Engage Youth in Writing Activities

 In my September newsletter I featured a blog written by Sheri Edwards, a retired educator from Washington State. I met her in 2013 through the online #CLMOOC community and we've stayed connected since then. 

Below is a post Sheri made on Mastodon about the October National #WriteOut event. She points to this page on her blog. 

I follow Sheri and many other educators on several social media platforms. Many are involved in the annual #WriteOut event and share their work on social media and their own blogs.  You can learn about it on this page. 

I share this because every volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning program, along with every school, could be using the #WriteOut event to stimulate student curiosity, reading and writing during October as volunteers are just beginning to build relationships with students, or at any other time of  the year.

In the programs I led, between 1975 and 2011, we included writing activities in October and throughout the year. We published what students wrote in our newsletters and in special publications, because one of the greatest motivations for writers is seeing their own words in print!

Below is the December 1978 newsletter, which at that time we called it "Monkee Words" after Montgomery Ward, which hosted the program. Many people referred to Wards as "Monkee Wards".

Scroll through the pages and you'll find many poems written by 2nd to 6th grade students. 

Below is a copy of the November 1983 newsletter. The name had been changed to Tutoring Tattler, which was used through 1992 (and might still be used by Tutoring Chicago). This shows winners of the Halloween writing contest and includes some student work.  

In the December 1986 Tutoring Tattler you can find information about that year's Christmas Writing activity.

By 1991 we were creating separate publications to share student writing.  Below is the October 1991 KidsWork. 

I left the original tutoring program in October 1992 and with a few volunteers formed Cabrini Connections, to help kids who aged out of the first program after 6th grade have continued support through high school. This is when we also created the Tutor/Mentor Connection, to share work we and others were doing to help programs like ours grow in more places.

We continued to encourage student writing and creative expression.  Below is the "WUZ UP! teen news from 1996.

Visit the Cabrini Blog and look on the right side. You'll see a link to the Writing Club, along with links to other creative learning activities, that expanded the tutor/mentor experience beyond the one-to-one tutor/mentor relationship.  This blog was active from 2006 to 2011 but was not continued after I left the organization in 2011.  While it is an archive now it offers many lessons others could borrow for their own programs.

In the Homework Help section of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website you'll find many more activities that you might use to engage students and volunteers on fund, creative and on-going learning and relationship-building.

I've been honored to be part of the Tutoring Chicago 60th Anniversary campaign, which has shared clips from an interview with me in several of their posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. I wrote about it in this post. 

I hope that this leads more people to my blog and websites so that more begin using the ideas and archives I share to build and sustain mentor-rich non-school programs that reach K-12 kids who live in high poverty, under-resourced, neighborhoods of Chicago and other places.

I hope it also encourages a few to reach out and help fund my work, or to help create a Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy on one, or many, college campuses.  You can find me on many social media platforms. See links on this page.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy a safe and fun Halloween weekend!

Imagining a different future

In 2023, in this article, my #CLMOOC friend, Kevin Hodgson, wrote about Google's AI platform, called Bard.

This prompted me to ask, "Has anyone asked ChatGPT to write about what the future would have looked like if Al Gore had been elected President of the U.S. in 2000?"

Image created using Scribble Diffusion

I decided to see how Google's Bard works, and posted a set of questions.  Rather than point you to a Google doc where I've saved the responses I'm posting them below.  If you don't like the questions I asked, or the responses, then post your own questions and share the answers you get!

-- begin Bard questions and responses -- 

I asked Bard to write a story predicting what the world would be like today if Al Gore had won the 2000 US Presidential election.  

Bard --  If Al Gore had won the 2000 US Presidential election, the world would be a very different place today. Gore was a strong advocate for environmental protection, and he would have taken a much more aggressive approach to climate change than George W. Bush. He would have also been more likely to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, Gore was a strong supporter of education and healthcare. He would have increased funding for both of these important areas, and he would have made college more affordable for students.

Gore was also a more experienced politician than Bush. He had served as Vice President for eight years, and he had a deep understanding of the issues facing the country.

If Gore had been elected, the United States would have been a more progressive country. We would have been a leader in the fight against climate change, and we would have made significant progress in improving education and healthcare.

