Building Support for Digital Access

This photo shows teens and volunteers using computers during one of the tutor/mentor sessions offered at the Cabrini Connections location in Chicago. I led that program from its founding in 1993 until 2011.  With the help of volunteers we opened a computer lab in the late 1990s.  

Below is a photo from the mid 1980s, showing Don Bohling and Ken Cartossa, two volunteers at the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, who created and led the computer lab at their location in Chicago.  We did not have Internet then, but we were teaching kids to use computers for learning.

In both examples we were creating digital access for kids who lived in a high poverty neighborhood and did not have this access at home.  We were able to do this because we were a "site-based" tutor/mentor program where youth and volunteers came to our space on a weekly basis (some came  more often). 

And because we were able to recruit workplace volunteers who used computers in their daily jobs and were willing to share their experiences with kids in our programs.

Yesterday I participated in a webinar focused on digital access and the digital divide, titled, "Turning America’s Digital Divide into Digital Dividends: Ideas for the Biden-Harris Administration". I've posted a few Tweets showing some of the maps and graphics included.

here's one

Want to learn more about the research featured in yesterday's #IDEA2030 webinar? Explore @planetdgtl's state-by-state analysis of broadband usage, inclusivity, digital proficiency & more: https://t.co/Wg7vqXZpH1 pic.twitter.com/NiVTH7MDlc

— The Institute for Business in the Global Context (@IBGC_Fletcher) April 1, 2021

here's another

#maps like this are part of the #idea2030 webinar. These are available for several states. Explore the full ranking that Dean Chakravorti is referring to in Digital Intelligence Index: https://t.co/7D3xYxN6vL pic.twitter.com/fN519fwPnR

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 31, 2021

Below you can see a concept map that I started a few years ago to share links to information I was aggregating about the Digital Divide.

Last year I connected with a network of educators brought together through an initiative at Arizona State University, called Shaping.edu.  This group is also focusing on the digital divide, broadband access and digital learning. The Tweet below points to a webinar they hosted on March 18.

Wondering why #BroadbandAccess is important for work & learning? @cosmodog, through LinkedIn Learning, hosted a session w/@L_Geringer, @techzebu, @rubenrp & me yesterday to talk about @ShapingEDU's initiative: https://t.co/ui2XtwXqum. #ConnectedForLearning #DigitalAffluece pic.twitter.com/lu1qSnEDhd

— Paul Signorelli (@paulsignorelli) March 19, 2021

Miguel Gamiño Jr. ( @MiguelGamino ), EVP Enterprise Partnerships & Head of Global Cities at Mastercard, was the final speaker at the Turning America’s Digital Divide into Digital Dividends: Ideas for the Biden-Harris Administration webinar. He encouraged participants to share these ideas widely so more people get informed, then involved in bringing solutions to reality.  I posted the Tweet below to amplify that message.

Fully agree w final encouragement to share these ideas widely so more people get informed, then involved in bringing solutions to reality. #BuildBackBetter #Idea2030 Is there a way businesses like @Mastercard might stimulate student research and blogging about these issues?

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 31, 2021

Then, I follow this by posting a couple of Tweets drawing from my efforts to encourage universities to mobilize student/alumni talent to help build public awareness and involvement in efforts that help youth from birth to work. Creating digital access and digital learning habits is an essential part of such a strategy.

Here's another graphic that visualizes intermediary role of universities in connecting students, alumni, others to information and to places surrounding university where help is needed. Are any universities doing this? https://t.co/7plSeU74PO pic.twitter.com/Re3I0iie6l

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 31, 2021

There are many programs at high schools, colleges and in non profits that encourage students to do research on issues and then present their findings. I'm actually going to attend the Spring 2021 Student Project Exposition for the University of Michigan School of Information later this week. Students will present posters, presentations, or video pitches to share their projects from course and co-curricular experiences, internships, and research.   

What I usually find missing is a "call to action".  

Imagine if you could find a map of the country, where icons represented schools (with links to web pages) where students were blogging about the various Digital Divide issues that are being shared by different groups, each with a call to action that mobilizes voters, policy makers, business leaders and activists.

At the same time as the Tufts webinar was providing information about the Digital Divide, the ShapingEDU group was hosting a webinar focused on telling the stories. I show that in this Tweet:

Interested in promoting universal broadband access throughout the U.S. for work & learning? Check out @ShapingEDU's "Developing + Telling the Stories of Broadband Access" from earlier today: https://t.co/3JVCu4EdyO. #BroadbandAccess #ConnectedForLearning #Storytelling

— Paul Signorelli (@paulsignorelli) April 1, 2021

These ideas are related. Good information needs to be shared widely through on-going stories.

