Connecting People, Ideas and K-12 Youth From High Poverty Areas

I've spent the past 51 years connecting youth from high poverty areas of Chicago with volunteers from many different backgrounds, as part of an on-going effort to expand the networks supporting kids as they grow up and as they begin their adult live/careers.

Initially this was through the tutor/mentor program that I led at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago from 1975 to 1992.  Then it continued through the Cabrini Connections program that I formed in late 1992 and led through mid 2011.

When we formed the Cabrini Connections program we recognized that one more small program could be life-changing for the teens and volunteers who were served, but would not have much impact on the more than 200,000 school aged youth living in high poverty areas of Chicago.

So we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and launched it in January 1994. I've led it since then, but through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011.  

The programs I led served youth who lived in the Cabrini-Green area on Chicago's Near North side until the early 2000s when we began to accept kids from other parts of the city.

I've been interested in using maps since the late 1970s when we plotted locations of buildings in the Cabrini-Green area to show where our current students were living. We used this to target recruitment of new students to buildings where current students were living, thinking that this would help convince new students to join.  We did that using sketch paper, since I had not learned about GIS mapping at that time.

I did begin to learn about GIS mapping in late 1992 as we were planning the strategies of the new Tutor/Mentor Connection. And by 1994 we were producing maps on a regular basis, with the help of donated software and computers and volunteer talent.

In 2008 we received a $50,000 gift from an anonymous donor, focused at rebuilding our mapping capacity. Half of that went toward hiring Mike Traken, a GIS specialist, to make our maps.  Above is one that he produced in 2008 showing where our Cabrini Connections students were living.

At the right is one of many maps that Mike created between early 2008 and early 2011.  It shows where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are most needed, based on indicators like high poverty and poorly performing schools. Then it adds overlays showing locations of tutor/mentor programs in our database, and in this example Citi Bank locations in Chicago.  Browse this set of articles on the MappingForJustice blog to see more business maps created by Mike. 

Our goal was to convince businesses, professional groups, faith groups, health care and higher education leaders to use maps to form strategies that would support tutor/mentor programs that were located near their facilities, or where employees lived, or on the routes they take to and from work each day.  

While I've found many examples of business using maps to plan store locations, or to draw customers to stores, I've not found examples of them using maps to guide philanthropy or employee engagement. If you have examples, please share them. 

During the mid 2000s I learned about another type of mapping that could be used to visualize your network, showing who you were connected to and how strongly you were connected.

In 2010 I was able to obtain donated software from Valdis Krebs of Org.net and to recruit students from three Chicago area colleges.  They met with me on the TutorMentorConnection.ning.com site in a group established to focus on network analysis. 

One outcome of that was a set of articles showing participation in 2009 and 2010 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences that I hosted in Chicago from May 1994 to May 2015.

Unfortunately I was not able to keep these interns with me so their work did not continue.

However, my interest in understanding networks did not change.   In Spring 2012 two interns from South Korea, via IIT in Chicago, took a look at participation in the Ning site since it was formed in 2007.

Each student created a presentation using Gephi software.  View this one here.

The second presentation can be seen here

I keep looking for examples of other people using maps like I'm demonstrating. 

However, the really important use of network maps is to help show how organized tutor/mentor programs are expanding networks for the kids and volunteers in their programs.

In 2010 I posted this graphic in the Ning group and wrote, "One of the goals of our Social Network Analysis is to find a way to show how the networks of kids living in highly segregated, high poverty, inner city neighborhoods changes over many years as a result of being part of a tutor/mentor program like Cabrini Connections. In this web site, Bob Pearlman shows that "who you know" is more important than what you know. He points to a Silicon Valley study by AT Kearney, which shows how kids living in poverty don't have people in their lives modeling college and technology careers, thus they are less likely to pursue those careers.

Thus, if we can create a SNA survey that shows how frequently kids are in contact with people who went to college, hold jobs in Science, Math, Technology, Engineering, health care, law, etc., we can ask our teens to take this at the beginning of each year. Comparison maps from year to year, should show an expanding network created as a result of being part of a tutor/mentor program."

