Create Visual Blueprints

As you look at this information, think of 

a) how do these ideas apply in my community?

b) how do these ideas apply to COVID19, climate crisis, public health issues, poverty, the digital divide, violence, or other issues beyond raising kids?

c) how might you share these ideas via your own blog, concept maps, visualizations, social media?

If you browse many articles on this blog you'll see that I'm committed to visual thinking, via concept maps, graphics and geographic maps.  Here's an example:

This Mentoring Kids to Careers cMap shows a variety of supports kids need at every age level as they move from first grade through high school, post high school and into jobs.  If you look at the lower left part of the map you'll see that I believe volunteers who get involved with youth in organized, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs represent a form of "bridging social capital", meaning they connect kids and families to resources beyond high poverty neighborhoods.  The value of these connections grow the longer they last.

Mentoring Kids to Careers - click to open

Below is the same concept map, except I've enlarged one segment to show the supports needed more clearly.  My maps is just a "starting point". Others could create a similar version and add more nodes onto the map.

Below is another graphic, that shows the "mentoring kids to careers" idea on the left, and at the right, shows a much larger range of problems that face kids and families in many high poverty areas.  All of these need to be address on a concurrent basis, which represents a huge challenge.

View this concept map - click here

These concept maps are a "hub and spoke" design. The hub is the issue and the spokes represent sub issues and solutions.   Below is another graphic, where I emphasize the timeline of 12 to 20 years that it takes to help kids through school and into jobs and careers.  Few funding streams last this long, which is one of the challenges we need to overcome.

In these graphics you can see a small map of Chicago, with areas of high poverty highlighted. Below is a screen shot of the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, created in 2008-09 using a contribution from an anonymous donor.

Screen shot of  Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator

The Program Locator was an on-line version of a Directory that the Tutor/Mentor Connection began producing in 1994, based on survey data it began collecting in January 1994.  The first on-line search page was launched in 2004, then this map based version was created in 2008.  Note: due to lack of funds the Program Locator is now out-of-date and serves only as a model.  See updated map at this link.

The graphic below shows the purpose of the maps and Program Locator.  If an intermediary, such as the T/MC shown in the blue box, gathers information and shares it in a web library and on-line directory, as I have done sine 1994, then anyone can reach out to "all who can help", represented by the list on the right, and pull them to the directory and the library, where they learn where help is needed, who is providing help, and what they do, based on information on their web sites.

Build information libraries to connect resource providers and service providers

Then they can decide who to help, how, and how much, without waiting for a grant proposal. Just send the contribution or an email to make a connection. Do it every year.

Let me summarize. Blueprints like I've shown at the top, need to be created to show all work that needs to be done, and how that work needs to sequence in order for it to be done right. For instance, if you're building a tower, you don't do the fourth floor, or install the electricity, until you've laid the foundation and built the first three floors.

Kids need strong foundations, then continuous support, then people who help open doors to jobs, careers and life-long learning.

The organizations who provide that help need consistent, flexible funding, as do the intermediaries who support them.

4-part strategy

I could add  more and more, but instead, I encourage you to browse other articles on this blog, on a regular basis, not as a binge.

Visit this page and read about the 4-part strategy that I launched in 1993 and have been following since then. It's an information-based strategy that also focuses on the public awareness and knowledge building that need to be included in any long-term problem solving.

Then spend time going through other sections of the web site to know what's available, just as you would when going to a new shopping mall.  Bookmark the pages of interest and then return often for deeper learning.

Here are three other concept maps to review:

Dashboards:  This concept map  points to a variety of data information dashboards.  One thing others can do is aggregate their own library of information and share it using concept maps, like this one.  View articles on this blog tagged maps, media & violence to see how I put maps into stories.

Information Libraries - Issues that need to be addressed: This concept map shows issues that need to be considered in closing the Digital Divide. 

Who is already involved? This concept map shows intermediary organizations in Chicago who focus on  youth well-being. Getting them regularly connected to each other is one goal.

A map like this could identify people in a neighborhood who need to be connected.

These are part of a collection of concept maps that I've created since 2005. Others could create their own collection and use it to draw people together and build shared commitment to common goals.

And, how might you support Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, to communicate these ideas more effectively, or embed it into my institution?

I'm constantly looking for volunteers, partners an investors to help create these maps, the Tutor/Mentor web library, and the articles and social media activity where I draw attention to them. 

I look forward to connecting with you on one of these social media pages.

