Innovating new funding solutions

I wish peace, good health and happiness to all who celebrate any religious holiday this weekend.  However, I'm not sure any GOD is going to help us unless we do more to help ourselves.  Thus....

A few days ago I shared an article titled, "Funders, here's the blueprint for saving democracy", written by Vu Le.   I wrote about it in this article. 

I've used the term "blueprint" in many articles, to show a range of actions that donors, leaders, policy-makers, etc. need to be taking to help make sure well-organized, long-term, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are available in EVERY high poverty area of Chicago and other places with concentrations of persistent poverty.

I've been using this "Mentoring Kids to Careers" graphic, along with various versions, since late 1990s, to emphasize the same goals.

In the lower left corner is a map of Chicago, with high poverty areas shaded grey. These are the areas where mentor-rich programs are most needed BECAUSE of how they can expand social capital and aspirations and open doors to opportunity.  

What makes my work unique is that I don't just point to the research.  I maintain a list of Chicago volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs and look for ways to draw volunteers AND donors DIRECTLY to each program, throughout the year.   My long-term goal has been that a program website serves as the "grant proposal" and donors use that, plus the information I share about long-term mentoring, and the need for such programs in high poverty areas, to make funding decisions.

In this article you can find my list of programs and see how I plot them on a map. This helps people find existing programs and hopefully is used by planners to determine where more are needed.

Below I've created another version, highlighting one stage on my career ladder.

Kids grow one year at a time. Support  needed for many years.

It's great to be able to provide a youth tutoring and/or mentoring activity that lasts for one, or two years, but it takes 12 years to move from first grade through high school and four to six more years beyond that to be starting a job and career. Expanding the "who you know" network is critically important for kids living in areas of segregated, concentrated poverty where "who they know" is not as extensive as it is for kids living in more affluent areas.

The challenge Chicago and other places face is building and sustaining k-12 support programs in every high poverty neighborhood.  I've written about this often since starting my blog.  

View in this article

I've been writing articles and sharing graphics like this for nearly 20 years, but as just one voice, I don't have enough impact to influence the massive changes that are needed in how such programs are organized, designed and supported.

Below is another graphic that I use to emphasize the need for continuous flows of flexible operating dollars to youth programs in every high poverty neighborhood.

View in this article

The benefit of long-term support of mentor-rich programs as a form of social capital was reinforced in this 2023 article which points to a report from MENTOR, titled "Opportunities to Invest in Long-Term Social Capital for Our Youth: A Philanthropic Agenda".    

View this group of articles and find more research that donors can use to support funding decisions.

Here's an article about philanthropy that I wrote about in 2018 after it was published by Open Impact. It's titled, "The New Normal: Capacity Building During a Time of Disruption"

I read the article and saw many ideas which I've been trying to implement via the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC since 1993. So I decided to put it on Hypothes.is and re-read it, highlighting relevant parts, and writing comments in the margin that show my own efforts.

In the paper's introduction the writers say "we hope this paper will spark and important conversation". I agree. 

In my comments I suggest that philanthropy would dramatically change if donors were shoppers and if non-profits and social change organizations would put enough information on their web sites for donors, volunteers and clients to make better choices of who they support, and in what ways.  I also emphasize the use of maps to support a better distribution of resources to all high poverty areas of the Chicago region and other places where help is most needed.

Read about Annotation

Thus, I invite you to read "The New Normal: Capacity Building During a Time of Disruption" with three purposes:

1) build a deeper understanding of what I've been trying to do, and to find reasons to support my efforts and help carry them into the future;

2) build a deeper understanding of the challenges facing all social benefit organizations, in the US and the world, and a commitment to draw others into this conversation; and

3) see how on-line annotation works and build a commitment to launch other articles and invite more readers and learners to join in.

I look forward to meeting you in the margins.

So far no one has joined me in reading the New Normal article.   Maybe that's because so few people actually see my articles.

I post on Facebook, Twitter, BlueSky, Mastodon and LinkedIN and occasionally on Instagram. I also have graphics on Pinterest.com.  If you do a Google search for "tutor mentor" my web sites will be on the first page (after paid advertising). Thus, if people are looking, they can find me.

If you're connected to any youth-serving programs in any way (student, alum, volunteer, board member, staff, donor) you can help them attract support by sharing what the organization is doing and making an effort to raise the organization's profile.

You can even write articles like mine.

Thanks for reading!  Enjoy your weekend.

A way forward for philanthropy. A path out of darkness.

