Mapping Strategy. Ideas. Libraries.

I saw the visualization below last week. It was created using Kumu.io, which I've written about before. In the different nodes it shows places where students from many universities can do volunteer service in organizations working to help refugee, immigrant and LGBTIQ communities. I liked it because of the way it organizes and shares information.

Open the graphic at this link. In the center are three nodes showing the Columbia Global Emerging Scholars Fellowship, the Harvard Refugee Fieldwork Program and the Refugee Rights Clinic.  Click on the icon with any node on the map and you'll find information about that organization or resource. It's a fantastic way to share information and connect networks of people who focus on related issues.

I've been trying to harness ways to do this since I started leading a tutor/mentor program in the 1970s. Initially, I used type-written newsletters and a copy machine and distributed my information by hand to volunteers and students attending weekly tutor/mentor sessions, or by letters to corporate leaders and supporters.  

By 1993 when we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection I had an extensive library, but it was only available to people who came to my program offices in Chicago, where we held weekly tutor/mentor sessions. It wasn't until around 1998 when our first website was created, that I found a way to share this with a wider audience in Chicago, and the world.

This graphic was used on the home page of the first Tutor/Mentor Connection website and I've used the hub/spoke graphic for the past 28 years since then. The spokes represent the different types of information found on the website.  These linked to internal pages with lists of information and links to external websites.  I've tried to animate it, or make it interactive, like the Kumu maps I've pointed to, but not with consistent success.

Below are some examples of what I've been trying to share and ways I've been able to do it.

The goal: Open this link to view the map shown below. 

This shows a goal of helping kids born or living in high poverty areas move through school and into jobs and starting careers by their mid 20s.  In the middle is the concept map shown below, witch outlines the 4-part strategy needed to achieve the goal.

Open the concept map at this link. Or, visit this blog article to see a description of the content of this map.

Below is a short video that describes the four-part strategy. 

 

Below is a graphic from a presentation created by Mina Song, an intern from South Korea, who created a five-part overview of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and its 4-part strategy.  Find the links to this and the other four Prezi slide shows on this page. 

Here's an earlier visualization, showing the goal and four-part strategy, created by in 2008 by one intern, then updated in 2009 by Alan Yoo, another intern from South Korea. The voice over is by Bradley Troast, our Northwestern University Public Interest Fellow. Since all of this was created with Flash Animation, I created and narrated this video a few years ago.

   

The Kumu map demonstrates one way to share information.  The other maps and videos show ways I've been able to do this with the help of many interns and volunteers.

I share this with one goal in mind.

I created this graphic in 2016 for this blog article and I've used it often since then. It shows my goal of helping teams of multi-talented people form and build, then sustain, constantly improving, volunteer-based youth tutor, mentor and learning programs that reach kids in all areas of persistent poverty and help them through school and into jobs and a life free of poverty.

The Kumu map illustrates how one team of people is visualizing ideas. My maps and videos show how I and interns working with me have visualized ideas, strategy and available resources.

Today's blog article shows how I continue to seek others who will duplicate my work, do it better, and spread it to more people in more places.

I invite you to share this with others so that teams WILL FORM in cities across the world, creating their own versions of my maps, graphics and blog articles, which they share with the same goals.

This is more important than ever. With the current administration burning books, deleting history from government websites, and cutting funding for many education, youth serving and social benefit programs, leaders are scrambling to find resources.

Non-profit and social benefit organizations are COMPETING against each other, harder than even before.

Why not devote some time, energy and creativity to working collectively to change how donors, volunteers, media and policy-makers support all programs in this sector, so that everyone has a more consistent flow of resources, not just a few?

Thanks for reading.  If you're sharing similar ideas, please connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky and Twitter.  

I depend on contributions to fund the work I do. Please visit this page and help.