done.  Or recruiting teams of people to support youth development, tutor and/or mentor programs reaching k-12 youth in EVERY high poverty area of cities where they live and/or do business.

Or using their media and visibility to draw volunteers and donors directly to programs already operating in their cities, the way this graphic visualizes. 

It's so easy to create a video, that I challenge leaders, from middle school through senior citizen, to create a video reading this strategy map to signal their commitment. 

I created three close ups, to provide a script for what people might say in such a video.

Look at the left hand side:  Follow the lines connecting the nodes on the map, which start at the top with "my goal is".

Then, look at the right hand side, showing that the strategy recruits workplace volunteers, to support comprehensive k-12 programs, that reach youth in high poverty neighborhoods with a range of needed supports.

Look back at the top of the graphic.  The vision is achieved by following a four-part strategy, shown by another concept map. The vision is also achieved by recruiting other leaders to also adopt the strategy.

The words are there.  This strategy applies in any city where there are inequalities and wealth gaps, with areas of people living in concentrated, segregated poverty.  That means youth or adults from any city could look at these maps, then create videos, animations or other types of communication, with their Mayor, local celebrities and sports stars, CEOs, faith leaders, and community activists sharing the message and the commitment visualized in this concept map.

If enough people make this commitment, and renew it from year-to-year for the next decade or two, we might begin to have more mentor rich learning programs in high poverty areas with the on-going support each needs to hire and retain talented staff, who can attract kids and volunteers, and keep them involved as the kids move from elementary school, through middle school and high school, then on toward jobs and adult lives.

Anyone can create such videos. It would be a great time for this video to appear on social media, with leaders showing their commitment to the strategy by saying "be a volunteer" and pointing to directories of youth serving programs in their communities, which were created as part of step 1 of the four part strategy.

It's not enough to wish more leaders would adopt this strategy, we need to know who is so we can recognize them in front of their peers, as a strategy to influence more people to also adopt the strategy.  Take a look at the concept map shown below:

I'm sure you've heard the "It takes a village to raise a child" statement.  What this map visualizes are the many different stakeholders in any community, organized in clusters.  If you've looked at my concept  maps, you'll see that at the bottom are nodes linking to other web pages, or other concept maps.  For instance, at some point in the future you might click on the circle with "legal community" and open a new map, where "legal community" is the  hub and the spokes lead to the many different types of businesses and professions make up the legal community.

Ideally, if you went to their websites you'd find a version of this strategy map, featuring the company leaders, signaling their commitment.   

Below is another presentation that shows ROLE OF LEADERS who adopt the commitment shown on this strategy map.  

Role of Business Leaders - Helping Kids From Poverty Areas Move to Careers from Daniel Bassill

If you've read this far, and opened the different links under each node on the strategy map,  you'll find this 4-part strategy. These are the actions that must happen in every city for leaders to be able to keep their commitment.

Read article outlining these steps - click here

Thus, if people were adopting the strategy map, and putting a version of it on their own web sites, we should be able to put links from this village map to their pages, thus aggregating links to leaders who are making a long-term, comprehensive commitment, to help kids grow up.

If you're tired of reading about violence and inequality, then say ENOUGH, and make an effort to adopt these ideas. 

I can't do t his by myself. I need the help of many to spread the word, gather the info, update the maps, etc.  

However, if you do adopt this strategy and put it on your web site, please send me a link so I can put a link to your site in my village map, share it with the world.

If you want to act as a producer and/or sponsor and help me re-do my own versions of these videos and strategy presentations, I want to hear from you. I need your help.

You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon, BlueSky or Instagram. Find links on this page.

If you're able, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, so I can continue to manage this information and share it with the world. 

Using concept maps in planning path past Covid19

A week ago I wrote this article, about an on-line conversation that I was part of. We tried to do another last Friday, but I could not get my mic and video to work, so on Saturday morning I used a different computer and even with a couple of glitches, was able to share information about using concept maps to create a visual  understanding of complex problems along with visual blueprints showing work needed to reach solutions.

Here's the presentation:



During this hour long chat with Valerie F. Leonard I was able to talk through the ideas I shared in this blog article.

