Network Building - Can you Do this, Too?

I created this graphic many years ago to visualize the idea of "network building" where the ideas I share on my blogs, website and email newsletter are shared by others, and graduadally reach people throughout the world. 

When we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we had no money. There were just seven volunteers, and our primary focus was building a new youth tutor/mentor program that would serve teens living in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago.  However, we recognized that while one more small program might offer life-changing opportunities for a few kids, it would not change the future for the 200,000+ kids living in poverty areas of Chicago.  That's why we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

While we raised money every year, we never had much for advertising and public awareness, so our strategies were intended to recruit "disciples" who would help spread our messages.   

The graphic above is one visualization of this idea. The one below is another.  On the world's largest ping pong ball table, every time I post an idea, it spreads rapidly, if others share it with their own networks. 

Below are two recent examples of people taking this role on Twitter.

Arne Duncan's quote comes to mind, "We know what to do!",whenever I read Dan Bassill. Scaling up, evidence-based ideas that work from visionaries like Dan is something I'm interested in helping make happen. https://t.co/VcWJyLNfuI

— brian banks (@Brian_Banks) October 16, 2022

Here's a second

Please read these articles, advice, map analysis, etc. Really several decades of work to bring people together with kids and their families. Such wonderful ideas that are quite valuable today. Thanks @tutormentorteam Daniel Bassill. #NetworkBuilder #Tutor #Mentor https://t.co/HtEBZGJCBj

— n2teaching (@n2teaching) September 26, 2022

Others have been doing this for several years.  I created the concept map below to point to blog articles by others, which point to the strategies I've been sharing.

Between 2004 and 2015 interns working with me in Chicago were encouraged to read my blog articles and then create their own interpretations.  The concept map below points to work they did. 

One of our earliest interns was from Hong Kong.  He created this blog in 2006 and I've updated it annually since then.  Browse through the articles to meet interns and see the work they did.  A page like this could be created on the website of any high school or college in the country, showing work their own students are doing to bring people to these ideas and to help youth in their own communities.

If you have a page like this, please share it. 

This graphic visualizes the goal of all of this network building.  Groups of people from every sector should be using these ideas and the research links I share in the Tutor/Mentor Library to determine where kids need more extra help, why they need that help, what others are doing in different places to provide needed help, and ways they can apply those ideas to help kids living in high poverty areas of their own communities.

This should have been happening since the late 1990s when the Internet became a platform to connect people and ideas.  

Thanks for reading. I hope you're inspired to share this blog, just like Brian and others have been doing. Use the ideas in your own company, foundation, political office.  I'd be happy to help you.

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