Lack of Technology Equipment or Access - Another Crisis.

read  Digital Divide articles 

I've posted several articles on the MappingforJustice blog that focus on the Digital Divide, or the lack of technology access and/or equipment, that prevents millions of people from accessing the world via the Internet.  This problem is highlighted now during #Covid19, as schools in Chicago and other states are closed and students are forced to access the Internet for learning. Many are left behind.

This screen shot shows interactive map included in WBEZ article titled "Clear Signs Of The Digital Divide Between Chicago’s North And South Sides"

The article reports that "more than half the households in Englewood and nearly half the households in West Englewood (51 percent), Riverdale (49 percent), Auburn Gresham, and South Shore (both 46 percent), lacked internet access at home".

This is a disadvantage for youth and adults.

In 2017 I watched a one hour documentary showing the Digital Divide in America, and identifying three key challenges that must be overcome.

I created this concept map to visualize that discussion and add some other issues that were not included in the video.

Digital Divide concept map - click here

I show these maps and articles with the goal that readers will be concerned and will share the articles with others, who will also be concerned, and that this will result in people from different sectors giving time, talent and dollars to help reduce this problem.

Browse other articles on this blog, and the Tutor/Mentor blog, and share with your network, as the graphic below suggests.

These graphics visualize network of support needed by every youth, in every neighborhood.

The "hub and spoke" graphic at the top visualizes the range of supports every youth needs as she grows from pre-school through high school, college and beyond.  The graphic at the bottom illustrates the role every person can take to "get informed" using information libraries and blogs such as the one I  host, then share what they are learning with people they know, "to get other people involved".

One of those spokes would be technology skills and access.  Here's an example.  I saw this article about "ending poverty in one generation" on my Slack channel, then shared it in my Twitter feed.

I was introduced to this article in my #Chihacknight slack channel. It's long, but worth reading for those seeking to help economies grow in Africa, Asia, South America, etc. #clmooc https://t.co/91eAMzTGqb

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 26, 2020

If other people read this blog, or follow my Twitter feed, they will find this article, too. They may share it with others who use the ideas in their own efforts.  That's the goal.

If this helps close the Digital Divide, or can make more mentor-rich learning efforts available to youth in all high poverty areas of Chicago, the USA, and the world, then we've done well with our time.

This work is not something that can be done in a day, or even a year or a decade. But it is work that needs to be done.  If you'd like help digging through the information I'm sharing, or in making sense of some of the graphics, I'm available.

Building learning habits during COVID19

Support learning

The image at the right shows volunteers and youth in the computer lab at the tutor/mentor program I led in Chicago from 1993 to 2011.  It's relevant now because it could be a room in millions of home throughout the world, where older youth and adults mentor younger youth and help them develop habits of curiosity and life-long learning.  Could we emerge from #COVID19 with a newly motivated culture of learning, where all are serving as coaches, tutors, mentors and guides?

In 2010 a volunteer who was looking at the resources of the Tutor/Mentor Connection wrote a blog article titled "Thinking like Google", in which he compared the T/MC to Google. He wrote,

It occurred to me that this forum is essentially modeled on a similar format as Google's. Tutormentorconnection.ning.com a) looks for information, or content, and people relevant to the cause of tutoring and mentoring; b) organizes, analyzes, and archives that information for future reference; and c) utilizes those references for targeted advertising campaigns, social networking, grant-writing, and the like. Even more to the point, this forum is a way of attempting to grow the idea of tutoring and mentoring to scale, or to a point where it "tips".

I've built a huge web library and I've created a variety of PDF essays over the past 20 years that are intended to help people learn ways to support the growth of volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring and learning programs in high poverty neighborhoods. While I point to these via email newsletters and social media, I've been looking for new ways to introduce these concepts.

How about a WebQuest?  How might I motivate students and adults to take Michael's advice and begin to journey through my web library, and as they do, share what they are learning with people in their own network, so they begin their own journey through this information.

Several years ago I began to learn about WebQuest and I created an animation to introduce this concept. You can view it on YouTube

Here are a couple of other animations introducing students to a web quest.

Making a map, class assignment, animation.

Doing a web quest.

Interns were on this journey for short bursts of time every year between 2006 and 2015.  Here's a page that shows work interns have done in the past to guide people through this information.

