Chicago has a new Mayor; Same Problems

Last night Chicago voters elected Brandon Johnson to be the city's next Mayor.  I've been giving advice via this blog since 2005. I offer my congratulations and support.

I hope Johnson's team will spend time looking at these articles. 

Below are a few graphics that I want to emphasize.

Invest in programs that reach youth living in EVERY high poverty area of Chicago with pre-school programs and continue with age appropriate programs until they are adults and in jobs where they can raise kids free of poverty. 

Build a learning distribution system, engaging the business community, colleges, entertainment, technology and every other sector.  Ask school and non-school programs to put graphics on their website that indicate the many types of learning made available to students and that engage mentors and tutors from a wide range of networks.   Do the data collection and analysis that assures that such programs are available to each grade level in EVERY high poverty neighborhood.

Address the other issues, too. Just building tutor/mentor programs and improving schools won't remove all of the barriers that reduce opportunities for kids living in high poverty neighborhoods or come from minority communities.  

Be a cheerleader and team builder. Be the YOU in this graphic. Use your public appearances, interviews, websites, policy and other tools to connect people from EVERY sector of Chicago and its suburbs to information they can use to learn more about the problems that need to be solved and places where they can use their time, talent, dollars and votes to solve those programs.  

Create a version of the concept map shown below, with your name in the blue box in the middle. Enlist leaders from all sectors to do the same. 

Point volunteers and donors to directories of youth serving programs where a consistent flow of operating dollars are needed to sustain constantly improving, long-term support for kids.  I point to many lists from this concept map.

These graphics just touch the surface of what your team needs to know and support.  Scroll through the articles on this blog to see where I've used these graphics and others that share similar ideas.  In four years I hope to see a collection of similar articles on blogs and websites of many people in the Chicago region.

If you set the example I hope you are re-elected in four years. More importantly, I hope the next Mayor, and the ones after that, continue this set of actions.  

One thing I hope to see are stories showing you standing in front of a map of Chicago, recognizing the leaders who are investing in programs that help kids from birth to work, and showing what neighborhoods they are investing on-going efforts. 

I'd be happy to coach and mentor your teams, or teams from any organization so more people can navigate this information base. 

I'm still using Twitter and can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, Mastadon and other platforms, too.  Find links here.

I've been doing this work for the past 30 years and now seek leaders from universities and other institutions to take ownership of my archives and my strategies, creating a new, stronger Tutor/Mentor Connection type strategy. Read more in these articles. 

Now that the election is over I hope a few of your donors will invest a few dollars to help me continue to operate the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and keep the Tutor/Mentor Connection available to Chicago. Visit this page to send a contribution.