I was not able to do this in the Cabrini Connections program since I left in mid 2011. And while I've shared this idea often, I've not found any youth-serving program doing this type of network analysis.

Last fall a team of students in an information visualization MOOC at Indiana  University created a new analysis of the 1994-2015 Tutor/Mentor Conferences.  The image below is an example of the type of information that can be pulled through the map.  This shows the number of conferences that were attended by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Metro Chicago. 

They also created an open source network mapping tool that anyone can use to create a data collection sheet and upload it into Kumu.io or Gephi.  

You can find links to both of these on this page. 

I no longer lead a tutor/mentor program so I don't have access to students and volunteers to survey them to collect data that could be mapped using this tool.  However, any youth serving program could do this. Perhaps you can even enlist manpower from a local university to do the work for you.  Just point to what past interns have done for me.

The maps showing participation in Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences show that I was connecting to the majority of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and to many in other cities.  My follower lists on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram show that I'm still connected to many of these people and to many others who represent the broad ecosystem of the education/youth development world.

However, that does not mean they are talking to me, or to each other, about the challenges they face and the opportunities they perceive.  It's possible to create a data collection form using the new Network Mapping tool, that people in my network could use to show how they are connecting to me and each other.  The data from that could be converted to spreadsheets and then network analysis maps.  

I wonder how many might respond to an invitation to share that information.

These are things I think about every day.  If the ideas resonate with you, please share them in your own network.  Create your own version of my maps and graphics, focused on your own city/state.  Then share them so I can learn from you as you are learning from me.

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

And, you can find information about helping me pay the bills on this page.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

Role of Faith Leaders - Sample Sermon

I created the graphic below many years ago to show how leaders can support youth-serving organizations via sermons given at four strategic times each year.   

We're in 2026 with still too few volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reaching youth in high poverty areas of Chicago and other places.

What's a message that faith leaders might be delivering to draw support to individual youth-serving programs in different parts of a city like Chicago?  I asked Google Gemini to look at this speech, by the CEO of a company, then create a sermon, delivered by a Faith leader. It's posted below.

--- begin Gemini version ---

From Prayer to Purpose: A Unified Covenant for Chicago’s Future Presenter:
[Leader Name/Title], [Faith Community/Organization Name]
Audience: Chicago Interfaith Council & Regional Religious Leadership

The "Why": Beyond Charitable Almsgiving
Friends and fellow laborers, we are all familiar with the call to "clothe the naked" and "feed the hungry." We pass the plate, we run our food pantries, and we offer our prayers. But if we are honest, our current approach is fragmented. We are tending to the wounds, but we are not stopping the violence that causes them.

If we were building a new sanctuary, we would not lay a single brick without a sanctified blueprint. Yet, when it comes to the "living stones" of our city—the children growing up in the shadows of systemic neglect—we often operate without a shared vision.

I am here today to ask our congregations to adopt a specific strategic blueprint: The Tutor/Mentor Connection Strategy Map.

 The Blueprint: A Map for Mercy and Justice
This is more than a diagram; it is a systemic path to redemption for our neighborhoods. You can view this concept map here: http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map.

As faith leaders, we understand the "Cradle-to-Calling" journey. If a child’s path is blocked by the thorns of poverty and a lack of guidance, the divine potential within them is stifled. This map shows us a way we, as a community of faith, can help mend it.

The Sacred Site: Our Buildings as Bridges
The research is clear: relationships save lives, but relationships need a place to grow. We cannot rely on informal or school-based connections alone. We need organized, site-based programs that serve as "hubs" of social capital.

Look around at our houses of worship. These are not just buildings; they are underutilized sanctuaries for the youth in our "service deserts." By hosting organized programs, we provide a safe, consistent space where a child knows a mentor will be waiting every week. These sites become the "glue" that attracts both the child and the volunteer, offering access to technology, quiet study, and a community of peers that many cannot find elsewhere.