For the past 20 years, I've been updating the links on the web library so all are working, and I keep adding new links. I also keep adding new blog articles here, here and here. Some of the articles written 10-15 years ago are as relevant today as they were then, so while it's important that you subscribe and follow new articles, it's also important that you visit the past and read some of those articles.

learning communities
focused on specific geography

Here's a visualization done by one of our past interns that illustrates the goal of supporting groups of learners in many sectors, who each look at maps to determine where youth and families need more help, and what programs are already operating in those areas.....who need constant support to constantly improve and stay available.

The links in the web library point to more than 200 youth serving programs in Chicago and others around the country. They point to research articles and to business and foundation web sites.  They represent a large ocean of ideas you can use to help programs grow, by borrowing good ideas already working in different places, rather than by starting from scratch on an on-going basis.

Most of the links in the web library point to other people's ideas, not my own. This emphasizes the purpose of the library for myself, and others. We can do more by borrowing ideas from others than from constantly starting from the beginning.

However, some links point to my own ideas, which I've communicated with illustrated presentations which you can find in my blogs, and on this page and in libraries at Scribd.com and SlideShare.

Intern projects from 2004-2015

Students from around the world could be looking at the web library, and my articles, and could be creating their own presentations to draw adults and other students from their own community into this information, and into actions that lead to the growth of more programs in more places that help kids move through school and into careers.  Visit this page and see how past interns working with me in Chicago have already been doing this.

Pages like mine could be hosted on the website of every college, high school and middle school, showing work their own students have done to visualize solutions to complex local and global problems.

If you're hosting a web library, and creating visualized articles to motivate people to visit your library and support youth serving organizations in your community, please share your links so others can learn from you. If you're interested in exploring this idea with me, let's connect on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Connecting Virtually During #Covid-19

This morning I spent about an hour in a webinar hosted by Valerie Leonard, founder of NonProfit Utopia, which seeks to support organizations in the non-profit sector.  At about the 35 minute mark of the webinar Valerie shared her screen with me and I presented some ideas that people might adopt over the next few weeks and months. Take a look at the whole recording, or just the last part.



 This webinar was focused on strategies non-profit organizations might use to struggle through the massive disruptions caused by Covid-19 and the recovery that will come at some point in the future. As I listened to the first part of the webinar and viewed Valerie's slides I wrote some notes on my notepad, which I later referred to in my segment. Here's what I wrote:

Where are you located?

First. Ask  yourself, "What is my geography"?  Create a map and put an X on it to show where you live, or where your nonprofit organization is located.  The boundary of this map could be as small as a few blocks, or as large as a Chicago Community Area, Alderman's Ward, a zip code, or section of the city.  You decide.

Then ask, "Who are peers, or other organizations, doing similar work to what I do, within this geography?"  If you are a non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor program, I already have created a map showing nearly 200 existing organizations.  Similar maps are being created by STEM networks, ARTS networks, and others.  Any can be used as a base map for your own individualized map.

Then ask, "Who are other  organizations in my geographic area who are resources to me?" Universities, hospitals, faith groups, businesses, consulting groups, etc. all could be shown on the map. They all share the same geography, thus should share a concern for the well-being of the people and organizations serving that region.

is there a conversation?

Next, ask, "How well am I connected to these other organizations? Are we connected on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Instagram? Are we following each other? Do we share email newsletters?"

Are we regularly sharing ideas about what works, what does not work, what are common challenges we each face? Are there ways to address these collectively, as a shared commitment, rather than trying to solve these through our singular, limited efforts?

During the next few weeks while you're home-bound would be a good time to collect this information and start reaching out to people in your geography.

Then ask, "Am I looking at a wider geography, too?" Who else in Chicago does what I do?  Do they have conversations about issues that I can join and learn from?  Are they sharing ideas that I could use to improve my own organization, or to deal better with this crisis?

Look beyond Chicago, nationally, even internationally.

Think of this as network building, starting locally, but reaching globally

The Covid-19 pandemic affects people throughout the world. Thus, there must be some who are innovating ways to help social organizations survive and even thrive during this crisis.  There must be many with ideas of how to stay connected to youth and adult clients and help them during the months when they are home-bound and isolated from each other.

There must be ways to reach out to technology companies, policy-makers and donors to make broadband internet access available in EVERY household in America, then the world.  So that everyone can be part of this conversation, not just those blessed with the technology and knowledge of how to use it.

Use my blog as a model

I finished my part of the webinar by saying every non-profit should have a website and blog where they are sharing their own ideas, and their own maps.  Any could use my blog as stimulation for their own thinking.