Any can be the YOU in this graphic,

Toward the end of the session I pointed to this graphic, emphasizing the need for some people to view the video, then to write their own interpretation and share it with friends, family, co-workers, etc.

When those people do the same the ideas spread and reach more people.

Covid19 has revealed the ugly reality of poverty and inequality. Only when more people get involved in trying to understand the problem, and how other people have already been trying to solve it, can we get enough people involved to support needed solutions in all the places where maps show concentrations of poverty.

Thanks Valerie Leonard of NonProfit Utopia for bringing me into this conversation and helping me share these ideas.

MyChi. MyFuture. Feedback.

As the Tweet below shows, yesterday I attended the citywide meeting of Mayor Lightfoot's EveryKidConnected initiative, which was launched last October. Since then the hashtag has changed to #EveryYouth Connected, and may change again.

I am at #EveryYouthConnected meeting in #Chicago, which now is #MyChiMyFuture

Not sure. I have seen nothing official on hashtag. pic.twitter.com/Ln3xMLXKtT

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) January 28, 2020

As the meeting ended I encouraged the others at my table to use their blogs to share their own ideas for next steps for this initiative.  Mine are below.

In this next Tweet I'm sharing the mission statement developed at the January meeting.

This vision describes a mentor rich non school youth program w many learning opportunities. Such programs needed in every high poverty area of #Chicago. #EveryYouthConnected. #MyChiMyFuture pic.twitter.com/FbgD32FxVX

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) January 28, 2020

As I said in the Tweet, that vision is what I feel describes a total quality non-school tutor/mentor program.  The graphic below is shown in this presentation. It visualizes the growth of organized, non-school, k-12 youth programs, available in every high poverty neighborhood, with a wide range of age-appropriate mentoring, enrichment and learning opportunities.

Building a learning distribution system - read more

How we get there is what needs to be worked out.  Below are some of the ideas for generating public awareness and involvement that were shared at my table.

The MyChi.MyFuture media campaign is planned to launch at the end of March. The costs of a comprehensive tops-down campaign could be huge, thus efforts that generate free communications from people and organizations throughout the city should be a priority, now and in the future.

1) - So far there is little communications from the leaders of the initiative on Twitter, using either #everykidconnected, #everyyouthconnected, or #MyChiMyFuture.  I received an email follow up yesterday, with the PDF of the slides from the presentation.  If that had been in a Tweet I could have already shared it with my own network.  Using Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram in the same way should be strategic. (see more social media ideas below).

2) - Encourage organizations throughout the city to blog their understanding of this initiative, as well as their part of the process, as well as services available to youth in their own programs and/or communities. Bloggers could be faith groups, elected officials, businesses, non-profit youth orgs, schools, etc.  Once blog articles are written they should be shared in social media, using a hashtag launched by the leaders of the initiative.  

#clmooc 

I have written numerous articles on this blog showing my engagement with the Connected Learning #clmooc community on social media. I urge leaders of this initiative to spend time studying these, to see ways they can use these same low, or no-cost, strategies to connect people, organizations, resource providers and youth throughout Chicago with each other.

3) - Enlist students and parents as communicators. 

The Parent Mentor Program was mentioned as one example where parents are already working to help build relationships between parents, teachers and students. Such groups could be learning about non-school opportunities and existing programs and communicating those via their own efforts. Below I show Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC efforts to aggregate and share information. Someone should be aggregating information about parent groups who could be sharing MyChi.MyFuture information and supporting youth involvement in different parts of the city.

Enlist students as story tellers.  During National Mentoring Month youth have been posting #ThankYourMentor stories.  This could be #MyOutOfSchoolLearning experience or #MyChiMyFutureLearning experience. It could also be #HowISpentMySummer  or #MySummerLearningExperience. As youth become engaged they could suggest new  hashtags, and themes for future communications and interaction efforts.

Participation maps such as this from the 2017 CLMOOC could be used to show places in the city where youth are creating messages for this campaign, and to show locations of non-school learning opportunities.

