Stay focused. Do what you can every day.

We've all heard the story of the "tortoise and the hare". The rabbit gets off to a fast start then runs out of gas. The tortoise just keeps plodding along, passing the rabbit as it keeps on its own journey."

Each one of us can be the tortoise, by what we do every day.

However, the "hare" in this case is the on-going challenges we and other social-benefit organizations face from events we cannot control without working with many others. Maybe not even then.

I've been posting articles on man-made and natural disasters almost since I began this blog in 2005. One section of the Tutor/Mentor library focuses on the man-made disaster of racial inequality and class divisions in America, which has brought us to the tsunami that occupies the White House and is taking over functions of the US Government. 

In September, 2005 I wrote an article titled "Disaster Challenges us All". What I said then is as true today as it was then.

We need to educate the world to create three pools of generosity and compassion, as represented by the chart below.

One part of this budget focuses on responses to disasters (the hare in my story). Another part focuses on personal/family disasters, such as a child with cancer. The final third, focuses on the on-going funding needed to solve complex problems that I describe in my articles.  

In March 2011 I wrote this article, using the tortoise/hare graphic, under the headline "Another War. Another Tsunami. Another Day".

In November 2015 I wrote this article with the headline "Keeping Focus Amid a World on Fire".

In November 2016 I wrote this article with the headline "Stay Focused. Do What You Can Every Day".  I used the Tortoise/Hare graphic in that article, too.

In August 2019 I wrote this article, with several versions of the graphic shown below. 

Then, last November I wrote this article, with the introduction shown below.

In each of these I showed complex problems facing each of us and shared strategies for learning and connecting with others, with the encouragement to do what you can every day to keep helping kids. 

But to focus on other problems, too. 

This graphic illustrates that while I focus on helping kids living in urban poverty have support systems of mentors, tutors and extra learning that helps them move from birth-to-work, I realize there are other issues that also require day-to-day attention. Focus on these systemic challenges is also disrupted with every natural and man-made disaster.

My heart bleeds and I shed tears every time I read about local, national and corporate corruption and greed that causes these problems or lets them exist.  Now with a felon President and an out-of-control immigrant billionaire dismantling the Federal government, and Project 2025 taking us back to the 19th century or earlier, the world no longer can count on the USA for leadership in time of crisis. The poor and marginalized in America not only can't count on help, they fear for their safety.

The "do what you can" message is more important than ever.   So is the 'tortoise/hare' message.  And the "connect with others" message. At some point those now in power are going to run out of steam. The people of America and the world need to be waiting with new solutions that undo the damage and build a brighter future for the entire planet.

I've used the Internet to connect with others since the 1990s. I've used a variety of social media platforms.  Due to the quality of interaction on some of these, I am finding it more and more difficult to find people who are sharing ideas, resources and solutions to the issues I focus on.  

I've started using BlueSky and Mastodon more than Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I still use these, and LinkedIn, too.  (see links on this page).  Due to my health I've not been to many face-to-face gatherings in the past few years. That makes my dependence on the Internet even more of a concern to me.

But, I keep trying. I hope you will too.    If you've found an active on-line community where people are discussing some of the ideas I've been sharing in this blog and on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website, please share links to those groups with me. 

Thank you.  

Small voice in big universe of problems

I'm starting a new week, like I've started new weeks for the past 20-30 years. Recommitting myself to using my small voice to try to have a positive impact on the lives of people living in areas of concentrated poverty. 

As I though about how to write this I searched for "slice of the pie" to find a graphic that I created in the 1990s showing many issues that require attention, and how the "youth in poverty, and volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs" category is just one small slice of that pie. I found an article I wrote in 2015 and updated in 2020. I've reposted it below, with updates for 2025. 

The fires in Los Angeles and the hurricanes that hit the US South East states in November are just the two latest massive disasters that will require many years of consistent effort for people in the affected areas to recover.  This is not a new problem. 

In September 2005 I wrote an article titled "Disaster challenges us all".  In it I wrote,

"For the next few weeks there will be a tremendous outpouring of charitable donations to support relief efforts, just as there was in the weeks following the Tsunami. However, following this there will be a need for donations to continue for a decade or more. 

However, in six months or a year there will be another disaster that will mobilize public attention. Then the people who need Tsunami aid, and the people who need Katrina aid, will be off the front page and struggling to find the dollars needed to continue rebuilding their communities."  Read the article. 