Of course, it is impossible to say for sure what would have happened if Gore had won the election. However, it is clear that the world would be a different place today if he had been elected.

Here are some specific examples of how the world might be different today if Al Gore had won the 2000 election:

• The United States would have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This would have helped to slow the pace of climate change and mitigate its effects.
• Gore would have been more likely to invest in renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. This would have helped to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and make our country more energy independent.
• Gore would have been more likely to expand access to healthcare. He would have supported the creation of a public option for health insurance and made it easier for people to afford coverage.
• Gore would have been more likely to invest in education. He would have supported increased funding for public schools and made college more affordable for students.
• Gore would have been more likely to take a diplomatic approach to foreign policy. He would have been less likely to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, and he would have worked to build relationships with other countries.

Overall, the world would be a better place today if Al Gore had won the 2000 election. He was a more experienced and progressive politician than George W. Bush, and he would have made the United States a more just and sustainable country.

I then asked, "How would he have responded differently to the 9/11 terrorist attack? Would he have invaded Iraq? How would the world look now if he had not invaded Iraq?"

Bard -- Al Gore would have responded differently to the 9/11 terrorist attack than George W. Bush did. He would have focused on building international cooperation to fight terrorism, rather than invading Iraq. He would have also been more likely to invest in homeland security and intelligence gathering.

It is unlikely that Al Gore would have invaded Iraq if he had been president in 2003. He was skeptical of the Bush administration's claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and he believed that the invasion would be a costly and unnecessary war.

If Al Gore had not invaded Iraq, the world would be a very different place today. The war in Iraq has been a major source of instability in the Middle East, and it has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. The war has also cost the United States trillions of dollars.

Without the war in Iraq, the United States would have been able to focus on other priorities, such as fighting terrorism and improving the economy. The world would also be a safer place, as there would be no ongoing conflict in Iraq.

Here are some specific examples of how the world might be different today if Al Gore had not invaded Iraq:

• The United States would have been able to focus on other priorities, such as fighting terrorism and improving the economy.
• The world would be a safer place, as there would be no ongoing conflict in Iraq.
• The United States would not have spent trillions of dollars on the war.
• The United States would not have lost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
• The United States would not have damaged its reputation in the world.

Overall, the world would be a better place today if Al Gore had not invaded Iraq. He would have made the United States a safer and more prosperous country.

I then asked, "If Al Gore had been elected president would we have the same level of polarization as we have today? Would Donald Trump have been elected President in 2016?"   

Bard -- It is impossible to say for sure whether political polarization would be as severe today if Al Gore had been elected president in 2000. However, it is likely that the level of polarization would be lower.

Gore was a more moderate politician than George W. Bush, and he was more likely to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats. He would have also been less likely to engage in the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that has contributed to polarization in recent years.

It is also possible that Donald Trump would not have been elected president in 2016 if Al Gore had been president in 2000. Gore would have been a stronger incumbent, and he would have been more likely to unite the country after the 9/11 attacks.

Of course, it is also possible that polarization would have continued to grow even if Al Gore had been president. The factors that are driving polarization are complex and multifaceted, and they are not easily controlled by any one person.

However, it is clear that Al Gore would have been a different kind of president than George W. Bush. He would have been more moderate, more willing to compromise, and more likely to unite the country. These qualities would have made him a more effective president, and they would have helped to reduce polarization in the United States.

Finally, I asked,  "If Al Gore had been elected in 2000, and re-elected in 2008, would Barack Obama ever have been elected President? Would Joe Biden have been elected vice-president, then President in 2020?"   

Bard -- It is impossible to say for sure whether Barack Obama would have ever been elected president if Al Gore had been elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2008. However, it is likely that Obama would have faced a much more difficult path to the presidency if Gore had been in office.

Gore was a popular and well-respected politician, and he would have been a strong incumbent. He would have also been able to draw on the support of the Democratic Party establishment. Obama, on the other hand, was a relatively unknown and inexperienced politician. He would have had to overcome a lot of obstacles to win the presidency.

It is also possible that Joe Biden would not have been elected vice president or president if Al Gore had been in office. Biden was a close ally of Gore, and he would have been less likely to run for office if Gore had been president.

Of course, it is also possible that Obama and Biden would have still been elected president and vice president, even if Gore had been in office. The political landscape is complex and unpredictable, and it is impossible to know for sure what would have happened.