Use maps to assure youth in every part of Chicago have opportunities

Enlist students via classroom learning activities - Here's one of many blog articles where a middle school educator from Massachusetts shares work his students are doing.  If during spring 2020 educators were encouraged to develop a back-to-school activity where students used blogs, videos, social media, games and other forms of communications to share #MySummerLearningExperince or #OutofSchoolTimePrograms in my neighborhood, which were then aggregated and shared on blogs like Kevin's, this could launch thousands of stories from September 2020 to May 2021 (and beyond) to help the MyChiMyFuture initiative grow and reach all Chicago youth over the next few years.

Tutor/Mentor lists on Facebook

4)  While MyChi.MyFuture is attempting to create a master list of out-of-school-time opportunities I feel it should point to existing lists, such as the ones I point to from this concept map. I'm sure there are others that I'm unaware of. Collectively these will always have more information that what any single intermediary is able to collect and keep updated.

5)   To  help draw attention to existing providers and help them connect and learn from each other, MyChi.MyFuture should a) create a profile on Twitter, FB, Linkedin, etc. then use the list feature on Twitter, and Notes feature on Facebook, to create one of more lists of Chicago programs.  (It could create one master list, or could create lists for sections of the city, North, Central, South Central, Far South) as I do in the Tutor/Mentor Programs Directory.

Here's my TMPrograms list on Twitter. Here's my Facebook list of Chicago programs and intermediaries.  If MyChi.MyFuture were to create its own lists, people visiting their account could scroll the list to learn about existing programs via the information they posts. Donors and volunteers could learn to use this to find programs in different parts of the city to support. Parents and youth could learn this to find opportunities.

6)  - Recruit volunteers from advertising, PR, technology and other communications companies to mentor youth and teach them ways to tell stories via multiple media. At some point in the future maps should be showing icons throughout the city where people from each industry are connecting with youth.  Programs should show that multiple industries have volunteers working at their sites, not just in direct service, but in helping programs communicate their stories, their lessons and their challenges.  Many companies should be doing this as part of on-going, formal, workforce development strategies.


7) - Focus on connecting intermediaries like the Austin planning group, to others throughout the city, so they can learn from each other.  Below is a concept map showing the planning process that should be on-going in every community area.

Planning is an on-going cycle, focusing on a specific geographic area. read more

One of the roles of the leadership of MyChi.MyFuture is to identify the various stakeholders and share that information in ways that encourage conversation, interaction, learning and shared efforts among the various organizations.  Below is an example of how I've been doing that.

Intermediaries focused on youth in Chicago - cmap

Youth in various schools and non-school programs, local colleges, or any other group could be creating similar maps showing local organizations, intermediaries, etc.  Note that I point to the web sites of each organization on the map (if I have a link).  This information is published in my blogs, website and social media to encourage programs to connect and learn from each other.

8)  How will you measure this?  How will you quantify the number of youth in each neighborhood who most need these programs? How will you show how many participated during the summer, or during the school year? How will you share that, at the neighborhood level, to support on-going planning and program growth?  Below is a Slideshare pdf that shows the number of youth, age 6-17, and the number of high poverty youth, in each community area.  

Chicago Community Areas: Youth In Poverty-2018 from Daniel Bassill

Every Youth Connected implies that 100% of the youth in each area will participate in one or more learning experiences in the summer and in the school year.  That is a significant challenge, both from the planning perspective, and from the funding perspective, since right now there are so few program slots available in many areas of the city.

I've been sharing ideas like this on this blog since 2005 and on websites since 1998. I hope some of the people involved in this new initiative will take the time to look and want to have me help them understand and apply these ideas.

You can find links to my social media sites at this page.

Looking Back - 2006 Skoll Foundation "Profit for a Purpose"

I'm in the process of updating the web library that I host on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site and I just opened a link to this 2006 conversation hosted on the Skoll Social Edge Forum (now an archive).

The topic was Profit for a Purpose.

I scrolled through the conversation and found that I'd posted some thoughts. They are still relevant today, so I've re-posted them below.

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Thinking of Social Enterprise in three dimensions, not two:

Sutia,

You had many inspiring ideas in your message. One that made me chuckle in agreement was "The private sector uses the term “going concern” which implies an active, dynamic, tap-dancing state also known as survival."