This graphic is part of a strategy graphic that shows the planning steps needed to solve complex problems or roll out a new business strategy. See the full graphic and explanation here.

Every year, millions of dollars are spent by social benefit organizations trying to attract resource to support their work. The money is spent directly on fund raising, marketing and public education. It's spent indirectly on training programs and consultants.

Regardless of where an organization operates or what cause it focuses on, we're all competing for a slice of the same donor pie. That pie seems to be shrinking, either because of economic circumstances, or because of the rise in organizations competing for a share of the pie. Natural disasters that occur randomly around the world exert a huge pull on discretionary donor dollars every time they happen.

In the last few cycles elections have also drawn a huge share of donor dollars.

In my 2005 article, I wrote, 

"I spent 17 years doing corporate advertising for a large retail store. We sent out 3 waves of advertising each week to 20 million people in 40 states telling potential customers that we had stoves, clothes, tires and other merchandise they wanted in one of 400 stores that we operated. We also spent millions of dollars in making sure we had the right merchandise in those stores, well trained people, and that the stores were in the right locations. 

Each store had a responsibility to do its own advertising and training but because of the support from the national advertising and training, each store was able to attract customers on a regular basis, at a fraction of what it would cost if each had to create their own advertising campaign."

I've not found any city with a consistent, on-going effort to support all tutor/mentor programs in that city the same way big companies supported hundreds of retail stores spread all over the country.

Thus, it's unlikely that great programs, doing similar work, but in different places, will be available in a large percent of the places where such programs are needed. 

Since 1993 I've piloted uses of maps to show where non-school tutor/mentor programs are most needed, then using the maps to influence donor support of programs in every place where the map shows programs are needed. In recent years there is a growing application of mapping and data visualization (see examples on this concept map). However, I still don't see many who are trying to create maps of all service providers doing similar work in areas where that work is needed. Such maps would show a poor distribution of needed programs. Over time it would show change as new programs launch and some go out of business.

It's also unlikely that many organizations will attract on-going dollars to enable them to provide long-term support. In youth development, this is a serious issue. Kids take 12 to 20 years to move from first grade to first job. If they are living in high poverty areas, the support system needs to reach them early and stay with them through school and even into work. Such support systems are needed in many, many places.

Architects, engineers, web developers, etc. all use some form of blueprint to show all of the work that needs to be done, in the correct sequence, and with the right talent, to build a tower, a rocket, or any other product.

In disaster recovery, or helping kids through school and into careers, I feel that this is missing.  Take a look at this concept map.

It shows some of the supports kids need at each grade level as they move through school. It includes a map showing high poverty areas of Chicago, where these supports are most needed (because they are not naturally available).  It also shows a role volunteers and extra adults can take. 

I've seen list posted on social media showing supplies people need in LA because of the fires, but not a concept map that shows what's needed from today (fighting fires/finding places to live) until some day in the future when these areas have been rebuilt and when all the people affected have rebuilt their lives.

Without the blueprint a lot of money will be spent, but without an accumulated long term impact. Without a map, only a few places will get the help it needs.

What's the solution?

Building public will is step 7 on this map. Each step is important in solving complex problems. However, until more people from different places, with different talents, and different levels of influence get involved in brainstorming ways to build public support and keep it growing, I don't see many long-term solutions emerging.

I created this graphic (see article) to illustrate that while we want to help social benefit organizations and clients use the resources available to achieve their missions and/or overcome challenges they face, we also need to influence what people who don't live in poverty do to help them. This can include direct support such as funding, or public policy. It can also include indirect support, such as removing barriers and obstacles.

Some (but certainly not all) of the actions we need to be focusing on include:

a) constant education of the public so they have deeper understanding of the problems and places where strong, constantly improving, social benefit organizations are needed

b) innovation of on-going advertising-type campaigns to influence what resource providers do

c) build growing understanding of how current systems of philanthropic and government support are not working.

Just a small growth of the resource pie every year could make a huge impact on the availability of needed social benefit organizations (including tutoring/mentoring organizations) in more of the places where they are most needed.

Building public will requires champions and leaders from every sector, in every city of the world. I'm certain that this discussion is taking place. I'm just not sure where this is an on-line forum, a cMOOC, or part of a web library that points to a wide range of places where this is being discussed.

I've started using BlueSky more than Twitter. However, while I find groups of educators and a good discussion of nonprofit issues I still don't find volunteer-based youth serving organizations, their donors, the media, or their researchers.    