Furthermore, youth could be using the time they are home-bound to do this research and create blogs and/or videos where they share their own ideas.  I pointed to this Feb. 2014 article during the webinar.

I posted a Tweet yesterday pointing to the TutorMentorConnection.ning.com site that I've hosted since 2007, showing how interns working with me in Chicago did this type of research, then created graphics, videos, animations, blogs, etc. where they shared their own understanding.

If you're venturing into on-line learning you might get some ideas from how I coached interns working with me in #Chicago from 2007-2016. Look at each discussion, see how I pointed them in direction, then supported their learning. https://t.co/EPsxJgRwjs pic.twitter.com/xeFM0SKN0B

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 17, 2020

All non-profits have same needs.

I have been modeling this thinking and encouraging others to duplicate it for the past 25 years.  By using a map we're saying "Every neighborhood needs world-class quality youth serving programs"  Without a map resources flow to a few places, making a few good programs available to just a small fraction of the youth who need them.

I suspect this is true in other sectors, too. 

Be like Dan.

Make your voice heard.

What I've just done over the past hour is share my thinking via a blog article. You may agree, disagree, or not even look at this. 

However, I think it's something that everyone could be doing to share their own ideas about how to make the world a better place.  Maybe the "talking heads" could learn from what some of us are saying. Instead of just being an invisible body in a crowd, make your ideas known to others.

Here's a page where I show social media sites where I'm active. I encourage you to join me there and share links to your own stories.

And, here's a page where you can use PayPal to send me a contribution to help fund my time collecting and sharing this information.

Thanks again to Valerie Leonard for hosting the webinar today and stimulating my own thinking.

Learning at Home Resources

Kids can continue learning

With the CoronaVirus pandemic closing schools and non-school programs in Chicago, throughout Illinois, and in other states, parents and students are searching for sources of on-line learning, engagement and recreation.

Here's a link to the homework help section of the Tutor/Mentor Library, where I've been aggregating links for many years.  The challenge for most families is that there won't be a trained teacher, tutor or mentor to coach kids to use these resources.

One solution is for older siblings to tutor younger ones.  The other is for parents to try to learn about some of these resources. The best would be for kids to be pointed to learning sites, then figure out which ones they like best. Probably a combination.

One type of mentoring and tutoring that has been growing for the past decade is eMentoring and eTutoring, where the youth and volunteer do not meet in person, but online, in an activity that is facilitated through well-organized programs.  In this section of the tutor/mentor library I point to some eMentoring programs that I know of.

Because so many schools have suddenly closed, due to the CoronaVirus, many people are scrambling to learn how to teach on-line or to find on-line resources.  Social media is meeting that need, with many people sharing ideas, or aggregating links, to a collection of learning resources.

Here are a few Tweets in my @tutormentorteam feed today. If you search some of the #hashtags shown in these Tweets, you can see the same information as I am, and much more.

Check this out on Wakelet - Learning at home https://t.co/SnHVW42iSu via @wakelet @HeritageECS #TheTinyCouch #WEareinthistogether

— Faye Harp (@harp_faye) March 16, 2020

We have compiled a list of resources for our pupils during the school shutdown. Thanks to @MsNiamhBrady and @MaggieMGreen for the inspiration https://t.co/3uSDFzIl7Q via @wakelet

— KilmacthomasPrimary (@KilmacPrimary) March 16, 2020

Parents, if you’re looking for a FREE and easy way to keep the education train going please check out this #LearnAtHome program https://t.co/NQR6zEudZK

— Cierra Carere (@MsCThriving3s) March 16, 2020

Did you know The Resource Bank has a new Mathematics Hub? There are collections of resources for school and home available. My favourites are the Math Games, Videos & Tutorials, and DLC Blended Math Lessons by grade. https://t.co/IBiMGawRGE #OER #learning#learnathome #math pic.twitter.com/h4CbVfkcJB

— Melissa Lander (@landermrs) March 16, 2020

These are just a FEW of the MANY free virtual learning resources available!!! #learnathome #athomelearning #StayAtHome #virtuallearning #teachersofinstagram #QuarantineLife pic.twitter.com/nR76RALgpY

— A Cupcake for the Teacher (@Cupcake4Teacher) March 16, 2020

These same resources are probably being shared on Facebook, LinkedIN, Instagram and other sites. I like Twitter because you can narrow your search using a #hashtag, then scroll through Tweets you find.