My main website is still not working so I'll use my articles to point to the type of links I include in the library.

Here's an article titled, "Funders, here's the blueprint for saving democracy".    It's written by Vu Le, who I've followed for several years.  I urge you to read it.  

I've used the term "blueprint" in many articles, to show a range of actions that donors, leaders, policy-makers, etc. need to be taking to help make sure well-organized, long-term, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are available in EVERY high poverty area of Chicago and other places with concentrations of persistent poverty.

I've also used visualizations to communicate ideas, like this one, which I used this in 2021 in an article where I first quoted Vu Le.  

Again, I urge you to read Vu Le's current article.  

You want a plan to save democracy? He says we already have many blueprints, but donors don't use them.  In his current article he says,  "You want a plan to stop fascism? Here it is, broken down into two parts:"

He starts out with "First, stop the bleeding" and list 8 steps that donors should take.  

I love the first step, which I show below:

"Change your founding charters so you can give out more money and fund differently and more effectively, such as funding progressive individuals, movements, mutual aid, LLCs, religious orgs, 501c4s, PACs, and so on. Stop letting policies written during different times and by people who are less likely to suffer under this regime dictate your actions in the present moment."

I've operated as an LLC since 2011 and if donors had been following this thinking since then all of the content that we created through the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) in the 2000s would still be working, with many upgrades that would draw youth programs together and draw volunteers and donors more consistently to every youth tutor/mentor program operating in defined geographic areas.

His second set of strategies come under the heading of "Fight Fire with Fire".

He wrote, "Gather your team and read Sally Covington’s report that spelled out all the strategies conservatives have been using for decades that liberal-leaning funders have largely avoided, which has contributed greatly to the situation we find ourselves in today. (This report is so vital, I’ve created a link you can easily remember: tinyurl.com/rightwingfunding)

It’s time we use conservatives’ strategies, which focuses on FIVE KEY AREAS, which I summarize here but overlay a progressive lens. These strategies need to be funded through Multi-Year General Operating Dollars (MYGOD), for 20 or 30 years at a time, which is what the right has done, which is why they’ve been so effective."

When Vu Le says "Gather your team" I think of the graphic below. Share Vu Le's article, and mine, and start discussions with friends, family, co-workers, etc. and figure ways to adopt the blueprint he's shared.

While I focus on  helping mentor-rich youth-serving organizations grow, which help kids through school and into adult lives, the graphic below shows many other issues that also need long-term, flexible funding.

A similar concept map could be created to show all of the issues we need to address to not only save Democracy, but to move closer to the ideals expressed in the forming of America, which have made this a land of hope, and opportunity, for immigrants of all backgrounds, since the day the first European set foot on these shores.   

Such a strategy would also address the challenges facing the people who occupied the North American continent before the arrival of Europeans.

I have used cMapTools since 2005 to create concept maps like the one shown above (click here).  Since my website is not opening, I can't point you to the page with my entire collection.  However, I invite you to skim these articles and open the maps I've been sharing.

Furthermore, I encourage you to skim the collection of articles I've written about philanthropy (click here).

Then, read these "tipping point" articles. 

And, read my "blueprint" articles.

In many you'll see that I believe this information needs to be aggregated, and taught from universities and high schools as kids move from first grade through school and through their adult lives.  It needs to be part of on-going learning, just as conservative radio and TV had been embedded for the past 60+ years in an on-going public education and influence program.

Donors need to fund this, too.

Thank you Vu Le for your articles.  If people share these in their networks that's the first step toward making them a reality.

Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website down for repair

I'm sorry to report that my main website, at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net, is not working today.  I'm in the middle of updating to a new cPanel and am stuck because I'm still using the original Joomla from 2007-8 when the website was rebuilt.  The original was built in 1999.

This means all the links in this blog, that point to my library, and lists of programs will not work.  

Links to my concept maps, like the one below, do work, although links within the concept maps, to my website, will not work.

Links to PDF visual essays, such as you see in these articles, will still work.   

Sadly, I'm not a web developer and have always depended on others for website work. Right now I don't have money to hire anyone for major work, but will be looking at a site like Fiver, for a project-based tech support. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Using Research in Planning, Problem-Solving

Last week A Better Chicago released a new report titled "State of Chicago Youth, 2025". I wrote about it in this article. 

I’ve been collecting similar information for over 30 years, showing where people need extra help, why, and what type of help could be offered to youth via organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

And, I’ve been pointing to that research in articles on this blog. I’m sharing a few below. I hope you’ll open the links and take a look, then share the ideas through your own blogs, videos, etc.