I've been sharing this message, along with a library or resources, and list of existing programs operating in Chicago, since 1994.  Yet, I find almost no leaders using a collection of graphics similar to those I've put into this article, to share their own commitment to this same goal.

Ideas bursting in air!

I launch my ideas on blog articles every week, then spread them, like fireworks via social media. As you and others pass them on in your own feeds, we reach more people, and maybe convince some to take on leadership roles in this effort.  Such leaders can be from any city in the USA, or from other parts of the world!

Thanks for reading. I'm a small voice, just a whisper in the wilderness. But if you share, we can roar like a lion.

Please share.  I'd like to hear from you.

Use the comment section to provide links to open, on-line forums, social media groups, or cMOOCs that you're aware of, where "building public will" is the focus of the group. Or introduce yourself to me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Finally, it's a new year and once again I need to raise a few thousand dollars to cover the costs of maintaining the Tutor/Mentor library, writing this blog and trying to be a spark that ignites a massive increase in using these ideas.  Visit this page to make a contribution. 

Disaster Recovery, Mentoring Kids to Careers - Long Term Commitment Needed

The Southeast part of the United States has been hit by a massive hurricane, with rain and flooding extending into several states, affecting millions of people. 

This map is from The Weather Channel, in this article posted on Sept. 27, 2024. 

The flooding is on-going as I write this. Clean-up, recovery, then re-building will come in the next few weeks, months and years.  

This reminded me of an article I wrote in September 2017, following the hurricane that hit Texas and Louisiana.  My message now, is the same as it was then. I hope you'll read it.

---- begin 9-2017 article ----

Recovery efforts are now taking place in Texas, Louisiana and other places in the world where floods have caused recent human tragedy.
At the same time, school is starting in Chicago and other places, including in flooded areas, and kids living in high poverty areas are facing an on-going human tragedy of too little support from home, community and school.

There are some common challenges in both areas.

see this map

I launched the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 in an effort to build a master data-base of non-school tutor and/or mentor programs operating in the Chicago region, in an effort to provide information that leaders in business, politics, education, philanthropy, etc. could use to determine if there were enough programs serving different age groups in all of the city's high poverty neighborhoods.  My goal was that the maps and database I was hosting would be used to support on-going public education and marketing plans intended to draw ideas and resources to programs, while helping programs network and learn from each other.

The goal was to have great programs in every neighborhood, not a few great programs in only a few places.

 You can find my list of programs and most updated map here.

In the years since it has served as a resource for parents, social workers, librarians, etc. to help parents find services for their kids.  Just last week I received a message saying,

"Looking for Mentoring programs for young girls and boys  from the age of 7-16 years of age in the Near North Area."

Over the past 23 year's I've responded to these requests by pointing people to the directory and list of programs, so they could shop and choose from what was available. I've often had to say "none there", which means you and your community need to start programs if your kids are to be served. I've offered the information on my web sites as a resource for such efforts.

I've never had much help doing this, and even less since 2011, however, the need still exists.  Thus, I seek volunteers and partners who will help me keep the information up-to-date and help build awareness so more people use the resource. View this presentation then read more below.

Community Information Collection: A Shared Effort by Daniel F. Bassill on Scribd

Without a map showing where help is needed and what organizations are providing services, with layers showing age group served and type of programs offered, it's impossible to know if a city has enough needed services in all the places where they are needed.

I seek people who will:

a) adopt a section of the city and review youth program web sites; make sure they are working; tell me of broken links, or new programs that I need to add. Get to know what these programs do, and how they differ from each other. Share news about these programs via social media, blogs, church bulletins, company newsletters, etc.

b) dig deeper into the theory of change and design of programs. Look at similar programs throughout the country/world and build a list of "what looks best" type programs that others can learn from.  Update this regularly.  Build an understanding of what type of program design is best for the needs of different age groups and client groups.

c) help me update my own technology and communications capacity. Look for ways to share ownership and carry this into the future.  This is all part of a four-part strategy described in this article.

Now, how does this relate to disaster relief?

https://weather.com map

Without maps showing the areas flooded by the recent Hurricane, with overlays showing service providers needed at different stages of recovery, high profile areas like Houston will draw most of the recovery resources while lesser visibility areas will receive too little.  Even within Houston it's likely that more affluent neighborhoods will attract greater support than the high poverty areas.

2024 note: To illustrate the difficulty of keeping attention focused on disaster areas for many years, the links in this 2017 article that are in bold face, are no longer working. 