I’ve led a donor-funded(non profit) organization in Chicago for 14 years and when donors ask for a report on accomplishments I always say my first accomplishment is that I’m still in business and able to continue the process of growing from good to great in the coming year. I rely on a wide range of volunteers to supplement an inconsistent flow of dollars.

When I read about the various social enterprise leaders and activities, I see innovative people finding ways to support their own vision for saving the world. The funds they raise from their enterprise support one or a few organizations that do the work they are interested in. The more successful they are, the greater their ability becomes to host forums like this, bringing others together to share ideas.

While this is good, what about the others in the world who do similar work, maybe in different places, and who have not found a way to create a revenue producing enterprise to sustain their vision? What would it take to expand the support generated by one entrepreneur for a single charity, to multiple charities doing the same work, or to multiple charities needed to solve the same problem?

Here’s my example. I maintain a database listing 200-300 organizations in the Chicago region that offer various forms of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring. Each is constantly seeking dollars. Mentoring is a long term process, so each needs to find ways to keep kids and volunteers connected for many years.

Most are not running food pantries to pay the bills, and few parents have the funds to pay for services. Thus, most operate in a level of relative poverty, struggling to do good work, and still be in business at the end of each year (survival).

By providing my list of organizations via the Program Locator at at http://tutormentorprogramlocator.net/Prgloc.aspx, I make it possible for any business, college, law association, etc. who wants to make the world better by helping inner city kids connect with mentors, and move to jobs, to create a social enterprise that draws dollars, volunteers and other resources to all tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago on a consistent basis, or to fund just one or a few programs in a single zip code, if they choose. (The Lend A Hand Program at the Chicago Bar Association is an early adopter of this strategy – https://www.lawyerslendahand.org/ )

If a few people from every industry who have been successful in making profit, point their profit and their employees and customers, to tutor/mentor programs throughout the city, there will be a better distribution of resources to all programs doing this work, and more programs will have the ability to constantly get better at what they do.

Since tutoring/mentoring alone will not solve the problems facing kids in poverty, I suggest a "blueprint" be created that shows all of the services that are needed at any time in order for a youth to reach adulthood. All of these need to be funded, just as all sub contractors on a building blueprint need to be funded. If that does not happen, the program is not successful. By only funding a few of the needed services in a neighborhood, city or country, we only address part of a complex problem, and may not really solve the problem at all. Thus funding, or social enterprise, needs to focus at multiple service providers, not just one or a few.

This is a three dimensional approach, where a) for profits choose a cause to support, and stick with it for decades; b) social entrepreneurs who have succeeded in creating a money flow point their resources at multiple organizations, not just their own non profit; and c) where non profits are able to attract and retain a higher quality of leadership who use the resources more effectively for social benefit, while also learn to collaborate with others, and market there efforts more successfully to compete for resources for the entire community, not just their own agency.

The result would be that more places where tutoring/mentoring is needed would begin to have good programs that not only survive from year to year, but begin to accelerate the rate of youth finishing school with a network of adults helping them to the next level in their lives. While my example focuses on tutoring/mentoring, I feel it could apply to any other social endeavor.

In the past couple of years I’ve sent invitations to the Said Business School, and to others in the US, encouraging teams of graduate students to adopt this approach, creating an international competition of business school teams who compete with each other to see which can raise the most money, visibility and volunteers, for tutor/mentor programs in their community. If such a competition repeated from year to year, its visibility, and impact would grow and young people would learn lessons they could apply the rest of their lives. You can read about this idea on this wiki page.

If some of you reading this would like to take a role of making this idea a reality, I hope you’ll contact me.

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A couple of things are obvious in what I wrote in 2006.

1) I could really have benefited from a spell check for my post.  I've found that too often to be the case when I write and type stream of conscious posts.  I'm sure that has hurt my credibility over the past 25 years.

2) The problem I was describing has not changed in 13 years since I wrote this.

3) I'm still trying to find a lead university and business sponsor to get the Business School Connection idea off the ground.

Below is a presentation describing the need for a "blueprint" and showing work that I was trying to do in past years and still seek to do as we head into 2020.