Here’s an article where I use maps to show where people need extra help.

It’s one of dozens where I show the four-part, information-based problem-solving strategy that I’ve piloted since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011. It’s one where I point to a section of my library with hundreds of links to articles and research about poverty, racism, inequality and social justice. And, it’s one where I encourage others to share this information in their network, so more people find it and use it.

When I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection the goal was to help every existing tutor/mentor program in the Chicago region get the operating resources, volunteers and ideas each program needs to grow. Here’s one of many articles that focus on the challenges of finding on-going funding for mentor-based programs.

My leadership of a single volunteer-based tutor/mentor program from 1975 to 1992 and a second program starting in 1993, along with my career in retail advertising with the Montgomery Ward corporation, provided the foundation ideas for the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

These experiences led me to understand that organized volunteer-based programs were a way to connect kids in high poverty areas to people, experiences and opportunities that were not readily available in their own family/neighborhoods, due to extreme poverty. Over time, I began to understand this as a form of ‘bridging social capital’ and visualized it in graphics like the one shown below.

Here’s one of many articles where I write about mentoring as a form of social capital.

In my work at Montgomery Ward’s corporate headquarters, from 1973 to 1990, I learned how my department, and other functional teams, supported more than 400 retail stores spread in 40 states. We helped each store be good at attracting customers, selling merchandise and earning a profit. (at least we tried)

Thus, when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection plan in 1993 our initial strategy was to learn what programs existed in Chicago, then to build a public awareness strategy that would attract more attention, volunteers and donors to each program, and to every high poverty neighborhood.

This article shows how we began publishing a Directory of programs in 1994 and how this information was used to support programs.

In this article I describe an on-going information-based planning process, that uses information like I’ve been collecting.

This could be led from institutions who have deep roots in geographic areas, like hospitals, universities, businesses, etc.

To do this research, someone needs to host a library like mine, with lists and directories of youth serving programs, then use that information in an on-going planning, program development and public education and resource generation strategy.

This is a missing step in most of the research I’ve seen for over 25 years. Researchers get the money to do the research and produce a report, with a big event that shares it with the public, but then don't have the money to continue to share that research and draw people together to use it over the following years.  What I do is aggregate links to that research and try to motivate people to use it to support youth tutor/mentor and learning programs in every high poverty area of cities like Chicago.

Over the past 30 years I've piloted actions that I share on my website and that anyone can borrow and apply in their own geographic area.

While I do find a few who host lists of youth serving programs, and even plot the list on interactive maps, I don’t find any with multi-year public awareness efforts aimed at drawing volunteers and donors to every youth-serving program within their city.  If you know of any who do this, please share the link and I'll add them to my library.

Furthermore, I don’t find any doing the deeper research asking “what youth programs exist in your area”.

Doing such research and maintaining a list of programs is a big job, especially in cities as large as Chicago. That’s why, for many years, I’ve tried to motivate universities to build a Tutor/Mentor Connection-based strategy on their campus. This is one of several articles where I share this invitation. 

Forming a College-Based Tutor/Mentor Connection by Daniel F. Bassill

Here’s an article where I show 30 years of effort to build strategic alliances with universities. You can see a wide range of interactions with many universities, but no long-term initiative led by, and funded by, any university.

Why wasn’t I successful? Money. Reputation. Clout.

I never had much of any of these so when I met with someone at a university, I’d receive polite nods, with a “I’m already over extended. Find a younger professor.”

 The answer: ultra wealthy donors

Here's one of several articles where I show the potential of strategic investment by one or more wealthy donors.  Here's another. 

How might we find such donors? 

They are all around us. Do you watch NFL football games? How often do you hear players praised for their philanthropic work? I posted this on Twitter in 2024 sharing the idea from this post.

What if a university aggregated this information and then used it to recruit a group of athletes who support the same cause, to support a Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy at the university that was building the database of athlete involvement?

What if? What if? What if?

What if you share this article in your networks? Maybe someone will read it and adopt the idea and actually take the next steps.

That’s why I write these articles.

If you're connected to a university, or looking to put your name on a building at your alma mater, I hope you'll make this your mission.

Thanks for reading.  There's a lot here, so bookmark the page and return often.  Then, look me up on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and let's connect.  If you're writing similar articles, which I hope you will, please share them.

Finally, if you're able, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund my work. 

State of Chicago Youth - 2025 - Poverty Persists

This week A Better Chicago released a new report titled "State of Chicago Youth, 2025".  I show the cover page and a summary page below.