For instance, https://weather.com and  this ESRI site provides numerous maps showing flood areas.  The maps are professionally done and provide great information about where the damage was greatest.  However, they don't include overlays of recovery support organizations who need volunteer and donor help to do their work.

Here's a site, called "harvyneeds.org" that is showing resources people are looking for, with a map showing shelters.  SketchCity, a tech group in Texas, has been creating some information-based maps, like the one showing shelters.

This is all useful, but is it enough?

What help do kids in poverty need? What help do disaster recovery areas need?  I've been using cMaps to create a visual blueprint that shows different supports kids need as they move through school and into jobs and careers.

http://tinyurl.com/TMI-K-CareerMentoring

These supports are needed in every high poverty neighborhood for many years. Thus far, I know of no one collecting and mapping such information, like I describe in the presentation shown above, to show availability,  and provide support, for all of these needed services.

Here's a HBR article talking about the impact of Harvey on poor people and advocating for prevention efforts, before the disaster occurs. Here's another from the Washington Post. Many issues mentioned in these articles represent nodes on a concept map like mine.

Concept maps and other visual tools could be used to show the various short and long-term disaster recovery support needed, not just in Houston, but throughout the world.

Visualizations like mine might already be available some place within the US and worldwide disaster-relief ecosystem.  If they are I don't see people on social media pointing to these and calling on volunteers and donors to use them to guide their efforts.

I don't know. Maybe readers who do know will share links.

What I do know is that many volunteers, donors and leaders are needed to collect, organize and maintain such information, and keep it updated for many years.  And many more are needed to build the daily and on-going marketing and communications needed to draw volunteers and donors to the information, and then to all of the areas where kids, or disaster victims, need help, now, and will need help many years more into the future.

---- end 2017 article ---

If you're creating websites with links that connect recovery efforts with resources and provide maps that encourage a distribution of resources to all the affected areas,  please share links in the comment section of this article and on social media.  Hopefully such websites will still be active five or six years from now.

This is not the first time I've written about using maps to distribute resources to all areas affected by natural or man-made disasters.  I wrote this article in 2005, the first year of hosting this blog.

While it's too early to have this conversation, Hurricane Helene comes just five weeks before our national and state elections, which will determine the future direction of the United States.  The disaster area covers such a large area of a few key states that I expect to find articles soon that try to figure out which candidate will be hurt the most, or will benefit the most.  

That's crazy to be thinking about now, but one party wants to cut public funding for disaster relief and climate action. The other wants to invest in solutions and build opportunity in communities across the country.  People who have lost their homes, and maybe all personal identification, will struggle to vote.  What states will make it easier for them?  

If you've read this article, thank you.  Our consistent, on-going, attention to these issues will be needed in the next few years, and the next few decades.

While disaster relief will be seeking donations, and political campaigns seek donations,  I also seek your help to enable me to continue to host my library and share ideas like this. Visit this page if you want to help me. 

Remembering 9/11 - How much sacrifice is enough?

Today people in the USA and friends from around the world are pausing for a few moments to remember the lives lost in the 9/11 tragedy and in the 24-year war on terrorism that has taken place sense then.

I add my prayers of hope and remembrance to the families of those directly, and indirectly, affected by these events. 

However, I would like to go a step further.

I'd like to ask everyone to dig a bit deeper and to find a little more time to try to understand the poverty in the world that is a breeding ground for these events. While nature causes hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and floods, it is poverty that gives us the images of desperate people in affected areas.

While it is a small group of fanatics fanning the fire of terrorism, it is poverty that provides recruits for these fanatics.

Thus, it's poverty we need to understand and deal with.

While the US focuses on the tragedy unfolding in different parts of the world, I keep thinking of what will be needed for decades to help people in these areas recover from these disasters.

Since 2005 I've written a few articles following natural disasters. They all have the same pace. Urgent need and huge attention and outpouring of help as the tragedy unfolds.  Few using maps, so many areas where help is needed get little attention. In the years following one tragedy another happens and attention goes to a new crisis. Keeping attention and resources flowing five, 10 and 15 years after the tragedy is almost impossible.

That same flow of attention follows urban violence.

I've been reducing my paper trail and am scanning some of my news stories into my computer. Added this one from 1993, which is a letter to the editor written to the Chicago Tribune by Florence Cox, President of the Chicago Board of Education

I highlighted one section where she says:

"We must begin to realize that the needs of Chicago-area children are not being met, and in neglecting those needs, we neglect our own future as a prosperous and safe city."