However, it is clear that Al Gore would have been a different kind of president than George W. Bush. He would have been more moderate, more willing to compromise, and more likely to unite the country. These qualities would have made him a more effective president, and they would have made it more difficult for Obama and Biden to win the presidency.

---- end Bard questions --- 
 

What would your questions have been? I asked my questions on Bard. How would ChatGPT have answered?  Could this be turned into a short story using an AI tool like TinyStorie?  

One response stood out to me, which was,  "Gore was also a more experienced politician than Bush. He had served as Vice President for eight years, and he had a deep understanding of the issues facing the country."   On a national level this is probably true, but Bush had been Governor of Texas, and his father had been President. His political skills should have been better. 

I asked these questions in 2023, not knowing that Trump would be re-elected in 2024 and prove to be more chaotic and destructive than in his first term.  Maybe AI can provide some paths out of the disaster we seem to be heading toward.  Have you asked? Where are you posting your responses? 

At the left is a photo of me addressing students and volunteers at one of our year-end graduation ceremonies, for the tutor/mentor program I led from 1975 to 1992. 

We did not have the Internet or Artificial Intelligence then. Desk top computers were just emerging. But I was asking our students and volunteers to imagine all they could do to assure that each student finished high school and went on to college, jobs and careers.  

Imagine if they had been able to use Bard, or ChatGPT to ask "What are all the things we need to know and do to assure that all kids born of living in a high poverty area today were starting a job and career by their mid 20s?"    

That's still a question we need to be asking today.  

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your week.  Please connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Mastodon (find links here).

If you can spare a dime, visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and the work I'm doing. 

After the March, Do the Planning

On Saturday, October 18th, millions of people across the USA, and the world, will be out in the streets marching to protest against the rapid destruction of our freedoms, democracy, and the rise of fascism in the world.  This link shows where you can become part of one of these "NO Kings" protests. 

They are saying "Enough is Enough!"

After the march, do the learning.  If you browse through this blog you'll see my focus is on using an "information-based problem solving" strategy to build and sustain mentor-rich non-school programs that reach K-12 kids in high poverty areas with long-term support.

I've tried to engage others in this effort for over 30 years.  Every time a negative news story appeared in a Chicago paper, I said "Enough is Enough".  In the late 2000s I listed steps anyone could take. The animation below was created a few years later by an intern from South Korea.  Take a look.

This animation was done by one of my interns after reading this article.

If we want to stop this violence against Democracy, we have to act now, and keep acting to solve this problem for many years. We have to think spatially, that is, look at the entire city and suburbs, our state, other states, and other countries, not just one neighborhood.

At the same time, we need to act locally, because none of us has the time, or the resources to help each of the kids in the entire Chicago region who live in neighborhoods where poverty is the root cause of the violence.

Here are some ways to remind yourself. Think of ENOUGH, is ENOUGH

E – educate yourself – most of us do not live in high poverty neighborhoods, so we only understand the root causes of senseless shootings from what we read in newspapers. We also only read negative news in the media, so we’re not really well informed on where these events are taking place most frequently. Finally, while there is a perception that there are plenty of youth programs, we really don’t have a good understanding of the distribution of different types of youth programs, to different age groups, in different zip codes. The only way this will change is if each of us pledges to spend one hour a week reading books, articles and web reports, that illustrate the root causes of these shootings, or of poor performance in schools. Through our learning we can draw ideas that we use in our own actions. We can also begin to contribute information that other people use to support their own decision making.

To help with your learning about race, poverty and inequality in America browse the different sections of the Tutor/Mentor library, shown on this concept map. 



It's really important to understand what drives people to vote for Trump and his enablers.  Many of the articles and websites that I point to from this concept map, provide information that will help you better understand the the problems we face.   A similar library could be created to aggregate research and articles that help us better understand what fuels support for Trump and other fascists leaders. 

Another library that is needed would be one aggregating information about immigration, and showing ways to create a legal path for people from different countries to enter the USA and seek a brighter future.  

If you host either of these libraries share a link in the comments and I'll add it to my own library.