Tutor/Mentor Learning Network Strategy Introduction from Daniel Bassill

 Much has changed for me personally and professionally. Since 2011 I have not led the Cabrini Connections direct service program.  And since 2011 I've led the Tutor/Mentor Connection through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, which is no longer a 501-c-3 but now one of those social enterprises seeking investors.

Because of my age, I'm 72, I no longer seek to re-build the Tutor/Mentor Connection around me. Instead I seek a partner, at a university, or a business, or of a new group of younger leaders, who will use all that I've created and re-build it, making it much stronger and more influential in the next decade.

The Business School Connection idea is just one of many that are on the drawing board waiting for investors to help bring it to life.

I want to help make that happen while I still am able.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Connect with me in one of those spaces or introduce yourself with a comment on this blog.

Using Maps. In Planning. In Media. In Blogs.

Below is a story from my PDF version of today's Chicago SunTimes.  So far I can't find it on the paper's web site or Twitter feed. When I do, I'll update this story with a link.

Story from 7-28-19 Chicago SunTimes

It shows areas of Chicago that are thriving, that are beginning to grow and that are declining. Compare this to the WBEZ maps shown in the center and left below.

View these maps in this article

The map on the right was created by the Tutor/Mentor Connection in late 2000s and shows high poverty areas, with overlays showing transit routes in and out of the city.  In the Chicago interactive Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, created in 2008, we also show locations of non-school volunteer-based tutor and mentor programs, as well as assets in different neighborhoods who could be helping programs grow.  Unfortunately, I've not had funds since 2011 to update the Program Locator so now it's mostly serving a demonstration model.

You can see that both maps  highlight the same areas of affluence and of need.  I focus on youth tutor/mentor programs as part of a broader strategy intended to get more people involved in providing time, talent, ideas, dollars, votes, jobs, etc. that help kids move through school and into jobs and help change the economic conditions in these areas.

I view media stories as  part of an on-going effort intended to draw more people to information they can use to understand complex  problems, and see how some people are trying to solve these problems in different parts of the city, or the world.  In doing so I believe people should be borrowing from good ideas to build better solutions rather than constantly starting from scratch.  For this to happen donors and funders need to provide a consistent flow of innovation and operating resources to programs in every part of the city, not just to a few high profile programs favored by the Mayor, the former President, or a few foundations.

GIS maps can show us where people need help.  However, they don't work like blueprints to show what help is needed, or when specific types of help are needed.  I've built a collection of concept maps and visualizations to stimulate thinking around the planning process. Below is one of those.

View mentoring-to-careers map (lower right) at this link

In the lower right corner is a "mentoring kids to careers" map, that shows supports kids need at different age levels as they move from pre-school into adult lives and jobs. For most kids living in middle class and more affluent areas most of these supports are naturally available in their family, community and schools, or the family can afford to purchase them.

In the areas with high levels of poverty these supports are not naturally available and most families could not purchase them, even if they were available.

Thus, organizations that try to connect kids with these resources via volunteer tutors and mentors and the generosity of donors are valuable. They just are not available in enough places.

Ideally each node on my "mentoring kids to careers" map would have a box at the bottom which would include links to more information related to that node. For example, below is the 'research and resources' map, showing one of four sections of the Tutor/Mentor library.

Research section of Tutor/Mentor library - click here to view map

Click on the small box at the bottom of any of the nodes and it opens to another map, or to a web page where I aggregate links to articles and other web sites related to that topic. I've never felt that I could include "everything" that people need to know on one web site, so I point to others who have "part of everything".  Most of these sites keep adding new links so this is a dynamic web resource.

Chicago transit routes

My maps and many of the links that I point to focus on Chicago, although many of the ideas can be applied to any city.  I keep trying to find Chicago and Illinois leaders who will adopt and support the Tutor/Mentor Connection (since 2011 it's been the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC), with limited success (since 1993),

Thus I also look for people in other places who might be allies, partners and supporters who would duplicate my efforts, and build their own web library, to create information sections specific to their own cities and states.

4-part strategy

Take some time to view the four-part strategy shown in the concept map at the right. The maps and web library are part of step 1. Getting more people to look at this information, understand it, and apply it, are steps 2, 3 and 4.  This strategy applies anywhere, and to any problem.