The Four-Part Ministry of Presence
To make Chicago "mentor-rich," we must apply the same discipline to our outreach that we apply to our liturgy:

* Bearing Witness (Data): We must map where the light is shining and where the darkness remains. We must identify the neighborhoods where organized programs don't exist and ask ourselves: Why not here?

* Prophetic Voice (Public Awareness): We must use our pulpits. I am challenging you to record a video "reading" this strategy map to your congregants. We must signal that mentoring is a core tenet of our faith, not a side project.

* Stewardship of People (Resource Distribution):
We don’t just give tithes; we give ourselves. We must drive our most valuable asset—our people—into the zip codes that have been forsaken.

* Cultivating the Vineyard (Continuous Improvement):
We must share our collective expertise in administration and stability to help small, neighborhood missions move from "surviving" to "thriving."

The "Village" Cluster: Our Sacred Role
Look at the "Village Clusters" on the map. Whether you lead a mosque, a synagogue, a cathedral, or a storefront church, you are a pillar of this village. I am calling for "Moral Signaling." When a faith community adopts this map, they are committing to a 20-year covenant of support—a "long obedience" in the same direction.

 "Enough is enough. We cannot simply pray for a better Chicago while standing still. We must adopt a strategy that matches the scale of the giants we are facing." 

The Closing Challenge: Anoint the Strategy
At the top of this map is a blue box. It is currently empty. It is waiting for the seal of your faith community.

By placing your identity alongside this strategy, you are telling the people of Chicago that your house of worship is a bridge to the future. You are vowing that a child born today in a high-poverty neighborhood will have a spiritual family and a physical "site" of support walking beside them until they reach their full, God-given potential twenty years from now.

My Next Step: I have already integrated this strategy map into our community’s mission portal and opened our doors for these sessions. I would like to show you how to do the same.

---- end Gemini ----

I wish I could point to faith leaders who actually have taken the "Next Step" shown above.  

I think one of the best ways to honor the memory of the Rev. Jesse Jackson would be to adopt the strategies I've shared in this post, and share your commitment at least four times a year with a sermon based on what you've read here, or that you create by using Gemini yourself. 

 You can become the YOU in the graphic shown above.  

Form a learning circle and read and discuss ways you can apply the ideas in this visual essay.

Thanks for reading this.  Let's connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, etc.  Find links here.

If you value what I'm sharing, please visit this page and make a contribution to help me keep doing it.

Tipping Point - Fixing Distribution and Infrastructure Problem

A few weeks ago I included the graphic below in this article showing how billionaires could fund programs at universities that build a pipeline of leaders and supporters who would help make volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs available in more places.

Today I asked Google Gemini to look at that article and rewrite it from the perspective of a business leader trying to convince philanthropists and local universities to create on-campus 4-6 year degree programs based on the ideas I shared.  Take a look. Feel free to use it.

-- start Gemini ---

As a business leader, I look at social challenges the same way I look at market inefficiencies: we aren't suffering from a lack of capital or talent; we are suffering from a distribution and infrastructure problem.

The following is a strategic breakdown of how we can leverage the unprecedented philanthropic capital of billionaires like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates to create a "Tipping Point" for social mobility by integrating universities directly into the youth-to-career pipeline.

Memo: The "Tipping Point" Strategy

To: University Boards, Philanthropic Foundations, and Corporate Partners

From: [Your Name/Title], Business Leadership Perspective

Subject: Scaling Impact through Academic-Philanthropic Integration

1. The Problem: The "Resource Gap" in Mentorship
We have thousands of youth-serving organizations, but they operate in silos. They are perpetually "scrapping" for dollars, volunteers, and talent. Even with billions in donations from high-profile philanthropists, the impact is often fragmented. We aren't building a system; we are funding individual lifeboats.