N – engage your network – find ways to draw others who you know into this shared understanding. Recognize people who volunteer time and talent, or who help kids through the programs they operate. If you are a business leader, or a church leader, engage your corporation or your congregation. You can use your web site, advertising, point of purchase materials, etc. to point to web sites that show all of the agencies in the city who do tutoring/mentoring, such as www.tutormentorexchange.net. If you do this weekly, year after year, your friends, coworkers and customers will become involved in solving this problem with you.

This concept map shows another section of my library.  The links point to resources on collaboration, community building, innovation, knowledge management, etc.  These are skills many should learn, in order to build and sustain the coalitions needed to not only remove Trump and his enablers, but to address the root causes and social injustices that fuel voter ager and disengagement.

O – offer help, don’t wait to be asked. As you build your understanding of where poverty is most concentrated, and what social services are in those areas, choose a neighborhood, and reach out with offers of time, as a volunteer, talent, help build a web site, do the accounting, or offer Public relations services, and dollars, if the web site of an organization shows they do good work, you don’t need to ask for a proposal of how they would spend your donation, you need to send them a donation so they can keep doing that good work.

Apply the same practices to help political leaders mobilize voters, then stay accountable to them once they are elected.

U – build a shared understanding. Form groups of peers to share reading and learning assignments, just as you meet every Sunday to read passages of scripture and build the group’s understanding of the Word of God. Use the many different resources of the T/MC Links library as the starting point for your search for wisdom, and understanding.

In the concept map shown above you'll find one node pointing to concept maps that show political engagement resources.  When/IF we defeat Trump and regain control of the House, Senate, White House and Supreme Court, we need a complete revision of how people are elected and how they represent the people who voted for them, not the people who have given them tons of money. Here's one of those concept maps.

G – give until it feels good – people who generously donate time and dollars to causes they believe in feel good about their giving. If we’re going to surround kids living in poverty dominated neighborhoods with extra learning and adult mentoring networks, donors will need to give more than random contributions of time, dollars and talent.  

Political campaigns are expensive. Pick a few candidates and support them.  I do my political giving through a website hosted by Charles Gaba.  

H – form habits of learning, and pass these on to your kids. Imagine how much more successful teachers were if youth came to school every day asking questions about where to find information, or how to understand information they had researched on the Internet the previous day? We can model that habit if we build it into our own activity. Keep a chart where you can document actions you take each week to same sure that this time ENOUGH, really means ENOUGH.

If you document actions, you can review what you’ve done at the end of each month, and each year, and begin to see a growing mountain of actions you have taken to solve this problem. Some of these will be actions that got other people involved, so that the good work you do is multiplying because of the good work others are also doing.

Through this process you help build this shared understanding, which will lead to better public policy. Without this habit of learning, and without learning to use the Internet to find good ideas from people in all parts of the world, we won’t be able to problem solve as well as we need to, and we won’t be able to teach this habit to our kids.

I plan on being at the No Kings protest in Arlington Heights, Il.  I'll bring my folding chair, my oxygen tank, and my sign.  

But, I'll also be on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon and Instagram.  I hope you'll connect with me.

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

Seek and Support

I began my tutor/mentor journey in September 1973 when I was matched with a 4th grade boy from the Cabrini-Green Public Housing Projects.  His name is Leo.

We're still connected. He's in Nashville. Married. Two sons. Both college graduates.  

My experiences as a volunteer leader of a tutor/mentor programs between 1975 and 2011 fuel my commitment to help similar programs throughout the Chicago region, and in other cities and states, get the attention and resources each need to support the on-going interactions of youth and volunteers.

In many articles on this blog I've pointed to social media posts by Chicago area tutor, mentor and learning programs, like Chicago Youth Programs, Inc.  

In many articles I point to lists on the www.tutormentorexchange.net website that enable people to shop and choose what program to support, based on what the program shows on their website, where they are located, and who they serve.

I also host lists showing Chicago program accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  If you follow these programs you'll see what they post and that will help you choose who to support and how you'll support them.

These lists include Tutoring Chicago, which is celebrating its 60th year this fall.  I led that program from 1975-1992, first while it was volunteer-led (up till 1990), then as it became a nonprofit (1990-1992).   

They aren't the only long-term program in Chicago.  Chicago Lights, Midtown Education, Chicago Youth Programs, Inc. and several others have long histories of service.  Look for that type of information on program websites.  Look for endorsements by alumni, parents and volunteers on websites, and social media.