Below is a Tweet exchange from yesterday with a mentoring leader in England.

Transpose the word Chicago in this blog to any one of our cities and this blog then becomes very thought provoking. How much change could we make through more effective mentoring programmes ? #mentoringchangeslives https://t.co/W81DBDbWqi

— CSMentoring (@cs_mentoring) July 27, 2019

I remember meeting with a community activist in a SW Chicago neighborhood in the late 1990s and I gave him the same advice.  My voice is too small to reach and influence all who need to be using maps and visualizations in the ways I'm demonstrating. Thus, if others share the same ideas, and link to each other, our collective voices might reach far larger audiences than our individual voices ever will.

Last December I created several images (see article) showing how this was happening via the #clmooc network of educators who I've been connecting with on Twitter since 2013. I also point to work done by interns from various colleges who worked with me from 2006 to 2015.

view article

Read the article and look at the map. Open the links to see the articles I'm pointing to which show how these people have created stories, videos and visualizations that share what they are learning from my web sites and blog articles.   

More people can do this. More people need to.  Students could be doing this.

Today's article is just one of many articles share on this blog and the MappingforJustice blog. I've collected too much information and written too many articles for anyone to just jump in and try to learn it all in a short time. However, it's ideal for a high school and college learning program, or a faith based learning program, to adopt for on-going, long-term, accumulative learning.

For instance, some of the people in the #clmooc group are people I first started meeting on-line in 2013. We focus on learning as an on-going process, and a journey.  I hope you'll join us.

I'm on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook if you'd like to connect and explore these ideas.

I also have a page (here) where you can make a contribution to help me keep doing this work.

No quick fixes. No cookie-cutter solutions.

One of the primary reasons I have never been able to sell my ideas or build business support is that I've never put together a "cookie-cutter" type program design that companies could use to build and sustain a strategy that helps kids from high poverty areas move through school and into jobs and adult responsibilities.

Instead, I've built a library of information and ideas and encouraged people to spend time reading, reflecting and building a long-term commitment to the types of work needed to be done over many years.  Unfortunately, that's not what many social problem solvers and CSR leaders are looking for. They want quick fixes and short term proof of results.

I read an article yesterday that points to this problem and talked about how difficult it is to scale ideas that work in one place, or in a laboratory environment, to many other places.  I hope you'll take time to read it then read more of what I write below and in other articles on this blog.

This graphic shows three concepts that I've focused on for a long time.

At the far right is a "mentoring kids to careers" graphic that shows the 12 years of support needed to help a youth in a high poverty neighborhood move through school and into jobs and careers.

In the middle is a graphic where I used the Thomas Edison process of inventing a light bulb, then an industry that made electricity available throughout the world. Raising kids is not a science. Every kid is different. The family and community environment is different for each youth, and often constantly changing.  Building tutor/mentor programs that help connect extra adults and  youth, has some of the same challenges.  Great programs are needed in all high poverty neighborhood, posing a huge challenge for funders and city planners.

At the right is a systems thinking approach to problem solving, which I've borrowed from articles by Gene Bellinger.   This process focuses on learning everything we can about a problem and possible solutions before we design our own program.  It focuses on this process as a cycle that repeats each year, building on what we learned from our own experiences, and what we keep learning from others. My web library is intended to support this process.

Here's another visualization of my "mentoring kids to careers" graphic, In this case I compare raising a child to building a sky-scraper. In one case builders use extensive, complex blueprints to show work that needs to be done from the first step to the last step. Everyone doing the work needs specific skills and needs to be paid.

While my graphics show a vision for helping kids grow up, and s how some age-level actions that might support this journey, parents, teachers and youth program leaders need the flexibility to innovate and adopt their efforts to the specific needs of individual children at different stages on this journey. there is no blueprint for raising  kids, and the funding for paying everyone needed in this process is almost non-existent.

As you read the article that I pointed to above (here's the link again), think of how much flexibility is needed by those raising kids as they follow the "blueprints" and examples of others.