 2. The Solution: The University as an "Impact Engine"
The article highlights a transformative role for higher education. We should not just view universities as places where students go to get degrees, but as the central hubs for a birth-to-work pipeline.

The Strategy: A New Academic Curriculum
We propose a 4-to-6-year Master’s or PhD track specifically designed to build a "Pipeline of Leaders."

* For the Direct Service Leader: Students earn degrees in building and leading mentor-rich organizations. They don’t just learn theory; they serve in elementary and high school programs throughout their college career, tying coursework to real-world outcomes.

* For the Business Leader: We need a university-wide humanities requirement that teaches all students—regardless of major—how to be "Proactive Resource Providers." When these students enter the corporate world, they shouldn't just write a check; they should enter the workforce knowing how to provide talent, technology, and internships to the programs in their backyard.

3. Why Philanthropists Should Fund the Pilot
Billionaire funding is most effective when it is leveraged. 

* Melinda French Gates' focus on women and girls is a perfect match for this model. By funding a university pilot, she isn't just helping a group of girls; she is creating a repeatable curriculum that trains thousands of leaders to support girls for decades to come.

* MacKenzie Scott: By directing a portion of her HBCU grants toward this "Tipping Point" curriculum, she empowers these institutions to become the permanent infrastructure for social change in their communities.

4. The Business Case for Collaboration
From a leadership standpoint, this is about ROI and Scalability.

* Talent Development: Corporations gain a pipeline of "socially literate" graduates who understand complex problem-solving.

* Sustainability: Instead of programs disappearing when a grant runs out, the university provides a permanent stable of student volunteers and alumni donors who are "anchored" to the mission.

* Efficiency: Using GIS mapping, digital learning, and collaborative technology (as outlined in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library), we can identify "service deserts" and deploy resources with surgical precision.

5. The Call to Action
It only takes one university to pilot this and one visionary benefactor to provide the seed capital.

We aren't just looking for "charity." We are looking to build a professionalized, world-class infrastructure for mentorship that moves kids from poverty to careers. If we align university curriculum with philanthropic capital, we don't just close the opportunity gap—we bridge it permanently.

Let’s stop funding the status quo and start building the pipeline.

--- end Gemini ---

Where to begin?  Read the blog article. 

Fund "visualization competitions" that motivate students to dig into the information I share on this and other blogs and on the main Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website.  This idea is described on this page.

Review the "university partnership" ideas posted on this page. Recruit one faculty/student team to do initial research.  Review articles on this blog to see how student interns have done this type of research in past years.  The change I'm suggesting is that the students are working for the university, not for the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. 

Use the Gemini script to create your own letters and outreach to philanthropists and universities. Be the first to adopt this idea.

Thanks for reading. I started developing these ideas in the early 1970s as I became the volunteer leader of the tutoring program hosted at the Montgomery Ward Corporate Headquarters in Chicago.

Connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon and share my posts with people in your networks. Find links here.

And, if you're able, visit this page and make a contribution to help me pay the bills.

Mapping Black History with Kumu

I've posted many examples of visualizing information and ideas using tools like Kumu.io.  Here's another.

Visit this article on LinkedIn and you'll find links to many Kumu.io maps that focus on Black History and Black History Month.

I've added this information to the Black History section of my library.  

I'd love to find students/volunteers who would create Kumu.io maps showing content in each section of the Tutor/Mentor Library.  Connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky or Twitter to discuss.

If you receive a tax refund, can you split it three ways?  1) to fund Democratic candidates and/or open news sources; 2) to fund volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs; 3) to help fund the work I'm doing.

Many Leaders Needed

 Over the weekend I included the two graphics below in two articles.

In the first I show four times a year when leaders can motivate people in their networks, or their companies, to volunteer time, talent and dollars to help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in more places.  

In the second I included this strategy map, showing a role leaders from every sector need to take, at least four strategic times each year, and for many years.   

In both articles I included example speeches/sermons that leaders could use, showing their commitment to helping kids in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives, with the help of organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs.  