So let's get more people looking at this information. Let's find a few companies who will sponsor student research and blogging about the Digital Divide. This "map the system" site is an example of what's possible.  I include a link to that site on a wiki page where I encourage student research and communication projects.  

Step 2 pf the four-part strategy of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, started in 1993, focuses on building on-going public awareness of specific issues.  Skim through these articles to see how important this is. 

One strategy to increase the number of people who care, and support student digital learning, is to help site-based, non-school, tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in more of the high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago, and to point to them with stories of the digital divide, so they can attract volunteers and donors.

If we don't find ways to dramatically increase the number who understand, empathize, then act, too little will change for people living on the wrong side of the Digital Divide.

I hope you'll share this. Thanks for reading.

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram (see links here). Let's connect. 

If you appreciate what I'm writing about, please help fund my work. 

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.

Don't Drive By Poverty. Get Involved. Invitation to Super Wealthy, too.

Last week WBEZ published a report showing the shrinking middle class and growing divide between rich and poor in Chicago. I wrote about it here.

A few days later I created a graphic with a set of maps, by WBEZ, and by the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), which I created in 1993 and still lead today.

WBEZ consistently produces some of the best maps to focus attention on poverty and inequality in Chicago. I put two in this graphic. On the far left is a map showing low digital access (see in this article). In the middle is one showing the growing gap between rich and poor and the shrinking middle class. On the right is a Tutor/Mentor Connection map from the late 2000s, showing poverty areas, known non-school tutor/mentor programs, and transportation routes bringing people to and from the city for work or socialization every day (see T/MC map in this article).

Chicago is a huge city, thus drawing people from affluent areas into poverty neighborhoods to be part of organized volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs becomes more difficult, as the distances grow. Yet the rich transportation system in Chicago provides access routes that many could use to reach places in neighborhoods where they might connect with kids during the after work (5pm to 8pm hours).

About a week ago I started seeing Tweets from The Bridgespan Group about a report titled "Four Pathways to Greater Giving", which focused on the philanthropy of the ultra-wealthy.

For the ultra-wealthy, spending down 50% of wealth in 20 years requires an annual payout rate of more than 11%. Yet on average, America’s wealthiest donate just 1.2% of their assets to charity each year. Learn more.

— The Bridgespan Group (@BridgespanGroup) December 3, 2018

For the ultra-wealthy, spending down 50% of wealth in 20 years requires an annual payout rate of more than 11%. Yet on average, America’s wealthiest donate just 1.2% of their assets to charity each year. Learn more.— The Bridgespan Group (@BridgespanGroup) December 3, 2018

I am reading the report now, and highlighting key passages, using Hypothes.is. You're welcome to join me.

Imagine if super wealthy donors adopted high poverty sections of Chicago and its suburbs, with long-term involvement and investment.  That's been my vision for many years.  I used the graphic below in a 2014 article, and again last year, when two billionaires were asking for political donations to support their campaign for Governor of Illinois.

If you use the "drive by poverty" map, you see expressways running through each of the poverty zones of Chicago.  While these are physical transportation routes, they can also be virtual guides, to places on the Internet where volunteers, donors, youth development program staff and leaders, researchers and others can talk about the needs of youth and families and the way well-organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs expand social capital and support systems and offer a path out of poverty, while also engaging more people in discussions of the other related problems that also need to be addressed.

In the Bridgespan Group report, one challenge raised was finding trusted intermediaries who could channel large donations to a network of smaller organizations.  In the graphic below, I show the role of a Tutor/Mentor Connection, connecting people who could help, including wealthy people, with places where kids and families need help, and organized youth development, tutor and mentor programs in those places.

While I point to a map of Chicago on this graphic, that map could be any major city in the world, and the intermediary could be an organization coached by myself to apply Tutor/Mentor Connection strategies, using tools that I've been trying to develop with limited and inconsistent resources for more than two decades.

The beauty of the Internet is that anyone can spend as much, or as little, time as they want digging into the information that's available.

Thus, I invite those who can help to browse through my past articles, read PDF reports like this, showing what I've been trying to build, then as you build your understanding,  begin to think of ways you might help me re-build the T/MC for Chicago, but make it a useful tool for any city.

Or, spend time in this planning Wiki, to see what I've been trying to do, what needs help and rebuilding, and what opportunities still need to be developed.