I met with the leader of a business association foundation yesterday and shared some of my thinking. I pointed to this page on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC site, showing leadership strategies that need to be adopted in every industry, in universities and in hospitals across the country.  I encouraged him to appoint a "get it done" person to work with me, and do the reading, research and thinking, so that his group could build this strategy and set an example for other industries.

That invitation is open to leaders in every industry. Here's my Linkedin page and my Twitter feed. Connect with me.

If you value what I'm writing about and the library of ideas I host, then visit this page and become a contributor to help me do this work.


update 2/1/2018 - In the links section on the left side of this blog I point to many of my web sites and also point to a few sites hosted by others that I value. One is titled "From Poverty to Power". Here's an article that is related to the link I pointed to in the above article.

What Do We Need to Do to Achieve this?

As we move into 2018 I want to focus on two ideas that I've championed for more than 20 years, but without much traction or support.

This graphic represents the first:

This concept map shows supports kids need at each stage of schooling as they move from pre-school toward adult lives, jobs and careers.

Mentoring Kids to Careers - support needed for 12-16 years

We all know how architects and engineers use blueprints to show all the work involved in building a building or an airplane. Consider this concept map a blueprint for what help kids need as they grow up. Most kids have these supports naturally within their family and community. However, kids living in high poverty have fewer natural supports, or family and community wealth, thus it's up to others to help make these supports available.

Don't agree with my concept map? Create your own. Share it. We can learn from each other.

Here's the second idea. Below is a map of Chicago, created a few years ago. The shaded areas are high poverty neighborhoods.

I led a single volunteer-based, non-school, tutor/mentor program serving 2nd to 6th grade kids in one Chicago neighborhood from 1975-1992 and created a second program in 1993 to help these kids move from 7th grade through 12th grade and beyond. I led that till mid 2011. As we created the new program in 1993, we also created the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), to help our program, and similar programs throughout the Chicago area, get the resources each need to constantly improve and stay connected to youth and volunteers over a multi-year stretch.  

Since 2011 the T/MC has been part of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  Same goals. Just different funding structure. 

The T/MC started using maps, like the one above, to show where our single program was located, and to show where other programs in Chicago were located, using overlays of high poverty, poorly performing schools, and incidents of violence, or health disparities to show where these programs were most needed. Browse articles on the MappingforJustice blog, written since 2008, to see uses of maps. Click here to see a current map and list of Chicago area tutor and mentor programs.

Here's the question I've been asking for 20 years. If we know what supports kids need, and understand how organized programs help create greater access to some of these supports (like a local grocery store provides access to fresh food), then what do businesses, foundations, volunteers, donors, policy makers and others who don't live in high poverty areas need to be doing on a regular basis to  help local community leaders fill every high poverty neighborhood with the entire range of needed supports?

An engineer or an architect knows that if you leave out one or two components, like wiring for the 4th floor, or a few screws in the side of an airplane, the end product is not going to work. Without building a full range of supports for kids in every high poverty neighborhood why should we expect different outcomes than what we're getting?

While my maps primarily show Chicago, similar maps need to be created that show other cities and regions of the US....and the world.

The only way to show that you've an answer to my question is to put a map on your web site showing where you're providing resources to support needed programs in one or two neighborhoods, or an entire city, along with a concept map, or blueprint, to show all of the supports you think will be needed as each youth moves from birth to work over a 20 to 25 year period.

I've been building a web library for over 20 years with links to programs operating in Chicago and other cities, as well as links to research and to process improvement, innovation and collaboration sites. Send me links to show how you're bringing people together to discuss these ideas, or that show solutions you and others are already implementing. I'd be happy to add them to the library so I and others can learn from what you are already doing.

If you value this idea and my web library and maps, become a patron and support my work. Visit this page and use the PayPal button to contribute.

Creating Opportunity for Urban Youth: Resources

As we head into the new year I want to share some resources I focus on regularly:

Maps that show where people need extra help, based on indicators like poverty, poorly performing schools, incidents of violence, income inequality, etc.  A map motivates us to think of how we fill all of these places with needed services. Without the map we could fill a football stadium with people supporting urban youth in a city like Chicago, and still be missing most of the neighborhoods where kids need help.  I share mapping ideas on this blog and the MappingforJustice blog.