The report shows that "Too many youth -- especially in communities on the South and West sides of the city -- experience high rates of poverty, violence, unemployment, and homelessness. These long-standing inequities are reflected in every aspect of achievement and well-being including kindergarten readiness, grade-level proficiency in reading and math, high school graduation, college enrollment, and, ultimately, career success."

The report provides a lot of data and statistics, but it's not too long. Spend an hour reading it. Find the PDF on this page.

The report shows that "Of the 2.7 million people who live in Chicago, roughly 793,000 - 29% of the total population -- are under the age of 25, which is how "youth" is defined for purpose of this report.  Of this, 19.8% are under 18, and 5.6% are under the age of five."

Furthermore, "One in four Chicago youth (age 0-18) live in poverty and for Chicago's  youngest residents (age 0-5), that figure is as high as 90% in some neighborhoods."

The report uses a lot of percentages, but by my math that means about 187,900 kids, age -18 live in poverty areas of Chicago.

Compare that to the front page of this 1994 Chicago Tribune.

This shows the same areas of the West and South sides of Chicago as places with "240,000 kids in poverty's grip".  I don't think the lower number in 2025 reflects improvement as much as it reflects migration from the city to the suburbs and other places.  

In the summary page above the left panel shows that "Chicago is among the major cities that continues to experience uneven investment and development across neighborhoods, resulting in inadequate access to essential services, and disparities in economic, education and health outcomes. The data in this report reveals how these historic patterns continue to have a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color.  Understanding these persistent challenges is crucial for developing solutions that create equitable opportunities for all Chicagoans."

Understanding these persistent challenges has been the goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection since it was created in 1993, and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, since it was created in 2011.

And, motivating people to use that understanding to innovate strategies that build needed youth tutor, mentor and learning programs that help kids in high poverty areas move from birth to work.

Articles on this blog, and in the Tutor/Mentor library, are intended to help in this process. 

For instance, here's a graphic that I included in an April 2015 article that I titled, "After the March, do the planning".  (see more on that at the bottom of this article). 

The article includes this August 1993 Chicago SunTimes story, which leads off with a statement saying,  "Chicago neighborhoods that were poor 20 years ago are even more entrenched in poverty today because the city lacks a comprehensive battle plan".

This article concludes "While Chicago has “had all these sincere people making good efforts, one group working on poverty, one on education reform, one on community policing, these problems are too interwoven and too immense. The city needs all anti-poverty efforts “at the same table”.

"So many years. So few changes."  That was the title of this 2024 article.  It included the concept map shown below.

I'd love to find maps like this on the website of A Better Chicago and the dozens of other leadership organizations and foundations who focus on poverty and inequality, or workforce development and education, with explanations like I provide in my articles.

In fact, if you read to the bottom of many of my articles I'm encouraging people to create their own versions, using my history to stimulate their own thinking and actions.  There are more than 2000 articles on this blog to draw from and much more on the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net website.

I posted a note on LinkedIn telling A Better Chicago that I was sharing their report and that I hoped many others would do the same.  

Why? Because building and sustaining public will has always been the missing piece in this strategy. That's what I've focused on.  And, it needs the involvement of many leaders sharing this message, in many ways, for many years. My 30 years of articles should be mirrored by thousands of similar articles.

This article describes the public awareness/education strategy that we launched in 1993 as part of the Tutor/Mentor Connection's strategy.  It includes the graphics shown below.

In the research section of the Tutor/Mentor Library, and in other sections, are countless reports similar to the one released this week by A Better Chicago.  While many were released to wide audiences with much media coverage, few have had an on-going public education campaign intended to influence actions of people who need to be strategically involved in providing the time, talent and resources needed to create greater hope and opportunity for people in every high poverty area of Chicago and other places with persistent poverty.

So how do we change this.  Not easy.  But, I've another graphic for you to consider. 

This article describes a role that universities, even middle schools and high schools, need to take. 

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

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

I've been reading stories of billionaires giving vast sums of money to support charitable causes.  Why can't one provide the money for a few universities to invest in this "tipping point" strategy?  

At the left is a photo of me giving a speech, with the Chicago Tribune map in the background.  This is from the mid 1990s!

Obviously, too few people have heard this message, or we'd find websites in every major city wish maps and graphics and blog articles similar to what I've been sharing, with the same long-term purpose.

This week's report on the "State of Chicago  Youth 2025" from A Better Chicago is a new reminder of the work that needs to be done.  I hope you'll read the report, then dive into my articles and website.  