It's the Oscars this weekend, so read this article, which I wrote about a "do over" following the 2017 Oscars, when the wrong movie was announced as "Best Picture".  Think of ways an ultra wealthy family might adopt, and own, this re-build, as their own long term commitment to closing the wealth and opportunity gaps in America and the world.

I've written several more "do over" articles since then, which you can find here.

In the short term, a contribution in the five figures or less might have a great impact on helping me continue to bring attention to these ideas. Visit this page if you're interested. 

Understanding Changing Chicago Demographics

I've spent the past 35 years connecting volunteers from middle class and more affluent parts of Chicago with kids living in high poverty areas, via organized tutor/mentor programs.  The goal was to create some of the learning experiences and opportunities and social networks available to some that are not available to others.  I've used maps to show where programs are located, where they are most needed, and to help volunteers, donors and parents find existing programs, or help new once grow.

However, the map of Chicago has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, making this goal much more difficult.

Below is are two maps from a WBEZ article titled "The Middle Class is Shrinking Everywhere. In Chicago, It's Almost Gone."

read WBEZ article

Follow the links in the WBEZ article to a) article by Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement at UIC, which is the original source of the maps used in the WBEZ article; and b) Pew Research article titled America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas, which focuses on metropolitan areas throughout the entire USA.

You can see a dramatic change in Chicago demographics, creating two Chicagos, one rich, and one poor, with few in the middle.  I've been trying to bridge these divides by helping youth tutor/mentor programs grow in different parts of Chicago.  It's been difficult.

At the left is my map showing non-school tutor and/or mentor programs in Chicago.  I circled areas of very high income, showing that there are many youth programs in this area, or on the fringes.

You can view this map on the MappingforJustice blog, along with many other articles showing uses of maps. The article also includes a link to my list of Chicago area tutor/mentor programs.

If you look at some of my Tweets @tutormentorteam, and articles I've posted in the past few weeks, you can see how I work to keep this list updated, and how I try to draw attention to programs.  You'll also see a concern that some programs are very well organized with a lot of information on their web sites, while others have less formal organization and less information on the web site.

Below is a graphic I've used for 20 years to visualize the design of a mentor-rich youth program, with volunteers from different work and college backgrounds sharing their experiences and opening doors to career opportunities for kids who don't have many people living near them who model these experiences.

View Total Quality Mentoring PDF 

Note that on this graphic the arrows from the hub to the spokes on the wheel go both ways.  That's because volunteers who enter these programs can learn much about poverty and inequality and share what they learn with people in their workplace, family and faith networks.  That's always been the goal because unless more people are getting personally involved in providing opportunities for urban youth, little will change.

view video

At the right is a graphic from a "service learning LOOP" animation created by interns between 2007 and 2010, to show how volunteers who get involved in a tutor/mentor program begin to share what they are learning with others. See it in this article.

Another version can be seen here.

With the changing demographics, concentrating high income people along the Northeast lakefront of Chicago, and dramatically reducing the middle class, how will we create places for youth and volunteers to connect in the types of organized, on-going, programs that build trust, relationships, empathy and understanding?

eMentoring programs are emerging as a way to make connections between volunteers who don't live in poverty areas and with youth who do.  I point to a few in this section of the Tutor/Mentor library.  I'm not yet confident in the ability of these programs to build the depth of relationship that is possible from meeting face to face two to three times every month.

One reason I'm concerned is shown by another WBEZ map, which shows the Digital Divide in Chicago. If kids don't have a place to access the internet, how can they form regular relationships with eMentors? Maybe using phones?

I've collected some Digital Divide articles on this site.

Unless more people become motivated to dig into these articles, or read my blog, those articles will be seen by too few people. Too few will be involved in building solutions to these problems.

One of my frustrations is that I've not been able to maintain the interactive tutor/mentor program locator which the Tutor/Mentor Connection built between 2004 and 2008.  At the right is a screen shot from the current version.

I show poverty levels, just like the WBEZ maps, with overlays that show locations of tutor/mentor programs, and other overlays that show indicators of need, such as poorly performing schools, and assets, such as businesses, faith groups, hospitals and  universities, located in different parts of the city.

Unfortunately this has not been updated since 2010 so the demographics are from 2000 and other data is out of date.  I keep looking for partners who would help update this and/or rebuild it, then use it in efforts to build connections between rich and poor in cities like Chicago.

Want to help?  Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIN, and share my articles with others. That's one way.  Start a conversation about other ways to help. That's another way.

Another is to send a small contribution to help me keep writing these stories and maintaining the web library.