For teachers looking for ideas about teaching on-line here's a list aggregated by @VanceS of the Webheads in Action community. https://t.co/MMuI2vaUfp #clmooc

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 15, 2020

I hope you find this useful. You can share what works by posting your own Tweet, using one or more of these hashtags.  If you point to @tutormentorteam, I'm sure to see your post.

I've been working from home most of the time since 2011, and have spent much time in on-line learning since 1998, so I'm not as inconvenienced as many are from being forced to stay at home.

I hope that this virus passes over most of us, and harms as few people as possible.  If you're able to share ideas and help others who need someone to talk with, or to help with food or other tasks, please do.  We're all in this together.

4/10/2020  update - A group from the University of Maryland has been creating a list of Covid19 visualizations, which is updated daily on this GoogleDoc.

4/10/2020 update - here's another resource to stay updated on Covid19. It's created by CrowdTangle. Open this link and see maps of various countries. Click on any map and a dashboard, similar to TweetDeck, opens for that country.

5/6/2020 update - EducatingALLLearners is another resource. click here  Hashtags where people are sharing ideas on Twitter include #TeacherReady,  #RemoteLearning, #NextGenEdu

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.

Making mentor-rich programs available to more youth

There's much research showing the importance of relationships and mentors, but I don't find enough articles talking about the need for organized non-school programs that connect mentors and youth who live in poverty areas. I find few talking about this as a form of bridging social capital.

If we agree on the need for a mentor, then we need to talk about what types of programs are needed to build these connections for more youth living in high poverty areas of Chicago and other places.

This graphic is part of a logic model pdf that I created several years ago.  If we believe connecting a youth to extra adults and a wide range of learning an enrichment activities is important, then we need to build and sustain youth serving organizations in all places where kids need extra help, so that volunteers can more readily connect with these young people. This requires leadership from business, universities, religion, media, politics, entertainment, etc.

Year-end celebration at
Montgomery Ward Tutoring Program

I led volunteer based, non-school tutor/mentor programs in Chicago from 1975 to 2011. The first program was already started when I joined as a tutor in 1973, then became its volunteer leader in 1975. At that time about 100 pairs of 2nd-6th grade youth and volunteers, mostly employees at the Montgomery Ward Corporate Office in Chicago, were starting the year, but only about half were staying the entire year. By 1990 the number was up to 300 pairs, with the number growing from the start of the school year till the end.

In November 1992 I and six other volunteers formed Cabrini Connections, to help kids who aged out of the first program have a support system helping them from 7th grade through high school and beyond. The program started with 7 volunteers and five 7th and 8th graders in Jan 1993 and reached about 90 pairs by 1998. It stayed at that level through 2011 due to limits of space.  Many alumni are now college graduates, working, and raising their own families.

Map created by T/MC

As we formed Cabrini Connections to help youth in one neighborhood, we also created the Tutor/Mentor Connection, to help similar programs grow in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago. Since 2011 this has been led by the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

While the program at Montgomery Ward was not a non profit and primarily led by volunteers, the Cabrini Connections-T/MC program was a non profit, and each year we had to raise money to fund our operations. By 2011 we had raised over $6 million dollars, funding both the direct service tutor/mentor program, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), which we launched at the same time (1993). This is a 1990-2017 timeline that shows some milestones in T/MC growth.

Find at this link

Based on this long experience of operating a program, I've created three presentations that show steps to starting and sustaining a program.

I'm writing about Steps to Start a Program today.

In this I emphasize some of the reasons programs fail, and listed some points made by Mark Freedman in a 1991 book titled, "The Kindness of Strangers: Reflections on the Mentoring Movement.". These include - missing infrastructure; -  poor program models; -  missing follow-up; - emphasis on marketing and recruitment instead of program support; - poor or no coordination

Then I provide a set of visualizations and ideas that can overcome these obstacles, such as the one below.

4-color graphic created by Wayne Berg, artist at WANYiMATION 

Over my 35 years of leading a tutor/mentor program, I've developed a commitment to comprehensive, mentor-rich programs, which build connections early in a youth's education timeline and try to sustain them as the youth moves through school, toward college and a career.