Here's another article with some quotes from other stories, showing how difficult it is for this nation to focus on complex problems that require long-term attention and resources to be solved.

The headline is, "Action, not apologies, would help."

When I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 one of four strategies was to generate more consistent attention to issues of poverty, violence, inequality, etc. drawing needed support to all of the non-school tutor/mentor programs operating in the Chicago region. I started using maps to show where they were most needed and where existing programs are located.  

I found another set of notes, with quotes I'd written down during speeches given during the 1997 President's Summit for America's Future, held in Philadelphia, PA.  I was there as a delegate from Chicago and as a Teaching Example exhibitor.

It starts with a quote from President Bill Clinton, saying, "This is the start of an era of big citizenship. The really important work will begin after my talk's over".  Click on the image to enlarge it and read the other quotes.

In the letter to the editor and in the Summit speeches, leaders are calling on Americans to become involved in solving complex problems.  The problem is, they have not made this call for people's involvement every day since then, and they have not pointed to web libraries and directories showing information people need to learn from, and lists of existing programs who need their help.

That's still a problem.

As I listened to Vice President Kamala Harris end last night's debate, I heard the same call for involvement.  I hope people look back 20 years from now and see this as a tipping point in how we solve problems in the world. 

I've tried to model what needs to be done, by my own actions and those of the Tutor/Mentor Connect ion (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present).  I've had limited resources to do this, but continue with what I have.

Look at articles in the history, archive, about TMI sections at the left, to see what I've been trying to do.  

I keep hoping to find others who will help me...and will help provide the consistent attention needed to support people and organizations working with kids in all places where they are needed. I invite disaster recovery leaders, anti poverty leaders, education and workforce development leaders, and others, to borrow ideas from my archives and my library and apply them in their own work.

In this context, the next question is "how much time, talent and treasure" should one be expected to commit to this war on poverty? In the speeches that will be given today we'll honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The number of dead will be totaled. In the background will be the number of families and children changed forever because a parent was lost in 9/11 or killed or severely wounded in the years since then.

When we think of this as 100% sacrifice, how do our own daily commitments of time, talent and treasure stack up? I'm not in a position to say what the appropriate level of giving should be. However, I can look in my own mirror every night and feel good about my own efforts.

I'd like to find a way that more people were looking in the mirror every night and doing more than just staring at a pretty face!!

This week and next week volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs will be holding orientations and training sessions for the volunteers who will become tutors/mentors in the 2024-25 school year.  I hope this will be starting them on a journey that is intended to stretch their involvement beyond two hours a week with one youth, to a commitment that draws the heart, body and spirit of a growing number into the efforts it takes to end poverty by helping kids move through school and into jobs/careers, and ending some of the harms that I point to in this section of the Tutor/Mentor library.

In the program I led from 1993 to 2011 we promised our kids "we'll do everything we can" to assure that you're starting a job/career by age 25. "Everything" is a lot. It's unconditional effort. It recognizes the potential of unleashing the talent of our volunteers, their friends and families, the people they work with, and the people they pray with or go to football games with, in efforts to end poverty and provide hope.

I'm now seeing stories on Facebook from some of these kids showing their college degrees and the journey of their own kids through school.  The year-to-year evidence could not show this result, but our ability to keep kids coming back each year through high school, was a prediction.

Visit this section of my library and find links to Chicago youth programs. Visit their websites. Look at their social media posts. Learn what they do, then decide how, and how much, you want to help them. Don't wait for a proposal, or to be asked.  Take the lead. Reach out to them.

Our efforts to unleash and focus more of the talents and time of our students, alumni and volunteers are the best memorial to 9/11 that I feel we can offer.

Thanks for reading.  Please connect with me on social media and share my posts so more people get t his information.

And, if you're able, send a contribution to help fund this work. Visit this page. 

29 Years Later - Children's Needs Still Not Being Met

 Like 20 million others, my wife and I watched the first Jan. 6th Congressional Hearing last week, and I watched the second session this morning.  I'm following many conversations on Twitter and many paint a distressing picture of the future, as one group of Americans seems to want to take the country back to the 1950s and impose a minority rule over the rest of America.  

At the same time I'm following the war in Ukraine, and conflict in other parts of the world.  And these are just a few of the challenges facing us daily.  

I created this concept map a few years ago to show challenges facing the US as POTUS46 became president. I've added new challenges, such as Covid19 and Ukraine since then. 