You also need a Directory and map showing organizations already providing needed help in different neighborhoods. Here's a map that I've created, showing non-school tutor and mentor programs in the Chicago region.

Any strategy should start with "how can we help the programs already operating be as good as they can be" before starting something new.

These are maps created by Tutor/Mentor Connection 

A blueprint that shows what needs to be done, and what we need to know.  We understand how builders and engineers using blueprints to show step-by-step work that needs to be done, from the beginning of a project until it is completed.   So why don't we have blueprints showing support kids need to move through school and into jobs?

I created this concept map in the mid 2000s to show supports kids need at each age level as they move from first grade, through middle school, then high school and into their adult lives.  Each node on the concept map should have a link to a directory, showing existing organizations in a city providing that service, plotted on a map showing where they are located.

While I have a few links from the nodes on this concept map, it's not complete.

I've not found any 'blueprints' like this in Chicago. I've not seen anything like this for other cities. However, the technology exists to create such map-directories and tie them to blueprints like this. This could be an on-going project by a team of students from one or more high schools and/or universities.  Here's another article about "what we need to know".

At each age level all youth need a range of support.

Visualizations that communicate ideas:  "A Picture is Worth 1000 Words."  In the graphic below I used a photo of a building to communicate the complex, long-term process of helping kids move from birth to work.   Every worker needed to build the building requires a certain level of skills and must be paid. In the same way, we need to not only build well-organized youth supports in every high poverty neighborhood, but we need to find ways to hire and pay talented workers. 

This is just one of many visualizations you can see on my blogs and web presentations that communicate strategies and actions that are needed to help youth living in poverty move through school and into jobs and careers.

Helping kids grow up is long-term process.

Identify a source of ideas, such as the Tutor/Mentor web library.  We all have a limited range of knowledge and experience that we can bring to solving urban poverty and income inequality. You'll find many ideas and articles in Tutor/Mentor web library, which I've been building since 1993. Below is a concept map  that shows the four sections of the library.  You can search Google for the words "tutor mentor" and any of the words in the tag list shown at the left and find articles I've posted on-line over the past decade. 

At the bottom of each node is a link that opens to a new map.

Finally, we need many leaders with a deep, long-term commitment to create these resources, maintain them on an on-going basis, and point growing numbers of people to the information that is available to them. Such leaders need to act as intermediaries, to mobilize the people and resources needed to fill every high poverty neighborhood on the map with services described on the blueprints showing support that is needed.

Influence your Network!

Leaders can be high profile people, like business CEOs, political leaders, entertainers, etc. They can also be students, volunteers, members of civic, alumni, social or faith communities, etc.

Leaders can be people who spend a little more time than others browsing through the Internet for ideas, and then share those ideas on a regular basis with people in their networks.

Every day you can read an article on one of my blogs or from the library on Scribd.com, then share it with people in your network via social media, one-on-one conversations, group presentations, and/or learning circles.

Start out by saying "Do we have something like this in our community?"  Here's an article shared on the I-Open blog, in the  Cleveland area, which is an example of how you could launch this discussion in your own community.

Help Youth Orgs Throughout City.

Leaders are people who bring others together to learn more about a problem and to innovate solutions.  Using maps, blueprints, visualizations and program directories groups can build an understanding of what services are available in different areas, and ways to support them on an on-going basis so they become the very best they can be. At the same time, groups can identify voids where services are needed, then by looking at work already being done in Chicago and other cities, innovate ways to start new programs and services in those areas.

Many could help.

It takes a lot of talent and a dollars just to build an information base to support this process. I've been trying to do this in Chicago since 1993, using money raised each year through a small non-profit (1993-2011) then using my own funds and a few contributions from supporters every year since 2011.

As you head into 2017 I encourage you to build teams that begin to look at what you have available in your own community who may be doing part of this work. Reach out and support them. Don't reinvent the wheel....unless you must.

If you'd like a one-hour tour of the Tutor/Mentor web library, via Skype, or in person, if you're in the Chicago region, just email me at tutormentor 2 at earthlink dot net or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.