This idea is communicated by the small graphic in the lower left and by the two larger 4-color graphics. As you look at these, I want to emphasize another point. While I created the smaller graphic, Wayne Berg, artist at WANYiMATION, working with Sara Caldwell, a former tutor and long-term supporter, created the four-color interpretation. You'll see several of these in the presentation. What this means is that students from many places could be creating their own versions of these presentations.  Interns from IIT in Chicago have been doing such work with me since 2005.

When I say "mentor-rich" I mean volunteers should be recruited from a wide range of business and work occupations and experiences, so youth have many role models they can aspire to achieve, and so the organization has many talents to draw upon to help it grow, as well as many sources of potential funding and support.  I illustrate this in another presentation that I titled "Total Quality Mentoring".

I've posted articles showing that this type of mentoring is a way to expand social capital for youth with limited adult networks. I encourage you to read them.

In Steps to Start a Program I use a version of this same graphic to describe the "team" of volunteers (some may become members of your Board of Directors) who need to be recruited to support the work of starting a program, then sustaining and growing it. This Talent Map is a worksheet anyone can use to see that they fill all of the needed functional roles. You'll see an updated version of that talent map in the PDF presentation.

While I was  a volunteer, leading a tutor/mentor programs with 100 pairs of kids/volunteers in 1975, that grew to 300 pairs by 1990, I also held full time retail advertising management roles with Montgomery Ward. I did not have a lot of time to reach out and "teach" every volunteer everything they needed to know.

So I began to create a "resource library" that I encouraged volunteers to draw from to support their own learning and innovations.  That library has grown extensively over 40 years and now is available at this link.

In Steps to Start a Program I emphasize the need to draw your volunteers and co-organizers into this learning process. Look at research showing where and why programs are needed. Look at web sites of other programs, in Chicago, and around the world, to see what ideas they include in their programs that you want to include in your own. This learning, comparison and constant improvement should be an on-going part of your operating philosophy.

The result of this learning should be a definition of mission, goals and a theory of change, which will guide your program development and future operations.

Part of program planning is defining mission and goals

Throughout my blog articles and in Steps to Start a Program I use graphics to illustrate program design principles.

Use visuals to show goals

In this one I talk about the role of programs, volunteers, parents, peers, etc. as one of "pushing" kids to make the right choices, practice the right habits, etc. to  enable them to stay safe and have the lives and careers they aspire to. Don't we all wish kids would listen to everything we tell them?  

In this graphic I also show the role of businesses, and their volunteers, dollars, technology and jobs in "pulling" kids through school and into careers. In the research section of the web library are countless articles showing how poverty, and the need for income to support a family, lead kids off the path to college and careers. Program designs that include business as full partners can "influence" choices and aspirations and provide experience, income, jobs, apprenticeships and much more.

In Steps to Start a Program program design then leads to program location.  Finding a place to operate, that is easily and safely accessible to kids and available to volunteers when they are heading home from work is essential in creating a program that will attract and retain a growing number of participants.

Once  you have a space to operate then you decide dates and times when the site is going to be open and when kids and volunteers will meet.  If you have a facility that you can keep open during non-school hours, the staff become mentors and glue that attracts kids and volunteers. While a volunteer might only meet with a youth two hours a week on one day, the youth might visit the site on other days to  use the computers, meet in group learning activities with other volunteers and/or just "hang out" with peers.

Next you need to determine strategies for recruiting volunteers and students.  These are two different challenges.  If your planning process resulted in a team of volunteers from local businesses, faith groups and/or colleges, you have people to help you recruit volunteers. If your facility is easy to get to, and hours of operation fit time frames when volunteers are available on an on-going basis, and you design an on-going communications program that encourage volunteers to participate, you should be able to build a corps of volunteers, who as they build loyalty to your organization, will then encourage other volunteers to join you.  This is a process. It can take several years for a program to grow. 

Having a reliable source of student participants is essential to attracting and keeping volunteers. If kids don't show up regularly volunteers will become discouraged and not continue to participate. Thus, your planning needs to develop partners in schools, public housing, and faith groups who will help you with your initial recruitment.  Once students start to participate you should build a direct connection to parents and care-givers, support on-going  participation.

So you want to start a program. Are you including all of these steps in your planning? 

We're in March now. If you use Steps to Start A Program and have success building a team and doing your research, hopefully you're ready by mid June to set a start up schedule and launch your program by recruiting kids and volunteers.