With all of these issues facing us daily, how do I continue my focus on helping kids living in high poverty areas get the extra support needed to help them move more safely from birth-to-work?

I've written about how we keep focus amidst these challenges several times since 2005.  Below are parts of an article written in 2017, with the headline "24 years later - ---" 

----------------------------------

While the US focuses on the tragedy unfolding in Texas and Louisiana, I keep thinking of what will be needed for decades to help people in these areas recover from these disasters.

I also keep adding links to this Climate Crisis article, showing that disasters like what's happening in Texas are unfolding throughout the world.

Since 2005 I've written a few articles following natural disasters. They all have the same pace. Urgent need and huge attention and outpouring of help as the tragedy unfolds.  Few using maps, so many areas where help is needed get little attention. In the years following one tragedy another happens and attention goes to a new crisis. Keeping attention and resources flowing five, 10 and 15 years after the tragedy is almost impossible.

That same flow of attention follows urban violence.

I've been reducing my paper trail and am scanning some of my news stories into my computer. Added this one from 1993, which is a letter to the editor written to the Chicago Tribune by Florence Cox, President of the Chicago Board of Education

I highlighted one section where she says:

"We must begin to realize that the needs of Chicago-area children are not being met, and in neglecting those needs, we neglect our own future as a prosperous and safe city."

Here's another article with some quotes from other stories, showing how difficult it is for this nation to focus on complex problems that require long-term attention and resources to be solved.

When I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 one of four strategies was to generate more consistent attention to issues of poverty, violence, inequality, etc. drawing needed support to all of the non-school tutor/mentor programs operating in the Chicago region. I started using maps to show where they were most needed and where existing programs are located.  

I found another set of notes, with quotes I'd written down during speeches given during the 1997 President's Summit for America's Future, held in Philadelphia, PA.  I was there as a delegate from Chicago and the Tutor/Mentor Connection was there as a Teaching Example exhibitor.

In the letter to the editor and in the Summit speeches, leaders are calling on Americans to become involved in solving complex problems.  The problem is, they have not made this call for people's involvement every day since then, and they have not pointed to web libraries and directories showing information people need to learn from, and lists of existing programs who need their help.

That's still a problem.

Every week for the past 40 years I've spent time trying to connect inner city kids with workplace volunteers in organized, non-school tutor/mentor programs that help these kids move through school and into adult lives.

At different times, like right now, keeping attention focused on this has been more than difficult.  The COVID19 virus seems to be never-ending. The impact on poor people, who can least afford it, will be greatest. 

Maybe the current political divide and growing religious extremism is to be feared even more.  These are people who have never given up on the ideas of one race dominating another, of men, controlling women.  Of one religion over all others. Of minority rule.  

Yet, while we struggle through these challenges and disasters, I feel we still need to look long term. Kids living in high poverty area will need the extra support of non-school youth tutor, mentor and learning programs even more in coming months and years.  So let me share to graphics that visualize strategies I feel we need to focus on.

We all want the same outcomes: More youth stay in school, are safe in non-school hours, graduate, and move to jobs and careers.

To get the result we want we need to do the work shown at the bottom of this pyramid.

At the bottom of this pyramid I show that we need to build a knowledge base, then draw people together to use this information in an on-going planning and actions cycle.  This article describes this diagram.  It can be used in an area as small as a few blocks, or as large as an entire country.

This pyramid could be used to outline steps to overcome the COVID19 virus. Or to deny the agenda of far right conservative activists.

At the top would be results we want. At the bottom should be information aggregated from all over the world to help us understand these issues and how to fight them.  A sub section of that library should be a collection of information focused on specific topics. Visit the Tutor/Mentor web library to see how I do this. 

The second graphic I'm sharing focuses on INFLUENCE.

We must influence what resource providers do; not just what non-profit leaders do.

Having led a non profit youth program for 20 years I know that I was expected to operate a great program, get outstanding results and find the money to pay for all the work that needed to be done.  Think for a  moment of a fish bowl, with hundreds of small fish. When you put a little bit of food in the bowl there is a frenzy of every fish trying to get some of the food. Not all succeed.  That's the problem with how our non -profit funding system works.

In this graphic, which you can read about in these articles, I show t hat we need to Influence what resource providers, business partners, media and policy-makers do, not just what non profit programs do, so that there is a consistent flow of resources to every program, in every area where tutor/mentor programs are needed, so they can all become great at what they do to help kids safely through school.