My experiences in leading a single program over many years is what led me to form the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 as we were launching a new program to help teens in the Cabrini Green area have continued support as the move through high school.  

The graphic below shows that we served one neighborhood with our single program, but supported programs through the entire region, through the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

I still lead that, through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, although I have had limited resources to do this since 2011.  

Unfortunately, the Cabrini Connections program that I and six other volunteers created in late 1992 and that I led until mid 2011, was not able to continue to survive the constant challenge of finding resources, and ceased to operate around 2022.  Yet, that program still exists via the connections I've made with former students and volunteers on Facebook, and how they are connected to each other.  

I was able to lead the program at Montgomery Ward for so many years partially because of how I reached out and networked with leaders of other similar programs.  I was also able to draw upon the work I did in retail advertising at Montgomery Ward's corporate headquarters in Chicago, where we created weekly ads do draw potential customers to more than 400 stores in 40 states.

Then, between 1990 and 1993 I also spent time as a Loaned Executive for the United Way Crusade of Mercy, which supported several hundred nonprofit organizations spread throughout the Chicago region.

From my own experiences and what I learned from other programs I realized that "all program have the same needs" but not every program is equally able to attract a constant flow of volunteers and donors.

That's why we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.  Our aim was to build a master list of every volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in the region, then create on-going events that attracted media attention and drew more support to every program on our list.

I'm still doing that today, but with far fewer resources and in a much more difficult media environment.  It's more important than ever that more people take a role of drawing people to my library, then directly to youth serving programs in high poverty areas throughout the region.

That's why I urge each reader to become the YOU in this graphic. Bring your network to information that shows where and why people in high poverty areas need extra help, and how volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs can provide an important part of that help, while also increasing the number of people who become advocates and reach into their own networks to find additional help.

I encourage you to create your own versions of my graphics and blog articles, or record them and share them via different media.  If you're in another city, create your own version of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. If you're in Chicago reach out to talk to me about adopting the T/MC and rebuilding it, so it continues to provide help to kids and families in this region.

Thanks for reading.  Please connect with me on social media (see links here).  If you're able, help me with a contribution that funds the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Celebrating 60 years - Tutoring Chicago

 A few months ago I was invited to be part of the 60th Anniversary Celebration of Tutoring Chicago, which started in 1965 as the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program.  I joined as a volunteer tutor in 1973, during my first year of starting a retail advertising career at the Montgomery Ward Corporate Headquarters in Chicago.  I joined the volunteer leadership committee in 1974 and became the program's volunteer leader in 1975. I held that role through 1990 when we converted the program to a non profit, called "Cabrini Green Tutoring Program, Inc."  I led it until October 1992 then left because of disagreements with the volunteers on the Board of Directors, who I had recruited to their roles.

That led me to form a second program, helping kids who aged out of the first program after 6th grade get continued tutor, mentor and learning support through high school. That also led to me forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to help our program, and every other tutor/mentor program in Chicago, get more consistent media attention and a more consistent flow of operating dollars.

The original program is now Tutoring Chicago. I was asked to share my thoughts and this video is a portion of them. 

 

For those who are interested here are the questions from Tutoring Chicago and answers that I shared with them prior to doing the video interview. 

In many articles on this blog I've shown the vision driving my daily work.  Below are portions of an article I wrote in 2017 under the headline of "Go Forth and Multiply."

---- begin 2017 article ---

I led a volunteer based tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 till 2011 and have collected a load of endorsements and paper archives. I've been digitizing these and last week converted a 22x26" Thank You, Dan! card from 1989-90, signed by students and volunteers.  Click on the graphic at the left and you can see a few comments.

I put the entire card into a PDF and uploaded it to SlideShare. You can view it below. Use your zoom button to enlarge and see all the signatures and comments.  One of the joys of having led these programs is the enthusiasm and positive feed back that I've received.  However, that has to lead to more than just "thank you cards".  Read more after you view this.

"Thank You. Dan Card (1989-90) From Students and Volunteers from Daniel Bassill

I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 (and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011) to help mentor-rich non-school programs grow in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and since then have created a huge library and hundreds of articles and strategy presentations that are tools others could use to help with this strategy.