Supporting Growth of Tutor/Mentor Programs around Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago

For 15 years the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building a network connecting volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs in Chicago with each other, and with leaders in business, universities, media, faith groups, etc. who could help these programs grow throughout the city.

When we say grow, we use charts that focus on jobs and careers as the long-term purpose of our efforts, even if the youth we are working with are only in elementary school now. We point to information on the T/MC web site that shows what other people are doing in other places, which are ideas programs in Chicago could use, if they have the resources to implement these ideas.

One of the groups I've network with for many years is Technology For Humanity, who's mission is to "bring together resources from the public sector, private sector, faith-based and community-based organizations, to bridge the Digital Divide."

A few weeks ago this group convened a meeting at Mt. Sinai Hospital, to discuss ways to get computers into the homes of thousands of inner city kids. As a result of that meeting I was asked to create a map, showing the neighborhood around the hospital, and showing a strategy that would not only distribute computers, but would build a support system so that the result might be more kids in this neighborhood coming to school ready to learn, and leaving school after 12th grade, with a network of adults, and a range of skills, that would enable them to move through college, or vocational education, into 21st century jobs.

Such a support system would have structured, non-school volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs as places where kids could connect with donated technology, and with volunteers who would help kids use the computers for learning, career exploration, learning and more. If you look at this chart, imagine a tutor/mentor program as the hub of a wheel, and the spokes leading to the various kinds of learning and supports that might be offered to kids through that program. The volunteers at such a program serve as coaches, mentors, tutors, advisers, advocates and friends, helping kids connect with all of these resources, and helping the program get the dollars, technology and talent needed to facilitate this process.

I've worked with Mt. Sinai Hospital in the past, and encouraged them to adopt the role of a Hospital Tutor/Mentor Connection, to support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in this area. Thus, I was pleased to be back in contact with this group.

The map we created is shown below. Mt. Sinai Hospital is near Douglas Park. The map covers an area that is about 3/4 mile to the West, 1 mile to the North, 1 mile to the East and 1/2 mile to the South. Part of this area is in North Lawndale and part is in Lower West Side. You can see from the color coding that the area has high levels of poverty in this area. It also has several poorly performing schools.



Six organizations are shown on this map, who have indicated in the past that they offer some form of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring.

1. Angels in Flight, a girls youth organization at 3315 W. Douglas. No web site.
2. St. Agatha Family Empowerment, 3143 W. Douglas. http://faceofsafe.org/
3. Carole Robertson Center-2020 W. Roosevelt, http://www.crcl.net/threesites.htm
4. Carole Robertson Center-2929 W. 19th Street, http://www.crcl.net/threesites.htm
5. Union League Boys & Girls Club, 2157 W. 19th Street, http://www.ulbgc.org/what_we_do.html
6. Gads Hill Center, 1919 W. Cullerton St., http://www.gadshillcenter.org/programs/programs_teenconnection_program.html

Here's how this map can be used.

We found these programs by searching the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator. We did a search by community area, looking for programs in North Lawndale and Lower West Side. In North Lawndale we found 16 organizations who offer various forms of tutoring and/or mentoring, or youth development. In the Lower West Side, we found 7 other groups. We did not find any listing for a program at Mt. Sinai because the program that had operated their several years ago was discontinued, and the new one just came back on our radar last week.

You can learn more about these six programs by going to their web sites, if they have one. When we meet with programs, we encourage them to look at how other programs showcase their work, using web sites and blogs. It's difficult for a donor, volunteer or parent to know you offer mentoring or tutoring if the information is hidden in a web site, or if you have no web site. Not every program has the resources to build a website, or even a blog. This is a role volunteers from the hospitals, colleges or businesses in the city could take. We can help set up a blog, like we did for the SON Foundation.
It's possible that some of these programs no longer offer any youth services, or that other programs exist in the area, but are not on our database. Thus, one of the first roles of a Hospital Tutor/Mentor Connection would be to help the T/MC update its data, so that the information provided represents the most comprehensive, and up-to-date data.

The first goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection is to help programs already operating in an area get resources to constantly improve their impact. Thus, if you're reading this, you could contact one of these programs and offer your time, talent and/or dollars. If you're a communicator, or blogger, you could write about these programs every few months, to help them get a consistent flow of these resources.

We don't know how well these programs compare with the best in the city. From the information on the web sites, we don't know if there is an arts, technology or career focus to the work being done. We don't know how many kids are served, or how long the programs keep kids and volunteers involved. Thus, if you're a reporter, or a researcher, you could compare these programs to other programs and write about the differences. You could even work with these programs to help them benchmark what they do against other programs, so they have help to constantly improve.