In this article I show how Gemini described the strategy map and its goals.  I think it did a pretty good job, which is why I'm sharing it.

I hope you'll take a look at these articles and create an article sharing your own understanding, or showing your support.  While my maps focus on the Chicago region, your maps should focus on high poverty areas of your own city or state, showing all places where kids, families and schools need more help.

Finally, take a look at articles like this where I show how to collect data and share it via visualizations created using social network mapping tools.

Students in local high school and colleges could be doing the data collection needed to produce maps like these.  Without them a city might see a lot of activity but still have too few leaders involved and be reaching too few of the places where on-going support is needed.

Imagine having a map showing all faith groups in the Chicago region, with flags highlighting those who have adopted the T/MC strategy map and have given "mobilization" sermons at least four time a year.  Imagine having similar maps, showing businesses, political leaders, celebrities, etc.

That's the goal. It's been the goal for many years. 

Thanks for reading.  Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, Medium and/or Substack.  See links here.

And, if you're able to help, visit this page and contribute to help me pay the bills.

Tribute to a Larger-than-Life Leader

I've seen many tributes in local and national media this week, recognizing the life of service and leadership of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who passed away this week.  Here's one from PBS.

I met Rev. Jackson in 1997 when I was part of the Chicago delegation to the President's Summit for America's Future. I'm in the back row of this picture, between General John Borling, who was CEO of the United Way/Crusade of Mercy and the Rev. Jackson.

I was in several meetings with him following the April 1997 Summit, but never built any kind of relationship.

Between 1998 and 2000 I participated in monthly planning meetings held at Operation PUSH headquarters, along with leaders of the Illinois Judicial Council.  The goal was to develop a strategy that the Judges could take to area Black churches to influence the growth of mentoring programs in more places.

Below is part of a plan that I developed for the group, titled "Join the Minister's Mobilization".

You can view the complete plan at this link, along with some related documents. 

Then open this document to see an updated version of this plan that I created in the late 2000s. 

My latest update can be seen in this visual essay.

Unfortunately, the strategy presented at Operation PUSH never went very far.  We reached a point in our meetings when I was asking the Rev Jackson to take the role shown in the graphic below, using his powerful voice to draw volunteers AND donors to individual churches, so they would have the resources to actually start AND operate mentor-rich programs.  

I was told that this was not what the Rev Jackson did, since he was constantly raising money for Operation PUSH programs.  That's when I stopped attending the meetings at Operation PUSH.

So we're in 2026 with still too few programs, and with a lot fewer Black kids living in the Southside neighborhoods of Chicago.

However, I've continued to share that strategy for the past 25 years.

What's a message that faith leaders might be delivering?  I asked Google Gemini to look at this speech, by the CEO of a company, then create a speech, delivered by a Faith leader. It's posted below.

--- begin Gemini version ---

From Prayer to Purpose: A Unified Covenant for Chicago’s Future Presenter:
[Leader Name/Title], [Faith Community/Organization Name]
Audience: Chicago Interfaith Council & Regional Religious Leadership

The "Why": Beyond Charitable Almsgiving
Friends and fellow laborers, we are all familiar with the call to "clothe the naked" and "feed the hungry." We pass the plate, we run our food pantries, and we offer our prayers. But if we are honest, our current approach is fragmented. We are tending to the wounds, but we are not stopping the violence that causes them.

If we were building a new sanctuary, we would not lay a single brick without a sanctified blueprint. Yet, when it comes to the "living stones" of our city—the children growing up in the shadows of systemic neglect—we often operate without a shared vision.

I am here today to ask our congregations to adopt a specific strategic blueprint: The Tutor/Mentor Connection Strategy Map.

The Blueprint: A Map for Mercy and Justice
This is more than a diagram; it is a systemic path to redemption for our neighborhoods. You can view this sacred map here: http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map.

As faith leaders, we understand the "Cradle-to-Calling" journey. If a child’s path is blocked by the thorns of poverty and a lack of guidance, the divine potential within them is stifled. This map shows us exactly where the path is broken and how we, as a community of faith, can mend it.