Wait! What about funding?  Have you found some donors who will provide the money needed to pay rent, insurance, staff, supplies, office equipment, etc?  If you've recruited a team from different businesses, they can help open doors for funding opportunities. If you're really lucky, you have a wealthy patron. You may be seeking a government grant, but those come with restrictions and don't cover all your costs.  In the Tutor/Mentor web library are many articles to read about fund raising.  Do your homework. Know what challenges you face and what resources are available.

Hopefully, next August you're starting to recruit kids and volunteers and by mid September you've done the screening, orientations and matching and kids and volunteers are starting to meet.

Do you have a plan to track participation, provide feedback, coaching and follow up on a regular basis?  How will you evaluate what you're doing so  you can learn what works, what is not working and find ways to keep improving?  That needs to be part of your planning process.  This Shoppers Guide PDF shows some things you should be thinking about before you start your program, and focusing on as you move through the first year toward your 50th  year some time in the future.

Summary:
Every child who is helped by a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program to become a tax-paying adult represents a savings and an investment.  We are offered with the choice of a 12 to 16-year investment as a child becomes and adult and becomes a taxpayer, vs the potential lifetime costs of public services associated with children who live adult lives that are a drain on social resources, and who raise future children who re-enter the cycle of poverty.

to get results we want, do the planning

Volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can not-only help individual inner-city children have a wider range of possibilities for long-term personal fulfillment, but they can also engage adults who don’t live in poverty, and educate them to become more personally involved as they build their bonds with the kids they connect with in tutor/mentor programs.

These programs enrich the lives of the volunteers, as much as they support the growth of  youth skills and aspirations.

Building strong programs and making them available in more places is a huge challenge. Do your planning. Do it right.

I've only highlighted some of the information in the Steps to Start a Program guide.  If you want to view the entire pdf, it's available on Scribd.com.

If you'd like my help in understanding and applying these ideas, I'm available for monthly conversations for a small consulting fee. Of course I'm sharing these ideas regularly on my blogs, on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, and most of the pdf presentations I point to are available at no cost.

If you value this information, visit this page and consider making a contribution to support the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. 

Sharing Birth to Work Graphics

Imagine having all the wealth of Mike Bloomberg and being able to purchase millions of dollars worth of advertising to share your ideas.  I've never had such wealth, thus spreading the ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC since 1993  has been much more difficult.

click to enlarge

Between 1993 and 2002 I grew our mail list from 300 people to more than 12,000 and sent a printed newsletter four times each year to share the maps and visualizations that I had created to communicate the ideas of supporting youth in high poverty areas with long-term, mentor-rich programs.

Then in 1998 we launched the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site to share these visuals in a library of PDF essays.

The financial crisis of 2000-2001 and our loss of Montgomery Ward as a host and major donor led to a discontinuation of printed media and we began to rely on Yahoo Groups, email, collaboration forums like the Omidyar Network and Social Edge, and our May and November conferences to share ideas. In 2005 I began to use this blog and in 2008 we added the MappingforJustice blog. Since 2009 we've relied more and more on social media, sharing ideas on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc. (see list of sites).

So let me show some Tweets I've posted in the past two days that share #birthtowork graphics.

Here's another version of this graphic, showing need to recruit teams of people who will help build support systems in every high poverty neighborhood that help kids move from #birthTOwork. pic.twitter.com/TTewU6nWzP

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 3, 2020

This #conceptmap shows the same #birthtowork vision, but it's easier to see the many age-level supports kids need as they go through school. Does your community have a map like this? #mentors show on this map as extra adults. https://t.co/BuxsowZumv pic.twitter.com/rSUw4kqNVz

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 3, 2020

If you're flying from point A to point B you want the airplane to have enough fuel to get there. If you're helping a youth go from #birthtowork the same rule should apply. However, that's not the case the way current philanthropy & gov't funding work. https://t.co/NqiA3JuROK pic.twitter.com/ys6ZVyYM5V

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 3, 2020

Learn & Share

Anyone can spend time each week at their computer or on their tablet or phone looking at my blog articles, websites, or Tweets. While my voice is barely a whisper in the noise of the internet and traditional media, and I don't have Mike Bloomberg's wealth, the ideas I'm sharing can become a roar if more and more people take time to look at them, think about them, then find ways to share them.

This can be informal or part of formal learning hosted at high schools and universities throughout the USA and the world.  Here's one article where I share that goal.

How many times have you heard someone say "Our kids are our future"?  If you believe that then help share these ideas so more people are building the systems of youth support needed in high poverty areas of Chicago and the country.