In the four-part strategy that we developed in 1993, step 1 focuses on collecting information, such as the database of Chicago tutor and mentor organizations. However, step 2 and step 3 focus on increasing the number of people who are using this information.

Since I never had many dollars for advertising, and I'm not a celebrity or part of a wealthy family, or politically connected, this strategy has always depended on others carrying the ideas I launch on this blog and my web sites forward to their own friends, family and co-workers.

This graphic illustrates how ideas I share can be shared by people who read them, with others who will read them and then pass them on to even greater numbers of people. I included this in a 2011 article, and in many others.

I was thinking about this last week during a Twitter chat with educators from around the world and the I began to think of this graphic as a form of fireworks.

Posting an idea, like this article, is like lighting the fuse on a fireworks rocket. As it explodes it creates a constellation of stars, which represents people who are exposed to the message.

Some of these also explode, creating another burst of stars, representing the message reaching a new network of people. Often there's a third, and a fourth blast, meaning the ideas are reaching more and more people.

Think of my Tweets and articles as a daily blast of exploding ideas.  

Below is an example of what I hope happens every day:

That's an amazing resource. Am saving it right away and will spread further. Thanks for sharing Daniel!#nt2t https://t.co/Xc2yw9swTh

— Manav Lalotra (@manavlalotra) September 16, 2017

Since 1975 several thousand youth and adults have been part of tutor/mentor programs I've led. Some have provided endorsements and "thank you, Dan" messages, like those you can see above.

However, so far, too few are passing on the ideas I share and taking actions that result in more and better volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs reaching k-12 youth in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other cities.

In addition, too few are providing talent and dollars to help me continue this work, or to help me pass this entire library and mission on to a younger, more talented generation of leaders.  I saw a tweet this morning with a quote saying "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now"  I re-tweeted it with this message.

This is what I say about supporting Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I started in #Chicago in 1993. https://t.co/Gn4yrptIw3

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) September 17, 2017

Had a few leaders helped me "plant the Tutor/Mentor Connection tree" in early 1990s, and helped me continue to nurture it for the past 24 years, I feel Chicago would have a much denser network of mentor-rich programs helping kids in poverty, and many more people taking active roles to share these ideas, get more people involved, and build sustainable and on-going flows of talent and dollars to every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other cities.  Many might be able to show "thank you" cards from alumni students and volunteers on their own web sites similar to mine.

If this interests  you, read the  "do-over" articles I posted last spring.  

--- end 2017 article ---

Thanks for reading and thank you to everyone who has helped Tutoring Chicago grow for the past 60 years, as well as those who help other volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs in Chicago and other places.

The challenges of operating these programs have always been great. In these days of political turmoil and destructive actions from the leadership in Washington, DC, it is even more difficult to attract consistent attention for these programs, which makes it more difficult for them to attract the resources they need to operate, and constantly improve.

I'll be 79 in December and will continue to end my blog articles with a call to help me find one or more universities and/or institutions to take ownership of my archives and my vision, and lead it for the next 20 to 40 years!

Connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Substack and other platforms. Share your own ideas and strategies. Borrow mine and share them in your own community. 

And visit this page and  use the PayPal button to send me some financial support.

More on Substack

In August I began posting a series of articles on Substack to help build a deeper understanding of some of the graphics and concept maps that I've been putting in articles on this blog for the past 20 years.  

Here's one.
 

In this article I show actions that need to be taken to engage more people in efforts that result in more youth staying in school, being safe in non-school hours, graduating, then moving on to jobs and careers by their mid to late 20s.

At the bottom of the pyramid is the knowledge base/library that supports the understanding and actions of everyone who gets involved (or should).

I'll post a new article in the next few days.    Visit this page to see my collection.

Several years ago I created this animation, to encourage people to read articles on my blog and website then create and share your own interpretations.  See it in this article.

That's the goal. If more people share the articles, using their own talent and creativity, the number of people who become invested with time, talent and dollars, in more places, will grow.

At some point this could reach a tipping point where there are more people opening doors and providing opportunity for kids in economically disadvantaged areas, than there are who set up barriers.

I'd love to see your own interpretations. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram and/or Mastodon. (find links here).

If you value what I'm sharing please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the work.