The Sacred Site: Our Buildings as Bridges
The research is clear: relationships save lives, but relationships need a place to grow. We cannot rely on informal or school-based connections alone. We need organized, site-based programs that serve as "hubs" of social capital.

Look around at our houses of worship. These are not just buildings; they are underutilized sanctuaries for the youth in our "service deserts." By hosting organized programs, we provide a safe, consistent space where a child knows a mentor will be waiting every week. These sites become the "glue" that attracts both the child and the volunteer, offering access to technology, quiet study, and a community of peers that many cannot find elsewhere.

The Four-Part Ministry of Presence
To make Chicago "mentor-rich," we must apply the same discipline to our outreach that we apply to our liturgy:

* Bearing Witness (Data): We must map where the light is shining and where the darkness remains. We must identify the neighborhoods where organized programs don't exist and ask ourselves: Why not here?

* Prophetic Voice (Public Awareness): We must use our pulpits. I am challenging you to record a video "reading" this strategy map to your congregants. We must signal that mentoring is a core tenet of our faith, not a side project.

* Stewardship of People (Resource Distribution):
We don’t just give tithes; we give ourselves. We must drive our most valuable asset—our people—into the zip codes that have been forsaken.

* Cultivating the Vineyard (Continuous Improvement):
We must share our collective expertise in administration and stability to help small, neighborhood missions move from "surviving" to "thriving."

The "Village" Cluster: Our Sacred Role
Look at the "Village Clusters" on the map. Whether you lead a mosque, a synagogue, a cathedral, or a storefront church, you are a pillar of this village. I am calling for "Moral Signaling." When a faith community adopts this map, they are committing to a 20-year covenant of support—a "long obedience" in the same direction.

 "Enough is enough. We cannot simply pray for a better Chicago while standing still. We must adopt a strategy that matches the scale of the giants we are facing." 

The Closing Challenge: Anoint the Strategy
At the top of this map is a blue box. It is currently empty. It is waiting for the seal of your faith community.

By placing your identity alongside this strategy, you are telling the people of Chicago that your house of worship is a bridge to the future. You are vowing that a child born today in a high-poverty neighborhood will have a spiritual family and a physical "site" of support walking beside them until they reach their full, God-given potential twenty years from now.

My Next Step: I have already integrated this strategy map into our community’s mission portal and opened our doors for these sessions. I would like to show you how to do the same.

Would you like me to send you the "Leader’s Script" we use to explain this map and the use of our buildings to our members during service?

---- end Gemini ----

I was inspired to use Google Gemini by Gene Bellinger, who has demonstrate its value through articles he's posted on his Substack - click here to find his articles.  

Thanks for reading this.  I think one of the best ways to honor the memory of the Rev. Jesse Jackson would be to adopt the strategies I've shared in this post, and share your commitment at least four times a year with a sermon based on what I shared here, or that you create by using Gemini yourself. 

You can become the YOU in the graphic shown above.

Let's connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, etc.  Find links here.

If you value what I'm sharing, please visit this page and make a contribution to help me keep doing it.

Mapping Complex Systems - The Epstein Network

I've posted many articles with examples of mapping networks.  Here's another example.  This should be of interest to many.

I'm reading an article titled, "The "Epstein Files" and the anatomy of hidden social networks: How secrecy reshapes structure and why its analysis is conditional on data."   It includes this graphic, which is a map of 25,232 documents downloaded from the Epstein Files.

I won't even try to summarize what this interactive map is showing and how it's featured in this "Complexity Thoughts" article.  I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself,  then open the map and explore it.  

What this demonstrates is the wide range of data that can be organized and communicated via tools like Kumu, Gephi, NodeXL and others.

What's more, without "sense making", as demonstrated by this article, the size of the database will actually work against creating shared understanding or commitment to agreed-upon paths to solutions.

I'll look forward to learning more.