Maybe in 10 or 20 years a similar result will show more positive news.

While I write this, I realize there is an even bigger issue to address. People all over the country are taking part in protest marches today to try to stop "Trump and Musk's illegal billionaire power grab".  If that does not happen any progress toward the goals I've outlined above will be severely limited. 

Here's a site where you can learn more about getting involved.  Here's a section in the Tutor/Mentor library with political action resource links. Use the library to support your planning!

Thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing your posts and photos if you're protesting today, and your blog articles if you're sharing what I'm writing and the research by A Better Chicago.

How to use this blog

I've been writing this blog as part of a strategy launched in 1993 to help kids living in high poverty areas have access to well-organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that operate in the non-school  hours.

I have hosted a list of Chicago and national volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs on my website since 1993, with the goal that each program will learn ways to constantly improve by learning from others, and donors, policy-makers, businesses and others will use the website to help programs grow in all areas where they are needed.

The graphic below is a question I've tried to ask myself, and others, with my blog articles.  "How can we do this better?"

The articles are intended for program leaders, volunteers, policy makers, resource providers, business, volunteers and virtually anyone who is concerned about poverty, inequality, workforce development and/or democracy.

search on Google for "tutor mentor" and any of these words.

This graphic shows the tags on the left side of the blog, with the larger size type representing more articles with that tag. This was created in 2016 so there are a few more categories in the tag list now, but if you browse the list you'll find them.  Just open any of the tags, then scroll through the articles.

As a short cut to help you find a few articles that provide a broad overview of what I'm writing about, visit this Tumblr site, where I've archived about 20 articles pulled from this blog.

I don't expect anyone to read every article in a day, or a year. However, if you follow current articles and browse past articles from time-to-time you'll begin to understand the ideas I'm sharing and hopefully, you'll want to share them via your own blog, meetings, social media, etc.

Thanks for reading.  As we move further through 2025 the challenges of building and sustaining volunteer-based tutor/mentor and learning programs reaching k-12 youth in high poverty areas will grow as the competition for funding gets more severe, due to cuts in Federal funding. 

Finding ideas that work for some people in some places which can be applied by other people in many places is a potentially winning strategy.

I hope you'll connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, etc. (see links here). Share your own resource libraries and blog links. Help guide more people through this information. 

If you value this work please visit this page and use the PayPal button to send me some financial support to help fund this work.  

April 1st. No joke this year.

I often look at articles I wrote in the past for inspiration. Today I looked at an article I wrote on March 31, 2019.  I'm posting the full article below.  It's still relevant.

However, some things have changed since then.

First, the day after I wrote my 2019 article I was hit by a car and suffered a fractured leg and shoulder. I was in a wheel chair for the next 4 months. 

Covid-19 had not yet hit. That came a year later. In April 2020 after the lock-downs began, I wrote this article.  We're still suffering from Covid and now face new epidemics with a Federal government that is cutting research and has an anti-vaccine stance. 

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz did not win the November 2024 election so this article that I wrote about Governor Walz's interest in mapping probably does not apply to anyone in the new administration. 

In 2023 I wrote this article about information-based problem solving. I don't expect anyone in the current administration to apply this thinking but those looking to save our democracy, and our planet, sure could use these ideas.  

So, here's what I wrote on March 31, 2019:

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

Here's the goal:

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

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

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

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

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

That's no April Fools joke.

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

Tipping Point-role of universities

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

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

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

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

SunTimes, Oct 15, 1998

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

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

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

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

--- end 2019 article ---

Much has changed since 2019 and some problems seem much more urgent now than building systems of support for kids living in high poverty areas. 

I included this graphic in a 2022 article with the headline "Kids not living in high poverty need mentors, too."  

If we don't build systems that help all kids become learners, creative-problem solvers and active leaders, we're doomed to giving our country, and our future, to a small group of ultra wealthy who want to take us back to the dark ages when monarchs ruled by decree and most people had few rights. 

In my 2019 article I wrote, "Kids as young as one or two years old are reading Bible stories. Many do this for their entire lives."  Sadly, this is one reason we have something called PROJECT 2025 and why millions of America have joined a cult that elected the current President and resulted in his selling of America to the highest bidder. 

Information-based problem solving is intended to provide ideas to support your efforts to solve problems like this. Finding the time and motivation to dig into this is just one more problem. 

Thanks for reading.  The problems we face are no April Fools Day joke.

If you appreciate what I'm writing, please visit this page and make a contribution.