Here's two more graphics to consider:

If you're at an event, how well can you share your ideas?

I created this graphic as a result of attending large gatherings for many years, where there were great speakers, but there was little interaction between the speakers and individuals in the audience, or between the people who sat at different tables. My goal was to encourage event organizers to create on-line activities that paralleled what was happening in the room, and that kept participants engaged and interacting after the event ended.

Hashtags of Twitter chats

I created this concept map to archive Twitter conversations that I've been part of. Many are on-going. A few are archives.

All of these in some way relate to efforts by different groups of people to help build support systems for kids living in high poverty neighborhoods.

You can click the link at the bottom of each node and join the conversation yourself.  Some of these should have much greater involvement than they have had so far. It's up to event organizers to encourage this, as well as the rest of us.

Very few do this well.  Even after two years of COVID19 and countless ZOOM meetings, I find few event organizers trying to create some form of online interaction that continues after the event.   

Yet, there have never been so many opportunities to grow a single event into a year-round community.

Look at the issues map at the top of this article, and my hashtag map.  Who's talking with others around these topics?  Yesterday on Twitter I saw a post that visualized people within a conversation, defined by a hashtag.  I created my own version, showing interaction with @tutormentorteam.

I couldn't resist doing a chirpty
Circle 1@LTHEchat@CanterburyCCUni@hintondm@Judith_ekn@suebecks@Digi_Northants@LJ_Rees@NomadWarMachine pic.twitter.com/kH295uycA0

— Dr Scott Turner (@scottturneruon) June 12, 2022

Mapping conversations is one way to know who is connecting with whom. It's a step toward trying to get more people and talent connected into on-going conversations.  That's the big challenge.  Read some of the articles I've written about this in the past.

Let's turn this negative into an opportunity to learn more ways to bring people together into year-round learning, idea sharing, relationship building and collective action that leads to brighter futures for all kids living in high poverty areas of the US and the world.

I'm on these social media pages. Let's connect.

How Is Covid-19 Affecting your Youth Program?

 We're  now six months into the Covid-19 pandemic with no end in sight. School is starting in a few weeks, with many opting for continued on-line virtual learning.  How is this affecting youth serving organizations in Chicago and beyond?

I'm pleased to introduce the team at GrowthWorks, a Michigan based consulting group, led by Phil Roos, who is a former volunteer from the 1980s tutor/mentor program I led.  . 

The GrowthWorks team has expanded their consulting during the pandemic, to launch conversations with a variety of people, to learn how they are doing.  Now they would like to extend that, reaching out to leaders of youth serving non-profits to understand how they are coping and what their plans are for the coming year.

They describe their goal in this blog article. I encourage you to read and share it.

I'll be sharing this on my social media channels and my email newsletter and will reach out to a few Chicago programs to encourage them to take part in these conversations.  However, if you are interested please contact GrowthWorks directly, at contact@glgrowthworks.com

8-13-2020 update:  GrowthWorks sent this information out in an email newsletter today, which you can read at this link. 

3-15-2021 update:  GrowthWorks published this article today summarizing it's conversations with youth program leaders. 

Reaching K-12 kids in high poverty areas - an on-going challenge

Every week for the past 40 years I've spent time trying to connect inner city kids with workplace volunteers in organized, non-school tutor/mentor programs that help these kids move through school and into adult lives.

At different times, like right now, keeping attention focused on this has been more than difficult.  The COVID19 virus is bad, getting worse and is having a growing negative impact on the economy. The impact on poor people, who can least afford it, will be greatest.  For instance, when major conventions and sports events close, think of all the workers who will be out of work. When schools close, think of all the parents with kids at home, needing supervision, and needing learning help. When someone gets sick, how do people with limited (or no) insurance, and no income, cover the bills?

Yet, while we struggle through this current disaster, I feel we still need to look long term. Kids living in high poverty area will need the extra support of non-school youth tutor, mentor and learning programs even more in coming months and years.  So let me share to graphics that visualize strategies I feel we need to focus on.

We all want the same outcomes: More youth stay in school, are safe in non-school hours, graduate, and move to jobs and careers.

To get the result we want we need to do the work shown at the bottom of this pyramid.

At the bottom of this pyramid I show that we need to build a knowledge base, then draw people together to use this information in an on-going planning and actions cycle.  This article describes this diagram.  It can be used in an area as small as a few blocks, or as large as an entire country.