However, we do believe there are too few programs in this area. There are several thousand K-12 kids in this area, and we don't see tutor/mentor programs near many of the poorly performing schools or in many of the areas around Mt. Sinai Hospital. More programs are needed, especially near the poorly performing schools. Who else could help?

Our map also shows a variety of faith groups in the area. These could be places to host additional programs. They could also be places that build connections between suburban faith communities and the programs in this area.

Our map shows the Eisenhower Expressway, on the North part of this area, and Ogden Avenue, as a diagonal route connecting downtown Chicago with the Southwest suburbs. The Stevenson Expressway is just to the South (You can drag the Google map up or down on the Program Locator to see other parts of the city.) This is important, because these highway routes bring potential volunteers and donors through this neighborhood every day.

A tutor/mentor marketing and communications strategy should be aimed at reaching a growing number of these people so they become leaders, volunteers and donors to support the programs growing in the area. If faith groups at the West end of the Eisenhower encourage members to be volunteers, donors, partners with inner city programs, they could point people to this neighborhood, and the local churches could facilitate this connection.

The map shows that St. Anthony Hospital and Schwab Rehab Hospital area also in the area, along with Stroger Hospital and the Jesse Brown VA Hospital. The University of Illinois Hospital and Rush St.Lukes is just to the East. In addition, Ryerson, Inc. a Fortune 500/1000 company is close to Mt. Sinai.

You can determine what additional, smaller businesses might be in the area by using the Google Map on the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator. When you do a search the programs in the area will be plotted on a Google Map. You can click the icons on the map and learn the name, address and web site (if any) of each organization. You can also go deeper to find contact information for other businesses, restaurants, churches and organizations in the area.

Thus, there are many places where programs could operate, and many organizations who could be helping those programs get volunteers and dollars to sustain these programs as they grow from good to great. There are even places that could offer job shadowing and vocational training as kids go through high school, and college.

What's needed is leadership to mobilize resources to support the existing programs, then to help fill the area with additional programs where there are voids. The essay titled role of leaders shows a role that the major hospitals, or Ryerson could take, since they are the largest employers in the area. Since Mt. Sinai operates its own tutor/mentor program, it would be ideal for this leadership could come from the presidents of the hospital.

Even the Congressman representing the 7th District could take this role, since this area is part of that district.

I think the hospital leaders should take this role. These public health articles, and the information in this Tennessee Health Authority Web site show that hospitals have a self interest to help youth in their neighborhoods stay in school, and prepare for careers in health professions. One article profiles a mentoring program led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center which could be a model for programs operating around hospitals in this part of Chicago.

Ryerson, Inc. could also provide leadership to a neighborhood strategy, encouraging employees and customers to be volunteers, and setting up workplace fund raising campaigns to help raise money for the tutor/mentor programs in the area. They are one of the few Fortune 500/1000 companies still in Chicago neighborhoods.

There are lots of ways to innovate support strategies for tutor/mentor programs in this area. The computers that are being offered could be used to help people find and read this blog, and use the information on the T/MC web site, to connect with each other, and collaborate on program development strategies that help kids and volunteers stay connected, help the computers be updated on a regular basis, and help kids learn to use technology to manage knowledge and solve problems.

If the leaders in this area appoint "take charge" people, and use their facilities as meeting places, and advertising as mobilization resources, they can draw attention to tutor/mentor programs on a regular basis, using the T/MC schedule of events shown below. If the faith groups in this area join in, using their own communications to mobilize volunteers and resources for the tutor/mentor programs, they can encourage faith groups in the suburbs to do the same, mobilizing volunteers who travel Ogden Avenue, or the Eisenhower, to be supporters of tutor/mentor programs in the neighborhoods they drive through every day.

If enough private sector leaders take this role, the media, and the politicians, will follow.




I can't make this happen. Only the people in the neighborhood can do that. However, I can update this map every year to show if more tutor/mentor programs are in the area. I can also put flags on business, hospital and church sites, indicating which are providing leadership support for this effort.

Hopefully these maps will show that leaders have embraced these ideas and the kids in this area are getting more and more help to support their journey from first grade to jobs and careers.

When this article was written, the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) was part of a non profit organization. In 2011 the T/MC became part of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. If you'd like to help develop and update this mapping analysis system, email 'tutormentor2@earthlink.net' to discuss sponsor, investor and/or partner opportunities.