This pyramid could be used to outline steps to overcome the COVID19 virus. At the top would be results we want. At the bottom should be information aggregated from all over the world to help us understand the disease and how to fight it.  A sub section of that library should be a collection of information helping teachers move classes from face-to-face school settings to on-line, or TV,  at least for the duration of this crisis.

The second graphic I'm sharing focuses on INFLUENCE.

We must influence what resource providers do; not just what non-profit leaders do.

Having led a non profit youth program for 20 years I know that I was expected to operate a great program, get outstanding results and find the money to pay for all the work that needed to be done.  Think for a  moment of a fish bowl, with hundreds of small fish. When you put a little bit of food in the bowl there is a frenzy of every fish trying to get some of the food. Not all succeed.  That's the problem with how our non -profit funding system works.

In this graphic, which you can read about in these articles, I show t hat we need to Influence what resource providers, business partners, media and policy-makers do, not just what non profit programs do, so that there is a consistent flow of resources to every program, in every area where tutor/mentor programs are needed, so they can all become great at what they do to help kids safely through school.

Almost every article that I've posted on this blog since 2005 focuses on one of these graphics. If you're forced to stay at home due to the COVID19 virus, why not spend some time reading some of them.  Then think of ways you can share these in your network and/or use them as thought starters in on-line and group discussions.

Here's two more graphics to consider:

If you're at an event, how well can you share your ideas?

I created this graphic as a result of attending large gatherings for many years, where there were great speakers, but there was little interaction between the speakers and individuals in the audience, or between the people who sat at different tables. My goal was to encourage event organizers to create on-line activities that paralleled what was happening in the room, and that kept participants engaged and interacting after the event ended.

Hashtags of Twitter chats

I created this concept map to archive Twitter conversations that I've been part of. Many are on-going. A few are archives.

All of these in some way relate to efforts by different groups of people to help build support systems for kids living in high poverty neighborhoods.

You can click the link at the bottom of each node and join the conversation yourself.  Some of these should have much greater involvement than they have had so far. It's up to event organizers to encourage this, as well as the rest of us.

Very few do this well.  However, with COVID19 causing more, and more, events to be cancelled, imagine this same event, but with every table empty.  How do event organizers share the ideas of the presenters with those who had been invited, without creating some form of online interaction.  Maybe we will learn ways to do this because of COVID19, and we will continue doing it after this disaster has passed.

Here's an article titled: LIFE AFTER CORONAVIRUS AND WHAT ORGANIZERS NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT NEXT that I saw on the AdAge Twitter feed today. In one part of the article the interviewee said "There have never been so many opportunities to grow a single event into a year-round community."

That's how I feel.  Let's turn this negative into an opportunity to learn more ways to bring people together into year-round learning, idea sharing, relationship building and collective action that leads to brighter futures for all kids living in high poverty areas of the US and the world.

I'm on these social media pages. Let's connect.

Apply Service Learning LOOP to Disaster Recovery

In the aftermath of hurricane Harvey and in anticipation of hurricanes Irma and Jose many are creating information platforms that use maps to show where the storms are hitting and resources that people can use to survive and recover. These also point to organizations who are providing service and who need donations and volunteers to do their work.  I point to some resources in this section of the Tutor/Mentor web library.

In the early 2000s I created a pdf that shows how volunteers who get involved in a tutor/mentor program often become evangelists who draw other volunteers and donors to support the program. In 2007 an intern created an animation to illustrate what I call a "service learning loop".  Today I created a Thinglink to point out different parts of the loop. Click on the dots and read the information provided.



All five parts of this loop are important. The weakest links are 1) support for knowledge aggregators who collect and share information others can use to get involved, and 2) not enough intermediaries who use their time, talent and communications ability to draw attention to the knowledge (right side) on a regular basis, so that more people use it to find where and how they can help (left side).

Below is another version of this graphic.



I've used versions of this graphic in numerous articles and presentations.  It's critical that more people understand the on-going role of intermediaries as well as the role of information libraries.  See more graphics showing role of intermediaries at https://www.pinterest.com/tutormentor/role-of-intermediaries/ 

I've used this and similar graphics to emphasize the many years it takes for kids to grow up.  There are no quick fixes.  The same is true for disaster recovery.

While many are needed in this intermediary role, investors need to also fund the work done by groups who collect and organize information. This needs to be done on a regular basis, and for many years.  I wrote an article a while back showing some of the challenges involved.

I hope those who read this article will see themselves in this intermediary role and will share the article with others using social media and personal communications channels.  That's putting this lesson into action.